Modular power plants for machines

• US 9,630,614 B1
• Filed: 01/28/2016
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MIQ LLC
• Original Assignee: MIQ LLC
• Inventors: Hill, William McGinley, Livesay, Adam Monroe, Schwasnick, Steven Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim, Kyung
• Application Number:
  US15/009,566
• Time in Patent Office: 453 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00428 electric
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/003 to auxiliary motors, e.g. for pumps, compressors
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 1/02 to electric heating circuits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/36 Vehicles designed to transport cargo, e.g. trucks
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2200/40 Working vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/622 by satellite navigation
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/15 with additional electric power supply with capacitors charged by engine-driven generators B60L50/40; with batteries charged by engine-driven generators B60L50/61
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/06 including control of combustion engines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/08 including control of electric propulsion units, e.g. motors or generators
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/26 for electrical energy, e.g. batteries or capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 20/13 in order to stay within battery power input or output limits; in order to prevent overcharging or battery depletion
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0677 Engine power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/086 Power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/242 for electrical energy
• CPC Class Codes: F02B 63/047 Movable engine-generator combinations on wheels
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/88 : Optimized components or subsystems, e.g. lighting, actively controlled glasses
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 903/93 : Conjoint control of different elements

Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards modular power plants that provide power to operate machines. A power plant is a combustion-electric hybrid power plant that includes at least one or more engines, one or more generators, and one or more battery arrays. The battery arrays include one or more modular batteries. Rather than the engine directly providing power to the machine, the engine and generators charge the batteries. The batteries provide the power required to operate the machine. A user may vary the maximum power output of the power plant by varying the number and/or type of modular batteries included in the one or more battery arrays. The specific configuration of the batteries may be based on the power requirements of the machine'"'"'s expected usage or operation. The power plant is configured to a specific machine application by installing and/or removing batteries from the battery arrays based on the machine'"'"'s power requirements.

Claims

1. A system to manage an operation of a machine, comprising:

a modular power plant configured to provide power to the machine, including;

one or more engines that generate mechanical energy;

one or more generators that convert at least a portion of the mechanical energy into electrical energy; and

a plurality of batteries that store at least a portion of the electrical energy; and

a network computing device that executes logical operations to perform actions, comprising;

providing a machine type based on both an amount and a component type of one or more components that are coupled to the machine;

dynamically providing a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold associated with electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine, wherein the thresholds are based on one or more of the machine type, a geo-location of the machine, or a peak amount of electrical energy that is currently available from the plurality of batteries; and

providing the power to operate the machine, wherein the power includes one or more of electrical energy or mechanical energy.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the power plant is integrated with a skid that is mechanically couplable to the machine.

3. The system of claim 1, the actions further comprising:

providing a current configuration of the power plant, wherein the current configuration of the power plant includes at least a current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries; and

dynamically determining the minimum threshold and the maximum threshold associated with electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine based on at least the current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the power plant further includes at least one of:

a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially controls environmental conditions within a cabin of the machine and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system;

or

a cooling system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially cools the one or more engines and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system.

5. The system of claim 1, the actions further comprising:

providing an expected machine usage based on at least one of the machine type, the geo-location of the machine, or a previously determined machine usage, wherein the expected machine usage includes at least a maximum power required for the expected machine usage; and

determining a minimum number of batteries based on the maximum power required to provide the expected machine usage such that when the plurality of batteries includes the minimum number of batteries, the maximum threshold associated with the electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine corresponds to the maximum power required for the expected machine usage.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a plurality of component identification (ID) Tags that separately store component identification data, wherein each of the plurality of ID Tags corresponds to one of the one or more components that are coupled to the machine and the component identification data includes at least a component type, wherein the actions further comprise:

communicating the component identification data;

determining a combination of the component types based on at least the component identification data; and

automatically determining the machine type based on a comparison of the combination of the component types and one or more previously provided combinations of component types that correspond to a previously determined machine type.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the power plant further includes

one or more switches that selectively electrically couple each of the plurality of batteries to one or more power busses that provide the power to operate the machine and the actions further comprises:

employing the one or more switches to selectively couple at least one of the plurality of batteries to the one or more power buses based on at least an expected machine usage.

