Fuel Cell Power for Data Center Uses

• US 20130253716A1
• Filed: 03/18/2013
• Published: 09/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bloom Energy Corporation
• Original Assignee: Bloom Energy Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, James Daniel, Ballantine, Arne, Gross, Peter, Gopinath, Rajesh
• Granted Patent: US 10,203,735 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/287
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C

Abstract

Systems and methods include a power module comprising at least one fuel cell generator for powering a load, and a bypass mechanism having a first, normally-open fast-acting switch that closes in 1-250 msec, and a second, normally-open switch in parallel with the first switch, the bypass mechanism being electrically connected between the load and a second power source, such as a grid source, where the first switch is configured to close in response to a fault event such that when the first switch is closed power to the load is provided from the second power source through the first switch, and the second switch closes after a predetermined time such that power to the load from the second source is provided through the second switch. Additional methods and systems include providing power to a plurality of loads using fuel cell power generators.

Claims

1. A power generation system, comprising:

a power module comprising at least one fuel cell generator configured to generate an output power for powering a load; and

a bypass mechanism comprising a first switch that is configured to close from an open state in 1-250 msec, and a second switch in parallel with the first switch, the bypass mechanism being electrically connected between the load and a second power source, wherein the first and second switches are normally open, and the first switch is configured to close in response to a fault event such that when the first switch is closed power is provided from the second power source through the first switch to the load, and wherein the second switch is configured to close after a predetermined time after the first switch closes such that when the second switch is closed power from the second source is provided through the second switch to the load.

2. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the fault event comprises at least one of a power module output power failure, a power module output power drop, a spike in load power demand and a fault condition in the load.

3. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the first switch comprises a solid-state switch.

4. The power generation system of claim 3, wherein the first switch comprises a silicon-controlled rectifier (SCR) switch.

5. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the first switch is configured to close from an open state in about 20-100 msec.

6. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the second switch comprises a mechanical switch.

7. The power generation system of claim 6, wherein the second switch comprises a contactor or relay.

8. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the first switch opens after the second switch closes.

9. The power generation system of claim 1, further comprising a power conditioning component electrically coupled between the power module and the load.

10. The power generation system of claim 9, wherein the power conditioning component comprises an uninterruptable power module (UPM).

11. The power generation system of claim 10, further comprising a bus connecting the output of the at least one fuel cell generator to the UPM.

12. The power generation system of claim 11, wherein at least one additional distributed power source is coupled to the bus to provide power to the load during startup of the power module.

13. The power generation system of claim 12, wherein the at least one additional distributed power source comprises at least one of a solar generator and a wind generator.

14. The power generation system of claim 9, further comprising a second power conditioning component electrically coupled between the power module and the second power source.

15. The power generation system of claim 14, wherein the second power source comprises a grid source, and the power module provides excess power to the second source via the second power conditioning component.

16. The power generation system of claim 15, wherein the second power conditioning component comprises an input output module (IOM).

17. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the second power source comprises an AC grid source.

18. The power generation system of claim 17, further comprising a synchronization circuit configured to maintain the power output to the load from the power module in phase synchronization with the AC grid source.

19. The power generation system of claim 1, further comprising a circuit breaker or fuse connected between the load and the power module and bypass mechanism such that a short to ground at the load will cause power to flow from the second source via the bypass mechanism and trip the circuit breaker or fuse to stop the load from receiving power.

20. The power generation system of claim 1, further comprising a normally closed contactor connected in series with the first switch.

21. The power generation system of claim 1, wherein the load comprises a data center information technology (IT) load.

22. A power generation system, comprising:

a power module comprising at least one fuel cell generator configured to generate an output power for powering a load;

a first switch connected between the power module and a first power feed of the load and configured to switch between a first state in which power is delivered to the first power feed of the load from the power module and a second state in which power is delivered to the first power feed of the load from a second power source; and

a second switch connected between the power module and a second power feed of the load and configured to switch between a first state in which power is delivered to the first power feed of the load from the power module and a second state in which power is delivered to the first power feed of the load from a second power source, wherein at least one of the first switch and the second switch is configured to switch between the first state and the second state within 1-250 msec in response to a fault event.

23. The power generation system of claim 22, wherein the second power source comprises a grid source.

24. The power generation system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first switch and the second switch comprises a static transfer switch (STS).

25. The power generation system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first switch and the second switch comprises a solid-state switch.

26. The power generation system of claim 23, wherein at least one of the first switch and the second switch are configured to select between the power module output and the grid output in a power-seeking fashion.

27. The power generation system of claim 22, wherein the fault event comprises at least one of a power module output power failure, a power module output power drop, a spike in load power demand, a fault condition in the load, and a failure of the second power source.

