Patent Application
20210119443
The importance of distributed energy generation, storage, and management is increasing rapidly, due to cost and performance advances in solar energy and battery technologies as well as customer demand for secure clean power systems. Dynamic pricing and Demand Response programs provide incentives to curtail or time-shift large loads to save money. Home automation technology enables active management of circuits or individual loads. Load management is particularly valuable to owners of battery energy storage systems because battery systems have limited power and energy storage capacity. Customers want the ability to manage onsite loads—for example to prevent the operation of low-priority loads, to prevent multiple large loads from operating simultaneously, or to time-shift large loads to take advantage of dynamic electric rates or the availability of solar energy.
Commercialized and announced load management products offer some of these capabilities, but the offerings are expensive, complex, and often require significant disruption to the existing electrical infrastructure of the building.
A modular load management system comprises one or more compact modules designed to fit in the wiring troughs of a standard AC distribution panel of a building. The modules include one or more input terminals to receive electrical power from one or more circuit breakers in the panel and deliver power to load circuits of the building via one or more output terminals. The modules contain at least one disconnect switch for disconnecting circuits from breakers in response to a remote or locally generated control signal. The modules may also include current sensors on some or all terminals, such that power and energy flow may be monitored on a per-circuit basis.
The modules may be configured to connect end-to-end or via jumper cables to manage some or all of the circuits in the panel. One or more modules may contain a microprocessor, communications interface, or other means of implementing home energy management functionality via local or remote cloud-based control.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments which may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, and that structural, logical and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following description of example embodiments is, therefore, not to be taken in a limited sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims.
The functions or algorithms described herein may be implemented in software in one embodiment. The software may consist of computer executable instructions stored on computer readable media or computer readable storage device such as one or more non-transitory memories or other type of hardware-based storage devices, either local or networked. Further, such functions correspond to modules, which may be software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. Multiple functions may be performed in one or more modules as desired, and the embodiments described are merely examples. The software may be executed on a digital signal processor, ASIC, microprocessor, or other type of processor operating on a computer system, such as a personal computer, server or other computer system, turning such computer system into a specifically programmed machine.
The functionality can be configured to perform an operation using, for instance, software, hardware, firmware, or the like. For example, the phrase “configured to” can refer to a logic circuit structure of a hardware element that is to implement the associated functionality. The phrase “configured to” can also refer to a logic circuit structure of a hardware element that is to implement the coding design of associated functionality of firmware or software. The term “module” refers to a structural element that can be implemented using any suitable hardware (e.g., a processor, among others), software (e.g., an application, among others), firmware, or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware. The term, “logic” encompasses any functionality for performing a task. For instance, each operation illustrated in the flowcharts corresponds to logic for performing that operation. An operation can be performed using, software, hardware, firmware, or the like. The terms, “component,” “system,” and the like may refer to computer-related entities, hardware, and software in execution, firmware, or combination thereof. A component may be a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a program, a function, a subroutine, a computer, or a combination of software and hardware. The term, “processor,” may refer to a hardware component, such as a processing unit of a computer system.
Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computing device to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term, “article of manufacture,” as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable storage device or media. Computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices, e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, optical disk, compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), smart cards, flash memory devices, among others. In contrast, computer-readable media, i.e., not storage media, may additionally include communication media such as transmission media for wireless signals and the like.
The LMS 200 in one embodiment is designed to fit within a wiring trough of a common electrical AC distribution panel 201. Note that the LMUs 230, 231, 232 may be connect directly to the inside of the panel on the same sheet metal to which the breakers 210, 211 are attached. This may be done by the use of self-tapping screws in one embodiment. Further methods of attachment are illustrated below.
To install the LMU 230:
Step 1—Turn off the main breaker, open the front panel cover exposing the internal wirings.
Steps 2-4 illustrate the installation steps for the LMS head unit 220.
Step 2—Mount the LMS head unit 220 to an empty spot near the top or bottom of the panel with self-tapping screws directly onto the rear metal surface of the panel.
Step 3—Connect the power cable to the LMS head unit 220, the other end of the power cable should be connected to the appropriate phase A, phase B, and Neutral within the panel.
Step 4—Assemble antenna cable assembly may be done by securing the antenna 260 onto the antenna mount. Attach the antenna cable to the LMS head unit 220 and insert antenna mount through a free circular knockout opening.
Steps 5-10 illustrate the installation steps for the LMU 230.
Step 5—Locate the circuit breaker 210, 211 intended for the installation, remove any existing wiring connections to the breaker.
Step 6—Secure the mounting plate 238 to the rear metal surface of the panel in-line with the breaker, leave a 10-20 mm distance to the breaker.
Step 7—Feed the LMU breaker side wires into the circuit breaker screw terminals.
