Energy supply system and electrical outlet

Abstract

An energy supply system and electrical outlet are provided. An energy supply system includes an electrical power source connected to an inverter device for forming a local power grid. The electrical outlet includes frequency measuring means for measuring the frequency of the electrical power feed into said local power grid by said inverter device and power control means for controlling said electrical power provided to a load by said electrical outlet dependent on the measured frequency.

Claims

1. An energy supply system comprising an electrical power source, an inverter device connected to said electrical power source for converting electrical power provided by said electrical power source for feeding into a local power grid, and an electrical outlet connected to said inverter device through said local power grid for providing electrical power from said inverter device to a load when said load is connected to said electrical outlet, wherein said electrical outlet comprises frequency measuring means for measuring the frequency of the electrical power fed into said local power grid by said inverter device and power control means for controlling said electrical power provided to said load by said electrical outlet dependent on the measured frequency.

2. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said power control means are adapted to supply electrical power from said local power grid to said load substantially unattenuated, if the measured frequency lies within a nominal frequency range.

3. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said power control means are adapted to electrically disconnect said load from said local power grid or to supply electrical power from said local power grid to said load in attenuated fashion, if the measured frequency lies within a predetermined frequency range.

4. The energy supply system of claim 3, wherein said power control means are adapted such that said attenuation of the electrical power supplied from said local power grid to said load is a function of the measured frequency.

5. The energy supply system of claim 3, comprising one or more further electrical outlet connected to said inverter device through said local power grid for providing electrical power from said inverter device to a further load, wherein said power control means are adapted to electrically disconnect said further load from said local power grid or to supply electrical power from said local power grid to said further load in attenuated fashion, if the measured frequency lies within a further predetermined frequency range, wherein said further predetermined frequency range differs from said predetermined frequency range.

6. The energy supply system of claim 1, comprising a main grid connection and a transfer switch adapted to switch the feed into said local power grid between said inverter device and said main grid connection.

7. The energy supply system of claim 3, wherein said predetermined frequency range lies outside of a frequency fluctuation range of a frequency of a main grid.

8. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said power control means are adapted for controlling said electrical power provided to said load by said electrical outlet dependent on the measured frequency after a predetermined time delay.

9. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said electrical outlet comprises a clock and said power control means are adapted to reduce or cut electrical power provided to said load by said electrical outlet, if the measured frequency lies within a predetermined frequency range for a duration measured by said clock, which lies within a predetermined duration range.

10. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said electrical outlet comprises a clock and power measuring means adapted to measure a power level on said local power grid, and wherein said power control means are adapted to reduce or cut electrical power provided to said load by said electrical outlet, if the measured power level lies within a predetermined power range for a duration measured by said clock, which lies within a predetermined duration range.

11. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said inverter device is adapted to adjust the frequency of the electrical power fed into said local power grid dependent on a power level of said electrical power source.

12. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said electrical power source comprises a battery.

13. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said electrical outlet is an electrical receptacle or an electrical socket.

14. The energy supply system of claim 1, wherein said frequency measuring means and/or said power control means are realized inside a housing of said electrical outlet.

15. An electrical outlet adapted for connecting to an inverter device through a local power grid, adapted for receiving a connector of a load for providing electrical power from said inverter device to said load, and comprising frequency measuring means for measuring the frequency of the electrical power feed into said local power grid by said inverter device and power control means for controlling said electrical power provided to said load dependent on the measured frequency.

16. The electrical outlet of claim 15, wherein said power control means are adapted to supply electrical power from said local power grid to said load substantially unattenuated, if the measured frequency lies within a nominal frequency range.

17. The electrical outlet of claim 15, wherein said power control means are adapted to electrically disconnect said load from said local power grid or to supply electrical power from said local power grid to said load in attenuated fashion, if the measured frequency lies within a predetermined frequency range.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The present invention will be explained in more detail in the following text with reference to a preferred embodiment of an energy supply system illustrated in FIG. 1, a preferred embodiment of an electrical outlet illustrated in FIG. 2, and possible output functions of several preferred embodiments of the electrical outlet illustrated in FIG. 3, all of which are not intended to be restrictive.

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an energy supply system according to one advantageous embodiment.

(3) FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an electrical outlet according to one advantageous embodiment.

(4) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing possible output functions of an electrical outlet as a function of frequency according to different advantageous embodiments.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a voltage/duration diagram for a voltage ride-though implementation.

(6) FIG. 5 shows a frequency/duration diagram for a frequency ride-though implementation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(7) FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an energy supply system comprising an electrical power source 2 and multiple electrical outlets 51, 52, 53, which are located in a local site such as inside or around one or more buildings. It can be a residential or a commercial building. While the electrical power source 2 can be any device or groups of devices that can supply power for feeding to any or all the loads connected to the electrical outlets 51, 52, 53, such as renewable energy producing devices, in the following, it will be referred to as a battery 2.