28. A method for providing power to a load, comprising:

operating a power module comprising at least one fuel cell generator to provide output power to a load;

closing a first switch in 1-250 msec in response to a fault event to provide power to the load through the first switch from a second power source; and

closing a second switch, located in parallel with the first switch, after a predetermined time to provide power to the load through the second switch from the second power source.

29. A method for providing power to a load, comprising:

operating a power module comprising at least one fuel cell generator to provide output power to a first power feed of a load via a first switch and to a second power feed of a load via a second switch, wherein the first switch and the second switch are configured to select between the power module output and the output of a second power source; and

actuating at least one of the first switch and the second switch in 1-250 msec in response to a fault event to transition between the power module output and the output of the second power source.

30. A method of providing power to a plurality of loads, comprising:

prioritizing the plurality of loads;

connecting the loads to buses based on the load priority;

connecting fuel cell power modules to the buses to provide a desired redundancy factor for the loads on each bus; and

operating the fuel cell power modules to provide power to the loads via the buses.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

controlling a power output of the fuel cell power modules such that the total power output of the fuel cell power modules connected to each bus is approximately equal to the total load on each bus.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

monitoring a load requirement and the power output of the fuel cell power modules for each bus.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to determining that the load requirement exceeds the power output of the fuel cell power modules on a particular bus, performing at least one of:

increasing the fuel cell power module output power;

redeploying fuel cell modules to the particular bus from another bus based on load priority;

adding stored energy to the particular bus from an energy storage device; and

shedding one or more loads from the particular bus based on load priority.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to determining that the redundancy factor of the loads of a particular bus is increased, performing at least one of:

redeploying fuel cell modules to the particular bus from another bus based on load priority; and

shedding one or more loads from the particular bus based on load priority.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to determining that the power output of the fuel cell power modules exceeds the load requirement on a particular bus, performing at least one of:

decreasing the fuel cell power module output power;

redeploying one or more fuel cell power modules from the particular bus to another bus based on load priority;

charging an energy storage device; and

connecting at least one additional load to the particular bus based on load priority.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein in response to determining that the redundancy factor of the loads on a particular bus is decreased, performing at least one of:

redeploying one or more fuel cell power modules from the particular bus to another bus based on load priority; and

connecting at least one additional load to the particular bus based on load priority.

37. A system for providing power to a plurality of loads, comprising:

a plurality of fuel cell power modules;

a plurality of power buses configured such that one or more loads may be connected to each bus and one or more fuel cell power modules may be connected to each bus to provide output power to the loads; and

a controller, coupled to the plurality of fuel cell power modules and the plurality of buses and having a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

prioritizing the plurality of loads;

connecting the loads to the plurality of buses based on the load priority;

connecting at least one fuel cell power module to each bus to provide a desired redundancy factor for the loads on each bus; and

operating the fuel cell power modules to provide power to the loads via the buses.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

controlling a power output of the fuel cell power modules such that the total power output of the fuel cell power modules connected to each bus is approximately equal to the total load on each bus.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations further comprising:

monitoring a load requirement and power output of the fuel cell power modules for each bus.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that in response to determining that the load requirement exceeds the power output of the fuel cell power modules on a particular bus, the controller performs at least one of:

increasing the fuel cell power module output power;

redeploying fuel cell modules to the particular bus from another bus based on load priority;

adding stored energy to the particular bus from an energy storage device; and

shedding one or more loads from the particular bus based on load priority.

41. The system of claim 39, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that in response to determining that the redundancy factor of the loads of a particular bus is increased, the controller performs at least one of:

redeploying fuel cell modules to the particular bus from another bus based on load priority; and

shedding one or more loads from the particular bus based on load priority.

42. The system of claim 39, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that in response to determining that the power output of the fuel cell power modules exceeds the load requirement on a particular bus, the controller performs at least one of:

decreasing the fuel cell power module output power;

redeploying one or more fuel cell power modules from the particular bus to another bus based on load priority;

charging an energy storage device; and

connecting at least one additional load to the particular bus based on load priority.

43. The system of claim 39, wherein the controller processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that in response to determining that the redundancy factor of the loads on a particular bus is decreased, the controller performs at least one of:

redeploying one or more fuel cell power modules from the particular bus to another bus based on load priority; and

connecting at least one additional load to the particular bus based on load priority.

44. The system of claim 37, further comprising a first plurality of contactors configured such that each load may be selectively connected to and disconnected from any one of a plurality of buses.

45. The system of claim 44, further comprising a second plurality of contactors configured such that each fuel cell power module may be selectively connected to and disconnected from any one of the plurality of buses.

46. The system of claim 37, further comprising:

at least one tie breaker configured to selectively connect at least two buses to share loads between a plurality of fuel cell power modules.

47. The system of claim 37, wherein the at least one tie breaker connects the at least two buses in a ring bus configuration.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the at least one tie breaker connects the at least two buses in a star bus configuration.