This disclosure generally relates to high horsepower, micro-grid power generation and usage.
Many industrial applications need a lot of power to operate. Many use generators powered by diesel gas and other hydrocarbons because of the high-power needs. The burning of hydrocarbons creates pollution. Minimizing the pollution created by drilling rigs can bring good benefits to the environment as well as save money.
One embodiment of the present disclosure includes a controller for a high horse-power micro-grid. The controller can comprise one or more connections to one or more generator sets (gensets) configured to turn each of the one or more gensets on and off and detect power produced by each of the one or more gensets; and may comprise a power grid connection or an optional connection coupled to a back-to-back inverter coupled to a power grid. It can further comprise a power connection to one or more battery units; wherein the controller is configured to detect changes in power demand on the high horse-power micro-grid and further configured to, if a change in power demand is detected, supply a difference in power output between one or more micro-grid power producers and one or more micro-grid power consumers by supplying power from the one or more battery units to overcome a power deficit or importing excess power to the one or more battery units to relieve a power overage.
Another embodiment under the present disclosure includes a controller for a high horse-power micro-grid. The controller can comprise one or more connections to one or more genset controllers configured to adjust a throttle position of one or more gensets and to detect demand and output of each of the one or more gensets and a connection to a grid switch configured to turn on/off a connection to a utility grid. It can further comprise a power connection to one or more battery units configured to supply power during a power deficit and to store power during power overages; wherein as demand at any of the one or more gensets changes, the controller is configured to supply or collect battery power so as maintain a power draw from the utility grid at a constant level or to limit power variation over time (ΔP/Δt, otherwise known as line flicker).
A further embodiment under the present disclosure can comprise a method performed by a hybrid energy controller for controlling a high horse-power micro-grid. The method can comprise powering on at least one of one or more gensets; detecting power output from the one or more gensets; detecting overall power demand on the high horse-power micro-grid, and comparing the overall power demand to the power output. Further, if the overall power demand is greater than the power output, then supplying the difference with battery power from one or more battery units; and if the overall power demand is less than the power output, then storing the excess power in the one or more battery units.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an indication of the scope of the claimed subject matter.
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 disclosure will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by the practice of the disclosure. The features and advantages of the disclosure may be realized and obtained by means of the instruments and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. These and other features of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims or may be learned by the practice of the disclosure as set forth hereinafter. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures 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. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.
In order to describe the manner in which the above recited and other advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a more particular description of the disclosure briefly described above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered to be limiting of its scope. The disclosure will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the use of the accompanying drawings in which:
Before describing various embodiments of the present disclosure in detail, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the parameters of the particularly exemplified systems, methods, apparatus, products, processes, and/or kits, which may, of course, vary. Thus, while certain embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail, with reference to specific configurations, parameters, components, elements, etc., the descriptions are illustrative and are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the claimed invention. In addition, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing the embodiments and is not necessarily intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention.
Industry is seeking to lower carbon intensity and lower costs. Embodiments under the present disclosure include generator sets (gensets) and hybrid power systems and controllers of the foregoing that help industrial customers, such as oil and gas drillers, to address this emissions challenge while improving performance. Hybrid energy management systems under the present disclosure can use battery energy storage and engine automation to reduce the number of gensets operating and increase the fuel efficiency of the rig. One technique for achieving fuel savings includes automatically turning gensets on and off and reducing the overall number of gensets running at any given time. An effective control scheme on a micro-grid system is useful for attaining such a reduction without adversely affecting the rig's tools' performance (e.g., drawworks speed, power limits) and allowing customer adoption for a commercially viable product. A controller can be implemented with artificial intelligence (AI) functionality to monitor power generation to meet power demand. Batteries can provide the buffer of energy to optimize the number of gensets operating and ultimately the fuel efficiency and emission of the rig.
Objectives of embodiments under the present disclosure include reducing diesel consumption with battery energy storage and engine automation using available “highline” power (grid utility power lines) on those drilling rigs which have access to the grid; use as much highline power as is available; eliminate as much as possible the need for complex utility studies and permitting; use a rig's gensets without any modifications; use fewer gensets; and use the rig's existing infrastructure. Challenges overcome by the disclosed embodiments include: highline power often has limited capacity; constraints are often imposed on the manner in which power is consumed; and difficult to meet utility requirements for highline power connections.
