Method and arrangement for detecting a topology in a low-voltage network

Abstract

A method recognizes topology in low-voltage networks including local substations each having a plurality of output lines connected to a controllable electrical resource, and a control apparatus of each local substation. The method uses a computer arrangement assigning resources to the control apparatuses based on geographical proximity, selecting an assigned resource, transmitting a test control command specific to the selected resource from the control apparatus to the assigned resources, the test control command configured to trigger a change in power consumption or power output of the selected resource, measuring a change in an electrical variable on the output lines of the local substation by using a measuring apparatus, and assigning the selected electrical resource to that output line of that local substation on which a correlation between test control command and change is recognized. An arrangement for recognizing a topology in a low-voltage network is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for recognizing a topology in a low-voltage network including local substations each having a plurality of output lines, each output line being connected to at least one controllable electrical resource, and each local substation having a control apparatus, the method comprising the following steps performed by a computer arrangement: matching resources to control apparatuses based on distances between the resources and the control apparatuses, wherein each of the resources is selected from the group consisting of electrical energy consumers and electrical energy generators; selecting a resource from the resources; transmitting a test control command, which is specific to the selected resource, from a respective control apparatus to the resources respectively assigned thereto, the test control command configured to trigger a change in a power consumption or power output of the selected resource; measuring a change in at least one electrical variable on the output lines of a respective local substation by a respective measuring apparatus, wherein each of the at least one electrical variable is selected from the group consisting of a current, a voltage, a power, and a frequency; and recognizing that the selected electrical resource is connected to an output line of a local substation based on a correlation between the test control command and the measured change in the electrical variable.

2. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises performing temporally preceding steps by way of the computer arrangement as follows: providing a first data structure having a first identifier, a first communication address and a first geographical position for each control apparatus; and providing a second data structure having a second identifier, a second communication address and a second geographical position for each resource.

3. The method according to claim 2, which further comprises providing the data structures in the computer arrangement by using each of the resources to wirelessly transmit the respective identifier, communication address and geographical position by way of a communication apparatus.

4. The method according to claim 3, which further comprises carrying out the wireless transmission by way of radio signals in accordance with a standard selected from the group including: W-LAN, long-range radio, mobile radio, 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE) and 5G.

5. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises transmitting the test control command through data transmission via an electrical line.

6. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises carrying out selection and transmission of a test control command in succession for all of the resources assigned to a control apparatus.

7. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using as an electrical resource at least one resource selected from the group including: a charging station for electric vehicles, a heat pump, a photovoltaic system and a battery.

8. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises using a central server for the computer arrangement.

9. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises configuring the computer arrangement as a cloud apparatus.

10. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises providing the computer arrangement in a decentralized manner in the local substations, and carrying out each data communication bilaterally with all of the local substations in such a way that a respective first and a respective second data structure are provided locally for each local computer apparatus of a local substation.

11. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises assigning resources to control apparatuses based on geographical proximity by creating a list of resources for each control device, and sorting the list according to geographical distance.

12. The method according to claim 11, which further comprises selecting only a defined number of geographically close assigned resources from the respective sorted list for a control apparatus, and defining the number based on a geographical density of local substations in surroundings of the local substation to which the control apparatus is assigned.

13. The method according to claim 1, which further comprises: avoiding unbalanced loads or avoiding overloading at the local substation by transmitting control commands to electrical resources connected to the output lines of the local substation.

14. An arrangement for recognizing a topology in a low-voltage network, the arrangement comprising: local substations each having a plurality of output lines, each of said output lines being connected to at least one controllable electrical resource, and each of said local substations including a control apparatus having a communication apparatus; a computer arrangement configured to match the resources based on distances between the resources and said control apparatuses, to select an assigned resource, to transmit a test control command specific to the selected resource from said communication apparatus of a respective one of said control apparatuses to communication apparatuses of the resources respectively assigned thereto, said test control command configured to trigger a change in a power consumption or power output of the selected resource, wherein each of the resources is selected from the group consisting of electrical energy consumers and electrical energy generators; a respective measuring apparatus disposed on each output line of said local substations and configured to measure a change in at least one electrical variable, wherein each of the at least one electrical variable is selected from the group consisting of a current, a voltage, a power, and a frequency; and said computer arrangement configured to recognize that the selected electrical resource is connected to said output line of one of said local substations based on a correlation between the test control command and the measured change in the electrical variable.

