Staggering and feathering of demand response and energy supply change in a managed electrical system

• US 8,880,235 B2
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Greene, Daniel H., Hindi, Haitham A. S., Price, Robert R., Preas, Bryan T., Hanley, John
• Primary Examiner(s): BARNES-BULLOCK, CRYSTAL JOY
• Application Number:
  US13/296,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 700/291, 700/292, 700295-297, 307/11, 307 18- 20, 307/112, 307/116, 307/125, 307/126
• US Class Current: 700/296
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2203/20 Simulating, e g planning, reliability check, modelling or computer assisted design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 2310/44 for aircrafts
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/003 Load forecast, e.g. methods or systems for forecasting future load demand
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 3/14 by switching loads on to, or off from, network, e.g. progressively balanced loading
• 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 70/3225 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 50/50 On board measures aiming to increase energy efficiency
• 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 20/222 Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/20 Information technology specific aspects, e.g. CAD, simulation, modelling, system security

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention provides an energy-management system for managing energy within a predominantly closed power system. During operation, the system obtains one or more control actions that control energy transitions of a plurality of components, receives transitional characteristics associated with the components, and schedules the energy transitions by generating a set of offsets. A respective offset results in a delay of at least one energy transition.

Claims

1. A method for managing energy within a predominantly closed power system, comprising:

obtaining one or more control actions that control energy transitions of a plurality of components;

receiving transitional characteristics associated with the energy transitions;

identifying, based on the transitional characteristics of the energy transition, one or more additive energy transitions and one or more subtractive energy transitions; and

scheduling the energy transitions by generating a set of offsets, wherein a respective offset involves delaying at least one energy transition, and wherein scheduling the energy transitions involves one of;

scheduling all additive energy transitions ahead of all subtractive energy transitions; and

staggering a number of subtractive energy transitions between consecutive additive energy transitions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transitional characteristics associated with a transition include at least one of:

amount of power change;

a duration time constant;

an accuracy figure; and

a feathering capability.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the control actions involves performing an optimization based on performance models associated with the components.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the control actions include at least one of:

demand response of a load;

activation of a source; and

energy withdrawal from a storage.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising feathering an energy transition.

6. An energy-management system for managing energy within a predominantly closed power system, comprising:

a control-action obtaining mechanism configured to obtain one or more control actions that control energy transitions of a plurality of components;

a receiving mechanism configured to receive transitional characteristics associated with the energy transitions;

an identification mechanism configured to identify, based on the transitional characteristics of the energy transition, one or more additive energy transitions and one or more subtractive energy transitions; and

a scheduling mechanism configured to schedule the energy transitions by generating a set of offsets, wherein a respective offset involves delaying at least one energy transition, and wherein while scheduling the energy transitions, the scheduling mechanism is configured to perform one of;

scheduling all additive energy transitions ahead of all subtractive energy transitions; and

staggering a number of subtractive energy transitions between consecutive additive energy transitions.

7. The energy-management system of claim 6, wherein the transitional characteristics associated with a transition include at least one of:

amount of power change;

a duration time constant;

an accuracy figure; and

a feathering capability.

8. The energy-management system of claim 6, wherein while obtaining the control actions, the control-action obtaining mechanism is configured to perform an optimization based on performance models associated with the components.

9. The energy-management system of claim 6, wherein the control actions include at least one of:

demand response of a load;

activation of a source; and

energy withdrawal from a storage.

10. The energy-management system of claim 6, further comprising a feathering mechanism configured to feather an energy transition.

11. A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for managing energy within a predominantly closed power system, the method comprising:

obtaining one or more control actions that control energy transitions of a plurality of components;

receiving transitional characteristics associated with the components;

identifying, based on the transitional characteristics of the energy transition, one or more additive energy transitions and one or subtractive energy transitions; and

scheduling the energy transitions by generating a set of offsets, wherein a respective offset involves delaying at least one energy transition, and wherein scheduling the energy transitions involves one of;

scheduling all additive energy transitions ahead of all subtractive energy transitions; and

staggering a number of subtractive energy transitions between consecutive additive energy transitions.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the transitional characteristics associated with a transition include at least one of:

amount of power change;

a duration time constant;

an accuracy figure; and

a feathering capability.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein obtaining the control actions involves performing an optimization based on performance models associated with the components.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the control actions include at least one of:

demand response of a load;

activation of a source; and

energy withdrawal from a storage.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises feathering an energy transition.