Microgrid Control System

• US 20120101639A1
• Filed: 10/21/2010
• Published: 04/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Carralero, Michael A., Quiambao, Jimmy M., Pounds, Dale Kenneth
• Granted Patent: US 8,682,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/286
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product is provided for configuring a microgrid. A first configuration of the microgrid having a set of microgrid elements is initialized. An address for each element in the set of microgrid elements of the microgrid is verified. In response to receiving status data from the set of microgrid elements connected in a peer-to-peer network indicating a reconfiguration of the microgrid, the set of microgrid elements is re-aligned to form a second grid configuration. The second grid configuration is executed.

Claims

1. A method for configuring a microgrid, the method comprising:

initializing a first configuration of the microgrid having a set of microgrid elements;

verifying an address for each element in the set of microgrid elements;

responsive to receiving status data from the set of microgrid elements connected in a peer-to-peer network that indicates a reconfiguration of the microgrid, re-aligning the set of microgrid elements to form a second grid configuration; and

executing the second grid configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of microgrid elements comprises at least one of a sensor associated with a distributed energy resource, a controller associated with the distributed energy resource, a processor, a router, and a managed Ethernet switch.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to the status data indicating a master processor has failed, re-designating a functional slave processor as a re-configured master processor.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing a live test of the first configuration, wherein the live test comprises pinging the each element in the set of microgrid elements.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending the status data generated by a controller element within the set of microgrid elements to a set of distributed energy resource processors on the microgrid using the peer-to-peer network; and

sending the status data generated by a distributed energy cluster processor to every processor in the set of distributed energy resource.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network and wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises a peer-to-peer controller network connecting to each controller element in the set of microgrid elements, and further comprising:

sending the status data generated by a first controller element on the microgrid to a second controller element in the set of microgrid elements using the controller network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network and wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises a processor network connecting each distributed energy resource processor in a set of cluster processors in the peer-to-peer network within the microgrid local area network, and further comprising:

sending status data generated by a first cluster processor on the microgrid to a second cluster processor in the set of cluster processors using the processor network, wherein the status data comprises at least one of a state of health of an element in the set of microgrid elements and a measurement of a load associated with a distributed energy resource.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

permitting remote clients using an Internet connection to access a microgrid local area network only through a single, common redundant network port, wherein a set of cyber-security methods and tools are implemented on the single, common redundant network port;

permitting the remote clients to access the status data and load data associated with the microgrid; and

denying the remote clients access to control functions associated with the microgrid.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying an average load and a common load associated with the set of microgrid elements.

10. A method for managing a microgrid, the method comprising:

receiving status data from a set of microgrid controller elements connected in a peer-to-peer controller network connecting the set of microgrid controller elements within a microgrid local area network of a microgrid;

responsive to the status data indicating a change in the microgrid that exceeds a threshold level, re-aligning the set of microgrid controller elements and a set of tasks associated with the set of microgrid controller elements to form a re-aligned microgrid configuration;

executing the re-aligned microgrid configuration.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving status data from a set of distributed energy resource cluster processors connected in a peer-to-peer processor network within the microgrid local area network.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

sending the status data generated by a first controller element on the microgrid to a second controller element in the set of microgrid controller elements; and

sending the status data generated by the controller element on the microgrid to every processor in a set of distributed energy resource cluster processors on the microgrid using a peer-to-peer processor network.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

sending processor status data generated by a first distributed energy cluster processor on the microgrid to each controller element in the set of microgrid controller elements; and

sending the processor status data generated by the distributed energy cluster processor to a second processor in a set of distributed energy resource cluster processors on the microgrid using a peer-to-peer processor network.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

responsive to the status data indicating a failure in a first controller element in the set of controller elements, assigning a function of the first controller element to a second controller element in the set of controller elements.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein a given managed Ethernet switch is connected to a single controller element in the set of controller elements.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a microgrid having a set of microgrid elements;

a microgrid controller associated with the microgrid configured to initialize a first configuration of the microgrid;

verify an address for each element in the set of microgrid elements;

re-align the set of microgrid elements to form a second grid configuration in response to receiving status data from the set of microgrid elements connected in a peer-to-peer network that indicates a reconfiguration of the microgrid; and

execute the second grid configuration.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising:

a set of two routers connected to a processor in a distributed energy resource cluster within the microgrid.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the set of elements comprises at least one of a sensor associated with the distributed energy resource, a controller associated with a distributed energy resource, a processor, a router, and a managed Ethernet switch.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the microgrid controller is further configured to perform a live test of the first configuration, wherein the live test comprises pinging the each element in the set of microgrid elements.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a local area network and wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises:

a peer-to-peer redundant ring controller network sending the status data generated by a controller element within the set of microgrid elements to a set of distributed energy resource processors on the microgrid using the peer-to-peer local area network; and

a peer-to-peer processor network sending the status data generated by a distributed energy cluster processor to every processor in the set of distributed energy resource.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network and further comprising:

a set of controller elements, wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises a controller network connecting each element in the set of controller elements to form a peer-to-peer controller network within the microgrid local area network

22. The apparatus of claim 21 further comprising:

a first controller element in the set of controller elements, wherein the first controller element is configured to send controller status data generated by the first controller element to a second controller element in the set of microgrid controller elements using the controller network.

23. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network and further comprising:

a set of processors, wherein the peer-to-peer network comprises a processor network connecting each distributed energy resource processor in the set of processors to form a peer-to-peer processor network within the microgrid local area network.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 further comprising:

a first processor in the set of processors configured to send processor status data generated by the first processor to a second processor in the set of processors using the processor network.

25. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising:

a single common redundant network port for Internet access to a microgrid local area network, wherein a remote client can access the microgrid local area network through the single common redundant network port, a set of cyber-security methods and tools are implemented on the single, common redundant network port; and

wherein the single common redundant network port is configured to permit remote clients access to status data and deny remote clients access to control functions associated with the microgrid.

26. A computer program product for configuring a microgrid, the computer program product comprising:

a computer recordable storage medium;

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for initializing a first configuration of the microgrid having a set of microgrid elements;

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for verifying an address for each element in the set of microgrid elements;

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for re-aligning the set of microgrid elements to form a second grid configuration in response to receiving status data from the set of microgrid elements connected in a peer-to-peer network that indicates a reconfiguration of the microgrid; and

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for executing the second grid configuration.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network and wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises a controller network and further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for connecting each controller element in the set of microgrid elements in the peer-to-peer controller network within the local area network; and

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for sending the status data generated by a first controller element on the microgrid to a second controller element in the set of microgrid elements using the controller network.

28. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the peer-to-peer network is a network within a microgrid local area network, wherein the peer-to-peer network further comprises a processor network connecting each distributed energy resource processor in a set of cluster processors in the peer-to-peer network within the microgrid local area network, and further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for sending status data generated by a first cluster processor on the microgrid to a second cluster processor in the set of cluster processors using the processor network.

29. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for permitting remote clients using an Internet connection to access the microgrid local area network only through a single, common redundant network port, wherein a set of cyber-security methods and tools are implemented on the single, common redundant network port;

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for permitting the remote clients to access the status data and load data associated with the microgrid; and

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for denying the remote clients access to control functions associated with the microgrid.

30. The computer program product of claim 26 further comprising:

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for sending the status data generated by a controller element within the set of microgrid elements to a set of distributed energy resource processors on the microgrid using the peer-to-peer local area network; and

program code, stored on the computer recordable storage medium, for sending the status data generated by a distributed energy cluster processor to every processor in the set of distributed energy resource.