Modular System for Unattended Energy Generation and Storage
First Claim
18. A method of providing energy to a load from a power supply system, said power supply system comprising an energy recharge unit, an energy converter with its input connected to the energy recharge unit and its output connected to an output node and coupled to a power transfer controller, a rechargeable energy storage unit, a bi-directional energy converter with its input connected to said rechargeable energy storage unit and its output connected to said output node, said output node being connected to an input of said load, said method comprising:
- exposing said energy recharge unit to a corresponding energy source as to produce electric energy;
determining via said power transfer controller whether a power level of said produced electric energy is above a predetermined power threshold in order to activate said energy converter;
converting said produced electric energy by said energy converter and delivering said converted electric energy to said load in order to meet at least part of a demand level of said load;
monitoring a voltage at said output node;
converting energy stored in said energy storage unit by said bi-directional energy converter to supplement said delivery of said converted produced energy to said load so as to maintain said output node voltage at a predetermined voltage level; and
converting said transferred energy to provide charging energy to said energy storage unit when said transferred energy exceeds a demand level of said load while maintaining said predetermined voltage level at said output node.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for supplying energy to a load includes an energy recharge unit, an energy storage unit, an energy converter connected to the energy recharge unit, the energy converter being capable of transferring energy at a power level from the energy recharge unit to an output node, the power level being determined by a power transfer controller, and a bi-directional energy converter connected to the energy storage unit and to the output node. The bi-directional energy converter is capable of converting energy of varying voltages from the energy storage unit to energy of varying current levels to supplement the transferred energy with energy from the energy storage unit so as to maintain a constant voltage on the output node. The bi-directional energy converter is capable of converting the transferred energy to provide charging energy to the energy storage unit when the transferred energy exceeds a demand level of the load while maintaining the constant voltage at the output node.
195 Citations
42 Claims
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18. A method of providing energy to a load from a power supply system, said power supply system comprising an energy recharge unit, an energy converter with its input connected to the energy recharge unit and its output connected to an output node and coupled to a power transfer controller, a rechargeable energy storage unit, a bi-directional energy converter with its input connected to said rechargeable energy storage unit and its output connected to said output node, said output node being connected to an input of said load, said method comprising:
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exposing said energy recharge unit to a corresponding energy source as to produce electric energy; determining via said power transfer controller whether a power level of said produced electric energy is above a predetermined power threshold in order to activate said energy converter; converting said produced electric energy by said energy converter and delivering said converted electric energy to said load in order to meet at least part of a demand level of said load; monitoring a voltage at said output node; converting energy stored in said energy storage unit by said bi-directional energy converter to supplement said delivery of said converted produced energy to said load so as to maintain said output node voltage at a predetermined voltage level; and converting said transferred energy to provide charging energy to said energy storage unit when said transferred energy exceeds a demand level of said load while maintaining said predetermined voltage level at said output node. - View Dependent Claims (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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26-1. The method of claim 18, wherein said bi-directional energy converter is a dc-dc bi-directional converter.
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33. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which when executed by a computer system causes the computer to implement a method for providing energy to a load from a power apparatus, said power apparatus comprising an energy recharge unit, an energy converter with its input connected to the energy recharge unit and coupled to a power transfer controller, a rechargeable energy storage unit, a bi-directional energy converter with its input connected to said rechargeable energy storage unit, said method comprising:
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exposing said energy recharge unit to a corresponding energy source so as to produce electric energy; determining via said power transfer controller whether a power level of said produced electric energy is above a predetermined power threshold in order to activate said energy converter; converting said produced electric energy by said energy converter and delivering said converted electric energy to said load in order to meet at least part of a demand level of said load; monitoring a voltage at said output node; and converting energy stored in said energy storage unit by said bi-directional energy converter to supplement said delivery of said converted produced energy to said load so as to maintain said output node voltage at a predetermined voltage level, converting said transferred energy to provide charging energy to said energy storage unit when said transferred energy exceeds a demand level of said load while maintaining said predetermined voltage level at said output node.
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34. A system for performing a method for providing energy to a load from a power apparatus, said power apparatus comprising an energy recharge unit, an energy converter with its
input connected to the energy recharge unit and coupled to a power transfer controller, a rechargeable energy storage unit, a bi-directional energy converter with its input connected to said rechargeable energy storage unit, said energy recharge unit being exposed to a corresponding energy source so as to produce electric energy, the system comprising: -
at least one processor programmed to determine via said power transfer controller whether a power level of said produced electric energy is above a predetermined power threshold in order to activate said energy converter, to activate said energy converter to convert said produced electric energy and to deliver said converted electric energy to said load in order to meet at least part of a demand level of said load; and at least one processor programmed to monitor a voltage at an input of said load, to activate said bi-directional energy converter to convert energy stored in said energy storage unit for supplementing said delivery of said converted produced energy to said load so as to maintain said input load voltage at a predetermined voltage level. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification