Local area grid for distributed power
First Claim
1. A distributed power system for a utility grid, comprising:
- a distributed power source;
a temperature measuring device;
a power conditioning unit, wherein said power conditioning unit manages a power flow of said distributed power source;
a circuit breaker manager controllably connecting to said power grid, and wherein said circuit breaker manager is connected to said power conditioning unit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention in the simplest form is a system for managing distributed power sources connected to a power grid. The present invention manages power flow to/from the power grid whether for a stand-alone power sourece or for local area utility grid or microgrid. When two or more power sources are interconnected by the local grid, each source has a power conditioning unit and a circuit breaker manager for controlling and regulating the electric flow to/from the grid. The individual power sources are able to independently draw power from the grid when required without extensive master control schemes. In a preferred embodiment the power sources are reformer equipped fuel cells and the heat from the fuel cell is used as a heat source for efficiency.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A distributed power system for a utility grid, comprising:
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a distributed power source;
a temperature measuring device;
a power conditioning unit, wherein said power conditioning unit manages a power flow of said distributed power source;
a circuit breaker manager controllably connecting to said power grid, and wherein said circuit breaker manager is connected to said power conditioning unit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A segmentable distributed power system, comprising:
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two or more power sources connected in parallel;
a power conditioning unit having an output impedance and connecting to each of said power sources on a first side and connecting to a shared load on a second side, wherein said power conditioning system controls said output impedance.
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6. A circuit breaker manager for controlling distributed power between a power source and an external power grid, comprising:
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a circuit breaker controller;
a plurality of solid state branch circuit breakers controlled by said circuit breaker controller;
a contactor for connecting to said external power grid;
a voltage sensor for measuring said external power grid; and
a means for communicating. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A method for controlling a local area grid, wherein said grid contains two or more distributed power sources, comprising the steps of:
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measuring a grid voltage by each power condition unit;
comparing said grid voltage of each power conditioning unit to a predetermined value;
increasing current output of said power conditioning unit to said local area grid if said grid voltage is less than said predetermined value; and
decreasing current output of said power conditioning unit to said local area grid if said grid voltage is greater than said predetermined value.
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10. A distributed power system for a ripple sensitive distributed power source, comprising:
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A DC-DC converter serially connecting to said ripple sensitive power source on a first side;
A ripple tolerant power source connecting to said DC-DC converter on a second side;
A phase shifted H-bridge connecting to said second side of said DC-DC converter on a first side;
A DC-AC converter connecting to a second side of said H-bridge; and
A means for forcing ripple sourced from said ripple tolerant power source.
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Specification