A micro-grid control system embodiment under the present disclosure can be seen in
Prior art drilling rigs used multiple gensets running in a microgrid island configuration. Connecting these micro-grid islands to the utility requires a change in controls topology which can be cost prohibitive for operators. Without such changes, rigs will not be permitted to make use of highline power in remote areas where the capacity does not permit it. These setups can be inefficient and highly polluting because multiple gensets are run at the same time to avoid blackouts and power limits. Because multiple gensets are running, none of the running gensets has to run at a high load, each genset can run at a low load. However, efficiency for each genset is better at high loads (see
Embodiments under the present disclosure can solve the prior art problems with a hybrid system and controller. In order to reliably and cost effectively tie a micro-grid to a utility grid (in grid-tie configuration), precise and timely control of the power at the point of common coupling (“PCC”) is implemented; specifically control of reactive power (kVAR), harmonics, peak power, and dP/dt line flicker (rate of change of power drawn from utility grid). To achieve this, certain embodiments implement a power control-loop based on the power feedback from the PCC and the main power producers of the micro-grid, including but not limited to active power-electronics (e.g., AC inverters) and traditional prime-mover power sources (such as diesel-based generators or gas turbines).
One reason embodiments under the present disclosure differ from prior art is because power-electronics are traditionally controlled on other process values (such as frequency or voltage) which are locally visible to the individual components of the micro-grid (i.e. each connected component can independently sense the bus voltage and frequency without needing remote feedback), or systems which are designed to load share between producers while still delegating control loop functionality to individual devices, or systems which are all centrally controlled.
Certain embodiments described herein do not require a centralized controller requiring all power producers to be governed centrally, rather described embodiments can make use of the power feedback from all power producers (including the PCC) to control a single power producer (inverter), or a series of inverters acting in combination as a single unit, with the goal of indirectly controlling the independent power producers (by way of gross power output and not controls integration).
Embodiments described can achieve the purported goal by being a bi-directional load on the power bus which acts as an independent consumer or producer of power and matching the actual real loads of the bus (e.g., various tools and consumers) so as to make it appear to the power producing components that the consumed total load is more constant (or less erratic) than it is.
Controller embodiments under the present disclosure can track, analyze, store, and provide monthly reports regarding energy usage, behavior, demand, savings, and other data. Examples of possible reports are shown in
As discussed above, control system embodiments can automatically launch gensets when needed and provide power to bridge warmup time for gensets coming online. There may be a margin of energy to provide a safety for the system. For example, as shown for illustrative purposes only in
Certain embodiments may control the batteries and gensets so as to avoid a maximum setpoint of the gensets. This can be seen in
Control skid 2185 sits between the isolation skid 2165 and the variable frequency drive (VFD) house 2130. Control skid 2185 together with the VFD house 2130, gensets 2120 and other components make up the island grid 2170. Control skid 2185 comprises a controller 2180, battery(ies) 2195, and battery inverter 2190. Controller 2180 is coupled to the back-to-back inverter 2140 on the isolation skid 2165 and can control it thereby. The gensets 2120 and VFD house 2130 together make up the drilling rig microgrid 2125. In addition to ramped power settings in the battery inverter 2185, the control skid 2185 provides dP/dt control of the rig microgrid 2125.
Grid connection 2155 can be set to open on grid outage. One challenge in the prior art solutions is that they focus on controlling frequency, allowing the rig to adjust genset power to whatever frequency is needed. One aspect of solutions under the present disclosure is controlling power through the use of batteries 2195. In order to do that, the controller 2180 should know what power demand is from the rig microgrid 2125. The gensets 2120 can be set to operate at a specific power e.g., 500 kw, and when power need goes higher, battery(ies) 2195 supplies the difference. As shown in the embodiment of
In
One possible method embodiment under the present disclosure is shown in
Another possible method embodiment under the present disclosure is shown in
A further possible method embodiment under the present disclosure is shown in
A further possible method embodiment under the present disclosure is shown in
A further possible method embodiment under the present disclosure is shown in
In any method embodiment under the present disclosure less than all of the available gensets may be powered on at a given time. Preferably, apart from startup periods or powering down periods, any genset in operation is run at a high load, generally 70% and higher or as high as possible for a given loading condition.
It will be appreciated that computer systems are increasingly taking a wide variety of forms. In this description and in the claims, the terms “controller,” “computer system,” or “computing system” are defined broadly as including any device or system—or combination thereof—that includes at least one physical and tangible processor and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that may be executed by a processor. By way of example, not limitation, the term “computer system” or “computing system,” as used herein is intended to include personal computers, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablets, hand-held devices (e.g., mobile telephones, PDAs, pagers), microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, multi-processor systems, network PCs, distributed computing systems, datacenters, message processors, routers, switches, and even devices that conventionally have not been considered a computing system, such as wearables (e.g., glasses).
The memory may take any form and may depend on the nature and form of the computing system. The memory can be physical system memory, which includes volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or some combination of the two. The term “memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storage such as physical storage media.
