UTILIZATION SYSTEM AND ASSOCIATED METHOD

• US 20110101779A1
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Grid Solutions LLC (GE Aerospace)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Patel, Pranav N., McClintic, Shawn A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,471,406 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/64
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/64 The condition being economic, e.g. tariff based load management
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/28 Arrangements for balancing of the load in a network by storage of energy
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 9/062 for AC powered loads
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/70 Hybrid systems, e.g. uninterruptible or back-up power supplies integrating renewable energies
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/10 Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Abstract

A system includes an energy storage system capable of receiving electrical energy from an energy source and can supply electrical energy to a first load during a first period and to the first load during a second period. The first load differs in usage rate from the first period relative to the second period. A system controller maintains the energy storage system such that the energy storage system maintains a first amount of stored electrical energy during a first mode, and a second amount of electrical energy during a second mode. The system controller maintains the energy storage system in the first mode during a first portion of the first period, and in the second mode during a second portion of the first period.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an energy storage system capable of receiving electrical energy from an energy source and further capable of supplying electrical energy to a first load during a first period and to the first load during a second period, wherein the first load differs in usage rate from the first period relative to the second period; and

a system controller that is operable to maintain the energy storage system such that the energy storage system maintains a first amount of stored electrical energy during a first mode, and a second amount of electrical energy during a second mode, and the system controller maintains the energy storage system in the first mode during a first portion of the first period, and in the second mode during a second portion of the first period.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the energy storage system comprises one or more of batteries, fly wheels, fuel cells, flow cells, capacitors, or geothermal systems.

3. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the batteries comprise sodium batteries selected from the group consisting of sodium metal halide and sodium sulfur.

4. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the fuel cells comprise one or both of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell or a solid oxide fuel cell.

5. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the energy source is an electrical utility grid.

6. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the energy source is a combustion engine driven generator.

7. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first load is a power supply for a datacenter, healthcare center, or industrial manufacturer.

8. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first load is a power supply for a residential consumer.

9. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first load is a power supply for a telecommunication base station.

10. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the first period is Peak time for usage rate, and the second period is Off-Peak time for usage rate.

11. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the system controller is operable to affect a change of the energy storage system from the second mode to the first mode during the second period.

12. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the system controller is operable to determine a duration of the second mode based on one or more of the usage rate, a capacity of the energy storage system, a hazard warning indicative of an outage or forecast outage, or energy source factors.

13. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the usage rate is the peak usage rate, and is the maximum usage rate estimated for the first period.

14. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the usage rate is a measured rate.

15. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the usage rate is an estimated rate based on one or more of time of day, day of week, season of year, presence of a holiday or an event, or environmental conditions.

16. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the capacity of the energy storage system is a measured capacity.

17. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the capacity of the energy storage system is an estimated capacity based on age of the components, individually or on average, or history of usage.

18. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the hazard warning indicative of an outage comprises a weather related notice, or a sensor reading for one or more of ambient temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, or seismic activity.

19. The system as defined in claim 11, wherein the energy source factors comprise one or more of availability, cost, environmental effect, or component life cycle impact.

20. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the availability factor includes solar availability or wind availability.

21. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the environmental effect comprises one or more of NOx, SOx, carbon emissions, noise, or particulate matter.

22. The system as defined in claim 19, wherein the environmental effect comprises one or more ambient environmental factors such as an ozone measurement, humidity, salinity, wind speed, wind direction, or ultraviolet index.

23. A method for controlling an electrical back-up system for supplying back-up power to a load during at least a peak usage period, comprising:

determining required capacity in hours based on a determined load, and on one or both of empirical outage data or regulatory minimums;

maintaining a determined capacity during a first portion of the peak usage period; and

paying out energy from an energy storage system to the load during a second portion of the period in anticipation of a reduced capacity need in energy during a second off-peak period.

24. The method as defined in claim 23, further comprising determine recharge rate for the energy storage system.

25. The method as defined in claim 23, further comprising determine current capacity of the energy storage system.

26. The method as defined in claim 23, further comprising comparing the current capacity to the minimum required capacity.

27. A system, comprising:

an energy source capable of providing electrical power for a supply period, and the energy source does not provide power during one or more non-supply periods, and the non-supply period is intermittent periods or unpredictable;

a power backup unit coupleable to a load in response to a demand during the non-supply period;

an energy storage system coupled to an energy converter; and

a controller that controls the power back-up unit to;

retain a dynamic determined power reserve level based on one or more of a usage rate, a capacity of the energy storage system, a state of charge of the energy storage system, a hazard warning indicative of an outage or a forecast outage;

or

expend at least a portion of the determined power reserve level to i.) generate an economic advantage relative to consuming power from the energy source, and ii.) maintain a statistical uptime level greater than a determined threshold;

or

charge the energy storage system from the energy converter to generate an economic advantage relative to consuming power from the energy source.

28. The system as defined in claim 27, wherein the energy converter is a solar-based or wind-based energy generation system.