Step 8—Clip LMU into the mounting plate and adjust to the appropriate height.
Step 9—Trim the existing wires from step 5 and feed them into the LMU screw terminals.
Step 10—Connect the LMU to the LMS head unit with the included cable.
This is the default configuration. There is an optional configuration where a smart disconnect switch (SDS) replaces the head unit 320. See
Load switches 333 may be mechanical switches such as electromechanical relays, or alternatively silicon-based switches, configured to close or break the flow of current between input terminals 332 and output terminals 336. Current sensors 234 configured to measure the current in each circuit may be resistive shunt-type sensors, hall-effect sensors, or other sensing technologies. An Energy Measurement IC or ADC 361 may be used to process the data by performing energy calculations before transferring to the MCU 370. Node connections 351, 352 are configured to send and receive signals from the head unit or SDS (such as the current measurements in the LMU) and control the power switches according to commands from the head unit/SDS or configurable parameters set within the LMU. There are two node connections on each device (node or head/SDS) to facilitate daisy chaining connections between devices. All node connections are linked to the same power and data bus.
In operation, on power-up the head unit data processor may perform system checks on the connected components, and then sets the condition of the load switches based on pre-defined defaults (for instance, the system may be configured to default to closed switches for a grid-connected system and open switches for an off-grid system. The head unit then attempts to establish communication to provide remote control of this system to the user or automated processes.
The switch may be configured to open dynamically based on droop in voltage or frequency below a threshold. For example, when frequency drops below 59 Hz, the switch will open, disconnecting the load. There are many other reasons for opening and closing the switches. In a situation where a Home has a backup battery, the system can see how much power the Home is using and disconnect certain loads to make sure the battery is not overloaded when switching from Grid to Battery power. When the grid is down and the Home is being powered by battery, disconnecting specific loads can extend life of the battery. In one embodiment, the largest loads in the home may be cut in response to one or more of the above reasons, such as Pool pumps, Water heaters and Air conditioners. Variations in the voltage can come from surges or noise on the line. For frequency, if the Home includes a generator, there may be some issues syncing together.
The system may also be designed to open and close based on command from an inverter, SDS, or other local master, default to closed unless remote command (e.g. utility DR), operate in a cyclic lockout mode to enable several large loads to run in sequence, operate based on a hierarchical nested set of rules, and open and close based on battery saving profiles set by the user or AI.
In a situation where the Home has a backup battery, the system can see how much power the Home is using and disconnect certain loads to make sure the battery is not overloaded when switching from Grid to Battery power.
When the grid is down and home is being powered by battery, disconnecting specific loads can extend the life of battery. For example, disconnecting large loads such as pool pumps and water heaters may extend battery by a few hours.
In some embodiments the LMUs may be connected to an internal or external disconnect switch or transfer switch via digital communication as described above. In this case a data processing unit 915 within the disconnect switch 910 may process signals from the LMUs and command operation of the individual circuit switches. The SMU 910 may include an energy measurement unit 920, wireless communications unit 925, disconnect switch 930, and node connection port 935 for coupling to one more nodes 940, 945, and 950.
In some embodiments, an elongated LMU may include 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, or more circuits. The head unit may include ports for main service CTs. A single LMU may connect and control multiple circuit breakers.
The com cable in some embodiments may carry neutral, allowing the units to self-power and operate autonomously.
An LMU with no signal from the head unit can make autonomous decisions to switch the relay depending on different scenarios such as failure modes and overcurrent detection.
In one embodiment, DIP switches on the top surface of the LMU allows On/Off/Remote functions, providing a physical override.
Overload Protection:
Scenario—When a grid outage occurs, and a battery will become the primary source of power for the home delivered through the circuit breaker panel and LMUs. The LMUs may process data representative of sensed current via the LMU current sensors and process the data to provide energy utilization information. The energy utilization information may be transmitted via the communication circuitry and antenna to one or more user devices, either directly or via one or more intermediate servers which may further process the information.
The load management system can detect how much current power is required to power the home and see how much power the battery can provide. With this information, the LMS will take action and disconnect loads utilizing the LMU disconnect switches based on a predefined priority to prevent the battery from being overloaded.
Scenario—After an outage and Overload protection has stabilized the home energy consumption. The system will allow the user to select which loads to shed to increase battery life by displaying the loads via mobile device display with user interface selection mechanisms, such as checkboxes or highlighting, for selection of loads to shed. In one embodiment, an icon 1010 represents loads that will be automatically switched off in the event of a power outage. The loads with icon 1010 includes the dishwasher, clothes dryer, electric vehicle charger, and pool pump. Colored buttons 1020 for each load in the list illustrate which loads are currently drawing power such as via a green color, with a red color indicating the load is currently not drawing power.
The mobile device display may also include current battery power available at 1030 and a total current energy utilization 1040 for the Home.
