Cloud Based Energy System

• US 20160156189A1
• Filed: 02/08/2016
• Published: 06/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Song Ci
• Original Assignee: Song Ci
• Inventors: Ci, Song
• Application Number:
  US15/018,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20160156189A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/263 Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC G06F1/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/425 Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing printed circuits H05K1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2010/4271 Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 2220/20 Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/38 Arrangements for parallely feeding a single network by two or more generators, converters or transformers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 10/30 Wind power
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/70 Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/12 Monitoring or controlling equipment for energy generation units, e.g. distributed energy generation [DER] or load-side generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/221 General power management systems

Abstract

Cloud based energy systems and methods for managing the cloud based energy systems are disclosed. A cloud based energy system (may be referred to simply as “energy cloud”) in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may be configured to share its energy resources and data to various energy-producing, energy-consuming, and/or energy-storage devices connected to the energy cloud. Such a configuration may enable ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable energy resources, providing users with various capabilities to store and to retrieve energy as needed.

Claims

1. A distributed power system, comprising:

a plurality of nodes connected to an energy network,

each particular node of the plurality of nodes comprising at least one of;

an energy-producing device, an energy-consuming device, and an energy-storage device;

each particular node of the plurality of nodes further comprising a network interface card, the network interface card of each particular node configured to;

determine whether a level of power supply available to the particular node is sufficient to meet a level of demand required at the particular node;

conditionally request supplemental power from the energy network when the level of power supply available to the particular node is insufficient to meet the level of demand required at the particular node; and

conditionally release supplemental power to the energy network upon receiving a request from the energy network when the level of power supply available to the particular node is sufficient to meet the level of demand required at the particular node.

2. The distributed power system of claim 1, wherein the network interface cards of the plurality of nodes are configured to facilitate exchange of power and data with each other over the energy network.

3. The distributed power system of claim 2, wherein the network interface cards of the plurality of nodes are jointly configured to determine an output power required from each particular node of the plurality of nodes based on the level of power supply available to the particular node and the level of demand required at the particular node.

4. The distributed power system of claim 3, wherein the network interface cards of the plurality of nodes are jointly configured to:

identify the nodes that have insufficient levels of power supply; and

adjust output power of the nodes that have sufficient levels of power supply to provide supplemental power to the nodes that have insufficient levels of power supply.

5. The distributed power system of claim 1, wherein the nodes are distributed.

6. A network interface card for a node connected to an energy network, the network interface card comprising:

at least one electrical connector;

at least one data connector; and

at least one controller in communication with the at least one electrical connector and the at least one data connector, the at least one controller configured to;

determine whether a level of power supply available to the node is sufficient to meet a level of demand required at the node;

conditionally request supplemental power from the energy network when the level of power supply available to the node is insufficient to meet the level of demand required at the node; and

conditionally release supplemental power to the energy network via the at least one electrical connector upon receiving a request from the energy network via at least one data connector when the level of power supply available to the node is sufficient to meet the level of demand required at the node.

7. The network interface card of claim 6, wherein the network interface card and network interface cards of other nodes connected to the energy network are configured to facilitate exchange of power and data with each other over the energy network.

8. The network interface card of claim 7, wherein the network interface card and network interface cards of other nodes connected to the energy network are jointly configured to determine an output power required from each node connected to the energy network based on the level of power supply available to each node and the level of demand required at each node.

9. The network interface card of claim 8, wherein the network interface card and network interface cards of other nodes connected to the energy network are jointly configured to:

identify the nodes connected to the energy network that have insufficient levels of power supply; and

adjust output power of the nodes connected to the energy network that have sufficient levels of power supply to provide supplemental power to the nodes that have insufficient levels of power supply.

10. A method for managing a distributed power system, the distributed power system including a plurality of nodes connected to an energy network, the method comprising:

for each node i of the plurality of nodes, determining whether the node i have sufficient power supply based on a level of power supply available to the node i and a level of demand required at the node i;

identifying a set of nodes that have insufficient power supply; and

adjusting output power of the nodes that have sufficient power supply to provide supplemental power to the set of nodes that have insufficient power supply.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein adjusting output power of the nodes that have sufficient power supply further comprises:

calculating a supplemental power needed for each node i in the set of nodes that have insufficient power supply;

determining an optimal solution for providing the supplemental power needed for each node i in the set of nodes that have insufficient power supply; and

adjusting output power of the nodes that have sufficient power supply to provide supplemental power to the set of nodes that have insufficient power supply based on the determined optimal solution.