(8) The electrical outlets 51, 52, 53 are connected to a network of electrical leads that is referred to as a local power grid. In order to convert the DC power supplied by the battery 2 to an appropriate AC power for the loads connected to the electrical outlets 51, 52, 53, an inverter device 3 is connected to the battery 2 as input and to the local power grid 9 on its output side. A transfer switch 6 is set between the local power grid 9 and the inverter device 3 and also connected to a grid connection 1, which is connected or connectable to an external power grid, such as a national or regional power grid supplied by an electrical power company. Depending on the position or state of the transfer switch 6, either the power from the external power grid is fed into the local power grid 9, or the inverter is responsible for the power level and the frequency of the electrical power in the local power grid 9.

(9) When the transfer switch 6 is switched to the inverter device 3, the local power grid 9 is independent of the external power grid and works in a self-reliant modus. The inverter device 3 has a further connection to the grid connector 1 in order to be able to feed electrical power from the battery 2 to the external power grid or to charge the battery 9 from the external power grid through the grid connection 1, even when the local power grid 9 is disconnected from the external power grid by the transfer switch 6.

(10) To complete the picture, the local power grid 9 comprises an electrical distribution panel 4 with circuit breakers 41. Each of the electrical outlets 51, 52, 53, is fed electrical power through a corresponding of the circuit breakers 41. Usually, the building has many more than three electrical outlets and thus the electrical distribution panel 4 can have many more than three circuit breakers 41. However, in FIG. 1 only the three electrical outlets 51, 52, 53 are shown, which will be discussed in the following. While the first electrical outlet 51 is an electrical outlet according to the invention, being able to switch the load connected to it depending on the frequency of the power on the local power grid 9, the second electrical outlet 52 and third electrical outlet 53 can also be such intelligent electrical outlets, or one or both of them might be a dumb or passive electrical outlet without such capabilities.

(11) FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an electrical outlet having an outlet housing 510, frequency measuring means 511 and power control means 512. The outlet housing 510 is in the form of a socket and designed for accepting and supporting an electrical plug of a load. The housing may be designed to accept multiple plugs of different loads as well. The frequency measuring means 511 measure the frequency of the power provided to the electrical outlet by the local power grid 9 and relay to the power control means 512 either this information or instructions on what power level to supply to the load as a response to the measurement. Depending on the measured frequency, the power control means 512 can either let the power from the local power grid 9 through to the socket and ultimately to the load plugged into it, or attenuate the power down to a complete disconnection of the load from the local power grid 9. Other, more complex responses to the measured frequency are possible as well.

(12) FIG. 3 shows a frequency-voltage diagram with different functions 81, 82, 83 of possible voltages provided to the loads dependent on the frequency at the local power grid 9. The x-axis shows the frequency measured by frequency measuring means 511 of any of the electrical outlets 51, 52, 53. Assuming that the nominal frequency of the external power grid is 60 Hz, a nominal frequency range fn is shown to reach from 59.5 Hz to 60.5 Hz. This nominal frequency range fn is supposed to be the frequency range the power on the external power grid is expected to stay within, even if fluctuating considerably away from the nominal value of 60 Hz.

(13) In order to avoid any unintended triggering of the power control means 512 due to normal frequency variations, in particular when the local power grid 9 is disconnected from the inverter device 3 and connected to the grid connector 1 by the transfer switch 6, the frequency measuring means 511 and/or the power control means 512 are adapted such that the actual adjustment of the power to the loads happens above a threshold of 60.7 Hz. Until that threshold is reached, the output voltage Vout of all electrical outlets, the output functions of which are shown in FIG. 3, is at a maximum voltage Von corresponding to the loads being supplied the full power from the local power grid 9.

(14) A first output function 81 shown in FIG. 3 depicts the behavior of an electrical outlet according to a preferred embodiment, where the output voltage Vout is switched off for the corresponding load when the measured frequency surpasses this threshold. This is indicated by the off-voltage Voff, which can in particular be zero volts, although it is of course possible that the load is placed into an off-modus at an off-voltage Voff other than zero. As an alternative to a threshold-triggering operation, the first output function 81 may describe an electrical outlet, the power control means 512 of which switch the power to the load off, if the frequency measured by the frequency measuring means 511 is within a predetermined frequency range from 60.7 Hz to 64.5 Hz.

(15) A second output function 82 describes a different behavior of the electrical outlet in the face of the local power grid frequency being in the predetermined frequency range than the first output function 81. According to the second output function 82, when the frequency measured by the frequency measuring means 511 is within a predetermined frequency range from 60.7 Hz to 64.5 Hz, the power control means 512 reduce the power supplied to the load by the electrical outlet. Here, the voltage drops linearly with the frequency inside the predetermined frequency range. It is thus an attenuation that depends linearly on the frequency, although any suitable functional relationship can be utilized.