The angled connectors 236 include two connectors that are arranged at approximately 90-degree angles from each other to reduce the curvature of coupled wiring within the circuit breaker panel to one or more loads. In some embodiments, the connectors may be angled between 80 degrees and 100 degrees. In some embodiments, the connectors may be angled between 60 degrees and 120 degrees. Other angles less than 180 degrees that provide the benefit of reduce radius of curvature of wiring may be used in further embodiments
One example computing device in the form of a computer 1900 may include a processing unit 1902, memory 1903, removable storage 1910, and non-removable storage 1912. Although the example computing device is illustrated and described as computer 1900, the computing device may be in different forms in different embodiments. For example, the computing device may instead be a smartphone, a tablet, smartwatch, smart storage device (SSD), or other computing device including the same or similar elements as illustrated and described with regard to
Although the various data storage elements are illustrated as part of the computer 1900, the storage may also or alternatively include cloud-based storage accessible via a network, such as the Internet or server-based storage. Note also that an SSD may include a processor on which the parser may be run, allowing transfer of parsed, filtered data through I/O channels between the SSD and main memory.
Memory 1903 may include volatile memory 1914 and non-volatile memory 1908. Computer 1900 may include—or have access to a computing environment that includes—a variety of computer-readable media, such as volatile memory 1914 and non-volatile memory 1908, removable storage 1910 and non-removable storage 1912. Computer storage includes random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technologies, compact disc read-only memory (CD ROM), Digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium capable of storing computer-readable instructions.
Computer 1900 may include or have access to a computing environment that includes input interface 1906, output interface 1904, and a communication interface 1916. Output interface 1904 may include a display device, such as a touchscreen, that also may serve as an input device. The input interface 1906 may include one or more of a touchscreen, touchpad, mouse, keyboard, camera, one or more device-specific buttons, one or more sensors integrated within or coupled via wired or wireless data connections to the computer 1900, and other input devices. The computer may operate in a networked environment using a communication connection to connect to one or more remote computers, such as database servers. The remote computer may include a personal computer (PC), server, router, network PC, a peer device or other common data flow network switch, or the like. The communication connection may include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other networks. According to one embodiment, the various components of computer 1900 are connected with a system bus 1920.
Computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium are executable by the processing unit 1902 of the computer 1900, such as a program 1918. The program 1918 in some embodiments comprises software to implement one or control algorithms described herein. A hard drive, CD-ROM, and RAM are some examples of articles including a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage device. The terms computer-readable medium and storage device do not include carrier waves to the extent carrier waves are deemed too transitory. Storage can also include networked storage, such as a storage area network (SAN). Computer program 1918 along with the workspace manager 1922 may be used to cause processing unit 1902 to perform one or more methods or algorithms described herein.
A modular load management system comprising
Autonomous Overload Protection. An embodiment of any of the above examples wherein the disconnect switch is activated automatically based on conditions in the home's electricity network so as to protect site-level generation equipment. Examples of such equipment include, without limitation, reciprocating engine generators, photovoltaic systems, and battery systems.
An embodiment wherein the triggers for automatic activation include, without limitation, AC power frequency conditions, AC power voltage conditions, and circuit-level load conditions.
An embodiment wherein distinct setpoints for trigger conditions can be configured so as to establish priority of which loads are disconnected first during an overload protection event.
An embodiment wherein a ‘dead-man's switch’ or watchdog mechanism is employed to ensure that the state of the switch in each LMU is ‘connected’ whenever communication with the head node is lost.
An embodiment wherein energy consumed by the circuit is accumulated over time and such information is protected from loss/rollback by detecting immanent power outages and saving data to non-volatile memory prior to complete power loss has occurred.
An embodiment wherein a commissioning tool or application is used to record which loads/circuits a given relay will be connected to prior to installation.
A device will switch relays when virtually no current is flowing through using zero crossing detection. This reduces wear on the components, prevent arcing between contacts of the switch, reduce noise.
Nodes may be interconnected with expandable coil-like cables to adapt to different lengths. This will reduce the number of cables in the panel.
Nodes may be secured to the inside of the panel with a height-adjustable mount, this will allow ease of install for varying breaker wire entry heights.
A head device may connect to the nodes stated above and also unique modules such as metering-only nodes, hot water heater control and lighting dimmers.
Nodes can be software-configured to act as a dual-pole switch for split-phase 240V applications, or two single-pole switches for 120V applications.
Although a few embodiments have been described in detail above, other modifications are possible. For example, the logic flows depicted in the figures do not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other steps may be provided, or steps may be eliminated, from the described flows, and other components may be added to, or removed from, the described systems. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/924,555 (entitled Compact Modular Electrical Load Management System, filed Oct. 22, 2019) which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62924555 | Oct 2019 | US |
