Patent Application
20200052613
Green energy refers to energy produced in such a fashion as to not harm the environment. Examples of green energy sources are photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. It has become customary for utilities in various parts of the world to sell green energy, for which some users are willing to pay a premium. In other cases, utilities or governments use incentives to encourage the purchase of green energy. Some governments encourage the purchase of green energy tokens corresponding to specific quantities of green energy, and in some cases, to specific green energy sources that are effectively assigned to a utility customer.
Green energy production is typically monitored through the use of standard utility-grade meters that are electrically situated between green energy sources and the utility grid. A problem with this setup is the difficulty in verifying the actual energy source. It is relatively straight-forward for someone to replace an expensive green energy source (such as a photovoltaic panel and inverter) with a less expensive polluting energy source (such as a diesel generator).
These and other problems are solved or circumvented, and technical advantages are achieved, by embodiments of the present invention. A first embodiment of the invention is a power inverter configured to convert electrical power from an energy source to electrical power that can be pushed into the utility grid, the power inverter comprising a power train and a controller having an address. The controller is configured to provide gate drive signals to the power inverter for the power inverter to operate. The controller comprises a sensor for measuring electrical power that is pushed into the grid, non-volatile memory for storing an accumulated value of the electrical power, and a communication device configured to communicate information from the controller to a device remote from the power inverter, the controller further being configured to execute a smart contract corresponding to the address.
Another embodiment of the invention is a smart inverter power system comprising a gateway, an exchange, and a power inverter configured to push power into a utility grid. The power inverter comprises a controller having an address, a sensor for measuring generated power, non-volatile memory for storing an accumulated value of the generated power, and a communication device configured to communicate information to and from the controller to the gateway. The gateway is configured to communicate with the exchange so that the controller can execute a smart contract corresponding to the address.
In a further embodiment, the smart inverter power system also comprises a power meter configured to communicate with the gateway and measure power flowing into or out of the utility grid. The gateway is configured to determine whether or not the power inverter is coupled to the utility grid by comparing reported power from the power inverter with reported power from the power meter.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter, which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiments disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures or processes for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different FIGUREs generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated, and may not be re-described in the interest of brevity after the first instance.
Turning to
1111 Controller 102 comprises Transceiver 105 and Memory 104. Controller 102 also has Address 103. Address 103 may be a blockchain address, for example. Power Sensor 106 measures the power pushed into Utility Grid 120 by Smart Inverter 100. Power Sensor 106 may be a utility-quality power meter.
Controller 102 may further comprise a pulse-width-modulation control circuit configured to provide pulse-width-modulation signals to power semiconductor switches of Inverter Power Train 101 for controlling the flow of power into Utility Grid 120. Controller 102 may further comprise Memory 104. Memory 104 is a non-volatile memory storage element configured to store a measurement of accumulated power pushed into Utility Grid 120 by Smart Inverter 100.
Exchange 150 is a financial exchange configured to perform financial transactions. Exchange 150 may be a blockchain or any other suitable financial exchange. Controller 102 is configured to effect financial exchanges involving the selling of fixed amounts of power (energy tokens) pushed into Utility Grid 120 by Smart Inverter 100. Information between Exchange 150 and Smart Inverter 100 is exchanged through Transceiver 105 and Gateway 190. Note that Transceiver 105 could be replaced with a wired communication connection such as an RS485 connection to provide the same overall functionality. That is, Smart Inverter 100 comprises a means to communicate with Gateway 190. Gateway 190 may be configured to identify information about Smart Inverter 100 based on the Address 103.
Turning to
The above transaction (and other transactions) may be recorded via a blockchain ledger, thus guaranteeing an opportunity to publicly verify each step. Since Controller 102 performs the smart contract process from the side of Smart Inverter 100, and Controller 102 also provides functionality to Inverter Power Train 101, Purchaser 160 and utility owners can each verify the source of the energy that was purchased, thus verifying that green energy was bought and sold.
Turning to
As mentioned above, Power Sensor 106 in
Power Meter 340 is a utility-grade power meter which is configured to communicate power information to Gateway 390. Gateway 390 is configured to compare power readings from Power Sensor 306 and Power Meter 340. If the reading from Power Sensor 306 is verified by Gateway 390 to continuously remain within the reading of Power Meter 340 within a predetermined error amount, such as 2%, then Gateway 390 may transmit a correction signal to Smart Inverter 300 causing Smart Inverter 300 to record utility-grade levels of power. Procedures for Smart Contracts executed between Purchaser 160 with Smart Inverter 300 and between Purchaser 160 and Smart Inverter 100 are then identical.
Turning to
Whereas Power Meter 340 may only need to verify power flow from a single inverter, thus matching power one-for-one between Meter 340 and Inverter 300, Power Meter 440 must verify power flow from the plurality of Smart Inverters. This problem is resolved by constant communication of power readings between Gateway 490 with Power Meter 440 and between Gateway 490 and each of Smart Inverters 401, 402, and 403. There are various methods that can be used to calibrate the system in
Other effective alternatives will occur to a person skilled in the art. For example, the gateways described with reference to
Although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, many of the processes discussed above can be implemented in different methodologies and replaced by other processes, or a combination thereof. To that end, those skilled in the art should understand that the previously described embodiments of the power inverter and related methods of operating the same are submitted for illustrative and exemplary purposes only.
Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods, and steps described in the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed, that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodiments described herein may be utilized according to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.
This patent application is a continuation application and claims priority benefit with regard to all common subject matter, of earlier-filed U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/715,402, filed on Aug. 7, 2018, and entitled “Smart Inverter”. The identified earlier-filed provisional patent application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into the present application.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62715402 | Aug 2018 | US |