(16) Finally, a third output function 83 is depicted in FIG. 3. Similar to the second output function 82, according to the third output function 83 the load is turned off when the frequency of the local power grid 9 is within the predetermined frequency range. However, the pertinent predetermined frequency range lies now between 62.5 Hz and 64.5 Hz. Thus, when the frequency of the local power grid 9 is below 62.5 Hz, the power control means 512 continue to feed the load connected to the electrical outlet with the power at the local power grid without attenuation. The predetermined frequency range from 60.7 Hz to 64.5 Hz according to the third output function 83 overlaps with and is in fact completely within the predetermined frequency range from 62.5 Hz to 64.5 Hz according to the first output function 81.

(17) All of the electrical outlets 51, 52, 53 shown FIG. 1 can be of the kind shown in FIG. 2. However, for the following discussion, it is assumed that the third outlet 53 is a passive outlet, which provides the power from the local power grid 9 directly to the load connected to it. Furthermore, the frequency measuring means and power control means of the first electrical outlet 51 is assumed to follow the first output function 81, while those of the second electrical outlet 52 is assumed to follow the second output function 82. As long as the frequency of the local power grid 9 is adjusted to below 60.7 Hz, all three electrical outlets 51, 52, 53 will pass the power from the local power grid through to their respective loads unattenuated. When the inverter device 3 raises its output frequency to a value between 60.7 Hz and 62.5 Hz, in the following labelled as a first-priority frequency range f1, the first electrical outlet 51 will still pass through the power to the load(s) connected to it unattenuated. However, the second electrical outlet 52 will disconnect the load(s) connected to it from the local power grid 9.

(18) Once the inverter device 3 raises its output frequency to a value between 62.5 Hz and 64.5 Hz, the predetermined frequency range of the second output function 82, both the first electrical outlet 51 and the second electrical outlet 52 will disconnect the load(s) connected to them from the local power grid 9. Because the third electrical outlet 53 is a passive outlet according to this embodiment, the load(s) connected to it will still remain connected to the full power of the local power grid 9, regardless of the frequency. The load(s) connected to the third electrical outlet 53 may be (an) essential load(s) such as a computer cooling system, a refrigerator, or the like. The load(s) connected to the second electrical outlet 52 may be non-essential, but still be prioritized over other loads, namely the ones connected to the first electrical outlet 51. In this way, the loads may be separated into different priority groups depending on the electrical outlet they are plugged into.

(19) Implementation of advantageous voltage ride-though regimes and frequency ride-through regimes are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows a voltage-duration diagram with different curves. The voltage with respect to the nominal voltage (p.u.=per unit) at the local grid is plotted along the vertical axis, while the time duration for which a certain voltage value persists at the local grid is shown along the horizontal axis.

(20) Each curve shows a preferred response of the power control means of an electrical outlet designed for distribution in a certain country. In order to implement such a voltage ride-though, the electrical outlet further has to comprise a clock and power measuring means. Taking the example of the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (US-FERC), if a voltage drop down to about 15% of the nominal voltage is recorded by the power measuring means, and this voltage drop persists for a duration of less than 0.6 s, then the power control means will not disconnect the load from the local grid. Of course the voltage provided to the load may still be the low value of 15% of the nominal voltage. If, however, this extreme voltage drop persists for 0.7 s or longer, then the load will be disconnected from the local grid. On the other hand, if the voltage at the local grid drops only mildly to a range from 90% to 100% of the nominal voltage, the load will not be disconnected from the local grid, irrespective of the duration of the voltage drop.

(21) FIG. 5 shows a frequency-duration diagram, where the vertical axis shows the frequency at the local grid, while the duration for which a certain frequency is maintained at the local grid is shown along the horizontal axis. The nominal frequency, i.e. the frequency which is usually maintained at the local grid and/or at the external power grid, is shown with a horizontal dashed line.

(22) There are 5 areas defined in the diagram of FIG. 5. In order to implement such a frequency ride-though, the electrical outlet further has to comprise a clock. A first area A1 encompasses the nominal frequency for any duration. A current frequency at the local grid and the duration during which the power at the local grid is at this frequency together form a frequency/duration pair, which can be compared to the diagram in FIG. 5. If the frequency/duration pair falls within the first area A1, the power to the load is not disconnected by the power control means of the corresponding electrical outlet. If, on the other hand, the frequency/duration pair falls within one of the two second areas A2 shown in the diagram, the load is certainly disconnected. Finally, if the frequency/duration pair falls within one of the two third areas A3 shown in the diagram, the load may stay connected to the local grid or be disconnected, depending on other parameters. For example, in this case an inquiry may be sent to a user of the load prompting him to verify whether the load can be disconnected or not.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

(23) 1 grid connection 2 battery (electrical power source) 3 inverter device 4 electrical distribution panel 41 circuit breakers 51 first electrical outlet 510 outlet housing 511 frequency measuring means 512 power control means 52 second electrical outlet 53 third electrical outlet 6 transfer switch 81 first output function 82 second output function 83 third output function 9 local power grid A1 first area in frequency-duration diagram A2 second area in frequency-duration diagram A3 third area in frequency-duration diagram