15. The arrangement according to claim 14, wherein said computer arrangement is configured to perform temporally preceding steps as follows: providing a first data structure having a first identifier, a first communication address and a first geographical position for each control apparatus; and providing a second data structure having a second identifier, a second communication address and a second geographical position for each resource.

16. The arrangement according to claim 15, wherein said computer arrangement is configured to provide said data structures by using each of the resources to wirelessly transmit said respective identifier, said address and said geographical position by way of said communication apparatus.

17. The arrangement according to claim 14, wherein: said computer arrangement is configured to avoid unbalanced loads or to avoid overloading at the local substation by transmitting control commands to controllable electrical resources connected to output lines of the one of said local substations.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

(1) The FIGURE of the drawing is a schematic diagram showing one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(2) Referring now in detail to the single FIGURE of the drawing, there are seen four local substations 3, 4, 5, 6 which are connected to a medium-voltage network 2 of a town. The local substations 3, 4, 5, 6 each have a transformer (not illustrated) in order to provide a low voltage for a downstream low-voltage network. Each local substation has a control apparatus 12, 18, 20, 22, which is configured as a computer with a data memory, a processor device and an interface to a respective communication apparatus 13, 17, 19, 21. Each of the local substations 3, 4, 5, 6 has a plurality of output lines 7, 8, 25, 26, 31, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46 that provide a low voltage for the low-voltage network. In each case one or more controllable resources 9, 23, 10, 27, 28, 32, 36, 80-86, 87, 47, 48 are installed on the output lines 7, 8, 25, 26, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46. For example, controllable resources 10, 32, 36, 37, 48 may be charging columns for electric vehicles 11, 33, 38, 46, 49 that are connected via charging cables 16, 34, 39, 47, 50, or else photovoltaic systems 27. Controllable resources 23, 51 may be heat pumps or controllable resources 9, 28, 80-86 may be batteries.

(3) A measuring apparatus for measuring at least one electrical variable is provided on each of the output lines 7, 8, 25, 26, 31, 40-44, 46. In the case shown herein, the respective magnitude of a current flow on the respective output lines is measured by way of the measuring apparatus 103.

(4) Each of the controllable resources has a communication apparatus 14, 24, 50, 29, 30, 35, 37, 45, 51-59, these being configured to provide a wireless data communication link 60 (indicated by dashed lines) through mobile radio (for example through LTE).

(5) In contrast thereto, the communication apparatuses 13, 17, 19, 21 of the local substations 3, 4, 5, 6 are configured to provide a data communication link 62 through so-called “power line communication” (indicated by dashed lines). The data communication links 60, 62 allow data to be exchanged with a computer apparatus 61, 73, 74, 75. This is in this case a server apparatus provided in a cloud 61 and having corresponding software applications.

(6) The data communication links 60 may in this case be provided for the cloud apparatus 61 via appropriate radio-based gateways and the Internet. The data communication with the local substation 62 may for example take place in a manner routed via a control station (not illustrated), wherein, from the cloud apparatus 61, Internet-based data communication takes place with the control station and, from there, power line communication takes place directly to the local substations 3, 4, 5, 6 via power lines.

(7) A desktop computer 74 having a display device 75 is connected to the cloud apparatus 61 via an Internet connection 73. A topology 90 of the low-voltage network, as recognized by way of the method according to the invention, may be displayed to a user on the display device 75 or monitor. By way of example, a section of the low-voltage network that is disposed downstream of the local substations 3, 4 is illustrated herein. The core concept of the topology recognition according to the invention is that the resources 9, 10, 23, 27, 28, 32, 36 connected to the output lines 7, 8, 25, 31 are each assigned correctly to the illustrated output lines 7, 8, 25, 26, 31. By way of example, it has been correctly recognized that the resources 9 and 23 are connected to the output line 7 of the local substation 3.

(8) The operation of the method according to the invention is intended to be explained in more detail below:

(9) If for example the intention is to establish a topology of the low-voltage network disposed downstream of the local substation 3, that is to say the assignment of the resources 9, 23, 10 to the output lines 7, 8 of the local substation 3, then in each case the identifier K2 of the resource, the communication address A2 of the resource or the respective communication apparatus 14, 24, 15 and a geographical position P2 are transmitted by the resources 9, 23, 10 or the communication apparatuses 14, 24, 15 via the data communication link 60.