The computing system also has thereon multiple structures often referred to as an “executable component.” For instance, the memory of a computing system can include an executable component. The term “executable component” is the name for a structure that is well understood to one of ordinary skill in the art in the field of computing as being a structure that can be software, hardware, or a combination thereof.
For instance, when implemented in software, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the structure of an executable component may include software objects, routines, methods, and so forth, that may be executed by one or more processors on the computing system, whether such an executable component exists in the heap of a computing system, or whether the executable component exists on computer-readable storage media. The structure of the executable component exists on a computer-readable medium in such a form that it is operable, when executed by one or more processors of the computing system, to cause the computing system to perform one or more functions, such as the functions and methods described herein. Such a structure may be computer-readable directly by a processor—as is the case if the executable component were binary. Alternatively, the structure may be structured to be interpretable and/or compiled—whether in a single stage or in multiple stages—so as to generate such binary that is directly interpretable by a processor.
The term “executable component” is also well understood by one of ordinary skill as including structures that are implemented exclusively or near-exclusively in hardware logic components, such as within a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), Program-specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), or any other specialized circuit. Accordingly, the term “executable component” is a term for a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing, whether implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof.
The terms “component,” “service,” “engine,” “module,” “control,” “generator,” or the like may also be used in this description. As used in this description and in this case, these terms—whether expressed with or without a modifying clause—are also intended to be synonymous with the term “executable component” and thus also have a structure that is well understood by those of ordinary skill in the art of computing.
While not all computing systems require a user interface, in some embodiments a computing system includes a user interface for use in communicating information from/to a user. The user interface may include output mechanisms as well as input mechanisms. The principles described herein are not limited to the precise output mechanisms or input mechanisms as such will depend on the nature of the device. However, output mechanisms might include, for instance, speakers, displays, tactile output, projections, holograms, and so forth. Examples of input mechanisms might include, for instance, microphones, touchscreens, projections, holograms, cameras, keyboards, stylus, mouse, or other pointer input, sensors of any type, and so forth.
Accordingly, embodiments described herein may comprise or utilize a special purpose or general-purpose computing system. Embodiments described herein also include physical and other computer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executable instructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system. Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions are physical storage media. Computer-readable media that carry computer-executable instructions are transmission media. Thus, by way of example—not limitation—embodiments disclosed or envisioned herein can comprise at least two distinctly different kinds of computer-readable media: storage media and transmission media.
Computer-readable storage media include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, solid state drives (“SSDs”), flash memory, phase-change memory (“PCM”), CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other physical and tangible storage medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and that can be accessed and executed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system to implement the disclosed functionality of the invention. For example, computer-executable instructions may be embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media to form a computer program product.
Transmission media can include a network and/or data links that can be used to carry desired program code in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures and that can be accessed and executed by a general purpose or special purpose computing system. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
Further, upon reaching various computing system components, program code in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structures can be transferred automatically from transmission media to storage media (or vice versa). For example, computer-executable instructions or data structures received over a network or data link can be buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”) and then eventually transferred to computing system RAM and/or to less volatile storage media at a computing system. Thus, it should be understood that storage media can be included in computing system components that also—or even primarily-utilize transmission media.
Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that a computing system may also contain communication channels that allow the computing system to communicate with other computing systems over, for example, a network. Accordingly, the methods described herein may be practiced in network computing environments with many types of computing systems and computing system configurations. The disclosed methods may also be practiced in distributed system environments where local and/or remote computing systems, which are linked through a network (either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by a combination of hardwired and wireless data links), both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, the processing, memory, and/or storage capability may be distributed as well.
Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the disclosed methods may be practiced in a cloud computing environment. Cloud computing environments may be distributed, although this is not required. When distributed, cloud computing environments may be distributed internationally within an organization and/or have components possessed across multiple organizations. In this description and the following claims, “cloud computing” is defined as a model for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). The definition of “cloud computing” is not limited to any of the other numerous advantages that can be obtained from such a model when properly deployed.
A cloud-computing model can be composed of various characteristics, such as on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, measured service, and so forth. A cloud-computing model may also come in the form of various service models such as, for example, Software as a Service (“SaaS”), Platform as a Service (“PaaS”), and Infrastructure as a Service (“IaaS”). The cloud-computing model may also be deployed using different deployment models such as private cloud, community cloud, public cloud, hybrid cloud, and so forth.
To assist in understanding the scope and content of this written description and the appended claims, a select few terms are defined directly below. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.
The terms “approximately,” “about,” and “substantially,” as used herein, represent an amount or condition close to the specific stated amount or condition that still performs a desired function or achieves a desired result. For example, the terms “approximately,” “about,” and “substantially” may refer to an amount or condition that deviates by less than 10%, or by less than 5%, or by less than 1%, or by less than 0.1%, or by less than 0.01% from a specifically stated amount or condition.
