Standalone unit of a standalone power grid for communicating energy requests with another standalone unit

• US 20110080044A1
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voltwerk Electronics GmbH (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• Original Assignee: Voltwerk Electronics GmbH (Robert Bosch GmbH)
• Inventors: Schmiegel, Armin U.
• Granted Patent: US 8,803,362 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/23
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2300/24 of photovoltaic origin
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/381 Dispersed generators
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/388 Islanding, i.e. disconnection of local power supply from the network
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/10 Photovoltaic [PV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers

Abstract

The invention relates to a standalone unit for a standalone power grid, to a standalone power grid comprising a standalone unit and to a method for controlling a standalone power grid. In order to permit reduced recourse to an external power grid or public power grid, the standalone unit according to the invention comprises a power generation unit, in particular a photovoltaic unit, for generating power from renewable resources, an energy storage unit for storing energy, a load connection unit for connecting the standalone unit to a load unit for consuming energy, a grid unit, in particular an inverter unit, for connecting the standalone unit to a power grid, for drawing energy from the power grid and for feeding energy into the power grid, and an interface unit for communicating an energy withdrawal request and/or an energy storage request with a second standalone unit.

Claims

1. A standalone unit (110) for a standalone power grid (100), comprising

a photovoltaic unit (113) for generating power from renewable resources,

an energy storage unit (115) for storing energy,

a consumer connection unit for connecting the standalone unit (110) to a consumer unit (111) for the consumption of energy,

a grid unit (114), in particular an inverter unit, for connecting the standalone unit (110) to a power grid, for drawing energy from the power grid and for feeding energy into the power grid, and

an interface unit (116) for communicating an energy withdrawal request and/or energy storage request with a second standalone unit (120, 130) which is adapted to send to the second standalone unit (120, 130) the energy storage request to store energy in the second standalone unit (120, 130).

2. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1, wherein the interface unit (116) is configured

to receive from the second standalone unit (120, 130) the energy withdrawal request to draw energy from the standalone unit (110),

to send to the second standalone unit (120, 130) the energy withdrawal request to draw energy from the second standalone unit (120, 130), and/or

to receive from the second standalone unit (120, 130) the energy storage request to store energy in the standalone unit (110).

3. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1 wherein the interface unit (116) is configured to forward the energy withdrawal request and/or the energy storage request to the second standalone unit (120, 130).

4. The standalone unit (110) according to claim 1 wherein the standalone unit (110) is also configured to receive the energy withdrawal request and/or the energy storage request from an administrative unit (140) of the standalone power grid (100).

5. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1 wherein the energy storage unit (115) is configured to store energy in response to an energy storage request.

6. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1 wherein the standalone unit (110) is configured to release energy, in particular from the energy storage unit (115) and/or from the power generation unit (113), in response to an energy withdrawal request submitted to the standalone power grid (100).

7. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1 wherein the standalone unit (110) is configured to receive from the standalone power grid (100) an identification information that identifies the second standalone unit (120, 130), and the interface unit (116) is configured to communicate with the identified second standalone unit (120, 130).

8. The standalone unit (110) of claim 1 wherein the standalone unit (110) is configured to send an identification information request to the standalone power grid (100).

9. A standalone power grid (100), comprising

the standalone unit (110) of claim 1 and

an administrative unit (140) for communicating an energy withdrawal request and/or energy storage request with the standalone unit (100).

10. The standalone power grid (100) of claim 9, further comprising

a second standalone unit (120, 130), said second standalone unit (120, 130) comprising

a power generation unit (123, 323), in particular a photovoltaic unit, for generating power from renewable resources,

an energy storage unit (125, 135) for storing energy,

a load connection unit for connecting the second standalone unit (120, 130) to a load unit (121, 131) for the consumption of power,

a grid unit (124, 134), in particular an inverter unit, for connecting the second standalone unit (120, 130) to a power grid, for drawing energy from the power grid and for feeding energy into the power grid, and

an interface unit (126, 136) for communicating an energy withdrawal request and/or an energy storage request with the standalone unit (110).

11. A method for controlling the standalone power grid (100) of claim 10, comprising the step of

communicating the energy withdrawal request and/or energy storage request between the standalone unit (100) and the second standalone unit (120, 130).

12. The method of claim 11, comprising the step of

sending an energy withdrawal request and/or energy storage request from the administrative unit (140) to the standalone unit (110).

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the communication step involves

receiving the energy withdrawal request from the second standalone unit (120, 130) to the standalone unit (110) to draw energy from the standalone unit (110),

sending the energy withdrawal request from the standalone unit (110) to the second standalone unit (120, 130) to draw energy from the second standalone unit (120, 130),

receiving the energy storage request from the second standalone unit (120, 130) to the standalone unit (110) to store energy in the standalone unit (110),

sending the energy storage request from the standalone unit (110) to the second standalone unit (120, 130) to store energy in the second standalone unit (120, 130), and/or

forwarding the energy withdrawal request and/or the energy storage request from the standalone unit (110) to the second standalone unit (120, 130).

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of

selecting the standalone unit (110), to which the administrative unit (140) sends the energy withdrawal request and/or energy storage request, according to a prioritization list representing a prioritized order of the standalone unit (110) and the second standalone unit (120, 130), and/or according to a prediction list representing a predicted order of the standalone unit (110) and the second standalone unit (120, 130).

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of

selecting the second standalone unit (120), with which the standalone unit (110) communicates, according to a prioritization list representing a prioritized order of the second standalone unit (120) and a third standalone unit (130), and/or according to a prediction list representing a predicted order of the second standalone unit (120) and a third standalone unit (130).