(10) The geographical position is a GPS coordinate that is able to be ascertained for example by way of a GPS receiver. As an alternative or in addition, when the resource 9, 23, 10 is installed on an output line 7, 8 by an engineer, the geographical position may be recorded and provided for transmission by way of a mobile terminal such as a laptop or a tablet.

(11) The transmitted data are received in the cloud apparatus 61 and recorded there in a second data structure 72, which is indicated as a simple table. For each resource in the low-voltage network, the table 72 therefore stores an identifier K2 for which for example information about the kind of resource (charging column, battery, etc.) and operating parameters, such as for example maximum and minimum energy consumption, are able to be retrieved.

(12) A table, specifically a first data structure 70, is likewise applied for the control apparatuses. This table in each case contains a first identifier K.sub.1 of the control apparatuses 12, 18, 20, 22 and a first communication address A.sub.1 of the local substations or of the communication apparatus 13, 17, 19, 21 and a geographical position P.sub.1 of the local substations. By way of example, the information required for the table 70 may be queried from a geographical information system from a control station for the medium-voltage network 2 or the downstream low-voltage network. As an alternative, these data may also be provided and transmitted when a control apparatus 12, 18, 20, 22 is installed or retrofitted by an engineer.

(13) According to the invention, assignment or matching of control apparatuses to resources located in the geographical proximity is then performed on the basis of the two data structures 70, 72. This is performed on the basis of the geographical positions P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 that are stored in the data structures 70, 72. By way of example, for the control apparatus 12 or the local substation 3, it results in the resources 9, 10, 27, 28, 23 (in increasing geographical distance) being located close to the control apparatus 12 or local substation 3.

(14) This results in a high probability of some of these resources being connected to the output lines 7, 8 of the local substation 3. The assignment or preselection of resources is transmitted to the communication apparatus 13 of the local substation 3 for the control apparatus 12 by way of a data telegram 100 and made available to the control apparatus 12 there. The control apparatus 12 selects a preselected or assigned resource, such as for example the resource 9, and transmits specific test control commands 101, 102 for this selected resource 9 through power line communication via the output lines 7, 8 to the presumably downstream resources 9, 23, 10, 27, 28, etc.

(15) Since the resources 27, 28 are however located on the output lines 25 and 26, respectively, of the local substation 4, they do not receive the test control commands 101, 102. The resource 10 receives the test control command 102, but does not change its energy draw, because the test control command 102 is configured to control only the resource 9. The same applies to the resource 23 which, although it receives the control command 101, likewise does not adjust its energy consumption, because the test control command 101 is not intended for this resource. The resource 9 however receives the test control command 101 and changes its energy consumption.

(16) By way of example, the power consumption is lowered to 0 kW for a predefined interval of 1 minute, or the resource 9 is deactivated. As an alternative, a maximum power draw may also be provided for a predefined time. This change in power consumption may be recognized by way of the measuring apparatus disposed on the output line 7, for example on the basis of a flowing current. This change accordingly lasts for the predefined time window of 1 min and then returns to the starting level. The measuring apparatus 103 of the output line 8 cannot recognize such a change. The control apparatus 12 accordingly records the fact that the resource 9 must be disposed on the output line 7.

(17) If it is not possible to ascertain that any clear change or other defects in the low-voltage network are overlaid on the measurements of the measuring apparatus 103, then the abovementioned topology recognition steps may be performed multiple times. It is thereby statistically relatively simple to recognize, after a few run-throughs, that the test control commands 101, 102 were actually decisive for the changes in the measured variables on the output lines 7, 8, and accordingly make an assignment possible.

(18) The control apparatus 12 will then create other test control commands for the other preselected resources 10, 27, 28, 23 in succession and measure changes on the output lines 7, 8. By virtue of this iterative method, it is gradually recognized that the resources 9, 23 are disposed on the output line 7 and the resource 10, a charging column for electric vehicles, is disposed on the output line 8. This information may be transmitted to the cloud apparatus 61 via the data communication link 62 by way of a data telegram 105. An assignment is also similarly performed and processed to form topology information for the other resources and output lines of the local substations 4, 5, 6. This topology information 90 may then be displayed to a user of the desktop apparatus 74, 75 in the form of a graph or table by way of the cloud apparatus 61.