Various aspects of the present disclosure, including devices, systems, and methods may be illustrated with reference to one or more embodiments or implementations, which are exemplary in nature. As used herein, the term “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments disclosed herein. In addition, reference to an “implementation” of the present disclosure or invention includes a specific reference to one or more embodiments thereof, and vice versa, and is intended to provide illustrative examples without limiting the scope of the invention, which is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the following description.
As used in the specification, a word appearing in the singular encompasses its plural counterpart, and a word appearing in the plural encompasses its singular counterpart, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Thus, it will be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. For example, reference to a singular referent (e.g., “a widget”) includes one, two, or more referents unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Similarly, reference to a plurality of referents should be interpreted as comprising a single referent and/or a plurality of referents unless the content and/or context clearly dictate otherwise. For example, reference to referents in the plural form (e.g., “widgets”) does not necessarily require a plurality of such referents. Instead, it will be appreciated that independent of the inferred number of referents, one or more referents are contemplated herein unless stated otherwise.
As used herein, directional terms, such as “top,” “bottom,” “left,” “right,” “up,” “down,” “upper,” “lower,” “proximal,” “distal,” “adjacent,” and the like are used herein solely to indicate relative directions and are not otherwise intended to limit the scope of the disclosure and/or claimed invention.
It is understood that for any given component or embodiment described herein, any of the possible candidates or alternatives listed for that component may generally be used individually or in combination with one another, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise. Additionally, it will be understood that any list of such candidates or alternatives is merely illustrative, not limiting, unless implicitly or explicitly understood or stated otherwise.
In addition, unless otherwise indicated, numbers expressing quantities, constituents, distances, or other measurements used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified by the term “about,” as that term is defined herein. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the specification and attached claims are approximations that may vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the subject matter presented herein. At the very least, and not as an attempt to limit the application of the doctrine of equivalents to the scope of the claims, each numerical parameter should at least be construed in light of the number of reported significant digits and by applying ordinary rounding techniques. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the subject matter presented herein are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from the standard deviation found in their respective testing measurements.
Any headings and subheadings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims.
The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the use of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention itemed. Thus, it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed in part by preferred embodiments, exemplary embodiments, and optional features, modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the appended items. The specific embodiments provided herein are examples of useful embodiments of the present invention and various alterations and/or modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, and additional applications of the principles illustrated herein that would occur to one skilled in the relevant art and having possession of this disclosure, can be made to the illustrated embodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the items and are to be considered within the scope of this disclosure.
It will also be appreciated that systems, devices, products, kits, methods, and/or processes, according to certain embodiments of the present disclosure may include, incorporate, or otherwise comprise properties or features (e.g., components, members, elements, parts, and/or portions) described in other embodiments disclosed and/or described herein. Accordingly, the various features of certain embodiments can be compatible with, combined with, included in, and/or incorporated into other embodiments of the present disclosure. Thus, disclosure of certain features relative to a specific embodiment of the present disclosure should not be construed as limiting application or inclusion of said features to the specific embodiment. Rather, it will be appreciated that other embodiments can also include said features, members, elements, parts, and/or portions without necessarily departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
Moreover, unless a feature is described as requiring another feature in combination therewith, any feature herein may be combined with any other feature of a same or different embodiment disclosed herein. Furthermore, various well-known aspects of illustrative systems, methods, apparatus, and the like are not described herein in particular detail in order to avoid obscuring aspects of the example embodiments. Such aspects are, however, also contemplated herein.
All references cited in this application are hereby incorporated in their entireties by reference to the extent that they are not inconsistent with the disclosure in this application. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that methods, devices, device elements, materials, procedures, and techniques other than those specifically described herein can be applied to the practice of the invention as broadly disclosed herein without resort to undue experimentation. All art-known functional equivalents of methods, devices, device elements, materials, procedures, and techniques specifically described herein are intended to be encompassed by this invention.
When a group of materials, compositions, components, or compounds is disclosed herein, it is understood that all individual members of those groups and all subgroups thereof are disclosed separately. When a Markush group or other grouping is used herein, all individual members of the group and all combinations and sub-combinations possible of the group are intended to be individually included in the disclosure. Every formulation or combination of components described or exemplified herein can be used to practice the invention, unless otherwise stated. Whenever a range is given in the specification, for example, a temperature range, a time range, or a composition range, all intermediate ranges and subranges, as well as all individual values included in the ranges given are intended to be included in the disclosure. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the items are to be embraced within their scope.
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. 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 application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/307,976, filed Feb. 8, 2022, titled “System and Method for Hybrid Power Generation with Grid Connection,” the contents of which are hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63307976 | Feb 2022 | US |