Alternative energy system control method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A method of controlling a multivariable alternative energy system comprising:
- monitoring a plurality of control variables of interest in the system;
selecting one of the control variables for regulation control and regulating the selected control variable relative to a desired setpoint while continuing to monitor the remaining ones of the control variables; and
selectively switching regulation control over to one of the remaining ones of the control variables and regulating that control variable relative to a desired setpoint if that control variable is detected as exceeding an allowed value;
wherein the multivariable alternative energy system is configured to operate from an electrical energy storage device (EESD) and an alternative energy generation device (AEGD), the method further comprising coupling an EESD input of the system to a dc bus through a first power flow control device that controls power flow between the EESD and the dc bus, and coupling an AEGD input to the dc bus through a reverse blocking circuit configured to prevent current flow from the dc bus into the AEGD.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A multivariable control system provides regulation for a plurality of control variables of interest based on selecting a particular one of the variables for regulation relative to a corresponding setpoint, while continuing to monitor the other variables and switching regulation control over to another one of the variables as needed to maintain all of them within their allowed ranges. The system includes one or more PID regulators that tune themselves for the particular variables selected for regulation control. In an exemplary embodiment, the control system is configured for controlling an alternative energy system, wherein it includes one or more power flow devices that control power flow between electrical energy storage devices (EESDs) and a common dc bus and/or power flow between the dc bus and an external ac electrical system.
79 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method of controlling a multivariable alternative energy system comprising:
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monitoring a plurality of control variables of interest in the system; selecting one of the control variables for regulation control and regulating the selected control variable relative to a desired setpoint while continuing to monitor the remaining ones of the control variables; and selectively switching regulation control over to one of the remaining ones of the control variables and regulating that control variable relative to a desired setpoint if that control variable is detected as exceeding an allowed value; wherein the multivariable alternative energy system is configured to operate from an electrical energy storage device (EESD) and an alternative energy generation device (AEGD), the method further comprising coupling an EESD input of the system to a dc bus through a first power flow control device that controls power flow between the EESD and the dc bus, and coupling an AEGD input to the dc bus through a reverse blocking circuit configured to prevent current flow from the dc bus into the AEGD. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A multivariable control apparatus to control at least a portion of a multivariable alternative energy control system, the apparatus comprising:
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a first power flow device to couple an electrical energy storage device (EESD) to a dc bus within the alternative energy control system, the first power flow device being configured to control power flow between the EESD; a reverse blocking circuit to couple an alternative energy generation device (AEGD) to the dc bus, the reverse blocking circuit being configured to prevent current from flowing into the AEGD from the dc bus; one or more monitoring circuits configured to generate error signals relative to desired setpoints for a corresponding plurality of control variables of interest in the system; and a control circuit configured to select one of the control variables for regulation control and regulate the selected control variable based on the corresponding error signal, and further configured selectively to switch regulation control over to any of the remaining ones of the control variables responsive to detecting that any one of the remaining control variables is exceeding an allowed value. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A multivariable control apparatus for controlling an alternative energy system, the apparatus comprising:
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a first power flow device to control power flow between an electrical energy storage device (EESD) associated with the system and a dc bus included within the system; a reverse blocking circuit to couple an alternative energy generation device (AEGD) to the dc bus and prevent reverse current flow from the dc bus into the AEGD; an ac inverter to generate ac power from dc power supplied by the dc bus; and a multivariable control circuit to monitor a set of control variables comprising two or more of an EESD voltage, an EESD current, an AEGD current, and a dc bus voltage; said multivariable control circuit configured to control the first power flow device in one or more operating modes of the alternative energy system to regulate a selected one of the control variables relative to a corresponding desired setpoint, and to change which control variable is selected for regulation control responsive to detecting that a non-selected control variable is exceeding an allowed value. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A computer readable medium storing a computer program for controlling a multivariable alternative energy system, the computer program comprising:
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program instructions to monitor a plurality of control variables of interest in the system including two or more of an electrical energy storage device (EESD) current, an EESD voltage, an alternative energy generation device (AEGD) current, and a dc bus voltage; program instructions to select one of the control variables for regulation control and regulate the selected control variable relative to a desired setpoint while continuing to monitor the remaining ones of the control variables; and program instructions to selectively switch regulation control over to one of the remaining ones of the control variables and regulate that control variable relative to a desired setpoint if that control variable is detected as exceeding an allowed value; wherein the system includes an ac inverter coupled to an external electrical system and configured to generate ac power from dc power supplied by a dc bus within the system, a first power flow device to couple the EESD to the dc bus and to control power flow between the EESD and the dc bus, and a reverse blocking circuit to couple the AEGD to the dc bus and to prevent reverse current from flowing into the AEGD from the dc bus. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46)
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Specification