8. A method to manage an operation of a machine, wherein the execution of instructions, by one or more processors, performs actions to operate the machine, comprising:

employing one or more engines to generate mechanical energy;

employing one or more generators to convert at least a portion of the mechanical energy into electrical energy;

employing a plurality of batteries to store at least a portion of the electrical energy, wherein the one or more engines, the one or more generators, and the plurality of batteries are included in a modular power plant adapted for providing power to the machine, wherein the power plant is integrated with a skid that is mechanically couplable to the machine;

providing a machine type based on both an amount and a component type of one or more components that are coupled to the machine;

dynamically providing a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold associated with electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine, wherein the thresholds are based on one or more of the machine type, a geo-location of the machine, or a peak amount of electrical energy that is currently available from the plurality of batteries; and

providing the power to operate the machine, wherein the power includes one or more of electrical energy or mechanical energy.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

providing a current configuration of the power plant, wherein the current configuration of the power plant includes at least a current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries; and

dynamically determining the minimum threshold and the maximum threshold associated with electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine based on at least the current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the power plant further includes at least one of:

a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially controls environmental conditions within a cabin of the machine and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system;

or

a cooling system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially cools the one or more engines and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

providing an expected machine usage based on at least one of the machine type, the geo-location of the machine, or a previously determined machine usage, wherein the expected machine usage includes at least a maximum power required for the expected machine usage; and

determining a minimum number of batteries based on the maximum power required to provide the expected machine usage such that when the plurality of batteries includes the minimum number of batteries, wherein the maximum threshold associated with the electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine corresponds to the maximum power required for the expected machine usage.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

communicating, to a computer, component identification data separately stored in each of a plurality of component identification (ID) Tags that correspond to at least one of the one or more components coupled that are coupled to the machine, wherein the component identification data includes at least a component type

determining a combination of the component types based on at least the component identification data; and

automatically determining the machine type further based on a comparison of the combination of the component types and one or more previously provided combinations of component types that correspond to a previously determined machine type.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the power plant further includes one or more switches that selectively electrically couple each of the plurality of batteries to one or more power busses that provide the power to operate the machine, wherein the method further comprises:

employing the one or more switches to selectively couple at least one of the plurality of batteries to the one or more power buses based on at least an expected machine usage.

14. A processor readable non-transitory storage media that includes instructions to manage an operation of a machine, wherein the execution of the instructions by a processor performs actions, comprising:

providing a machine type for the machine based on both an amount and a component type of one or more components that are coupled to the machine;

dynamically providing a minimum threshold and a maximum threshold for electrical energy provided by a plurality of batteries to the machine, wherein the thresholds are based on one or more of the machine type, a geo-location of the machine, or a peak amount of electrical energy that is currently available from the plurality of batteries; and

employing a modular power plant to provide the power to operate the machine, wherein the power includes one or more of electrical energy or mechanical energy and the modular power plant includes;

one or more engines that generate mechanical energy;

one or more generators that convert at least a portion of the mechanical energy into electrical energy; and

the plurality of batteries, wherein the plurality of batteries store at least a portion of the electrical energy.

15. The media of claim 14, the actions further comprising:

providing a current configuration of the power plant, wherein the current configuration of the power plant includes at least a current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries; and

dynamically determining the minimum threshold and the maximum threshold associated with electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine based on at least the current number of batteries included in the plurality of batteries.

16. The media of claim 14, wherein the power plant further includes at least one of:

a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially controls environmental conditions within a cabin of the machine and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system;

or

a cooling system that during the operation of the machine, at least partially cools the one or more engines and at least one of the one or more generators or the plurality of batteries provide power to the HVAC system.

17. The media of claim 14, the actions further comprising:

providing an expected machine usage based on at least one of the machine type, the geo-location of the machine, or a previously determined machine usage, wherein the expected machine usage includes at least a maximum power required to provide the expected machine usage; and

determining a minimum number of batteries based on the maximum power required for the expected machine usage such that when the plurality of batteries includes the minimum number of batteries, the maximum threshold for the electrical energy provided by the plurality of batteries to the machine corresponds to the maximum power required for the expected machine usage.

18. The media of claim 14, the actions further comprising:

communicating component identification data separately stored in each of a plurality of component identification (ID) Tags that correspond to at least one of the one or more components coupled that are coupled to the machine, wherein the component identification data includes at least a component type

determining a combination of the component types based on at least the component identification data; and

automatically determining the machine type further based on a comparison of the combination of the component types and one or more previously provided combinations of component types that correspond to a previously determined machine type.

19. The media of claim 14, wherein the power plant further includes one or more switches that selectively electrically couple each of the plurality of batteries to one or more power busses that provide the power to operate the machine, the actions further comprising:

employing the one or more switches to selectively couple at least one of the plurality of batteries to the one or more power buses based on at least an expected machine usage.