WO2020056468A1 - Réseau d'énergie basé sur les transactions - Google Patents

Réseau d'énergie basé sur les transactions Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2020056468A1
WO2020056468A1 PCT/AU2019/051019 AU2019051019W WO2020056468A1 WO 2020056468 A1 WO2020056468 A1 WO 2020056468A1 AU 2019051019 W AU2019051019 W AU 2019051019W WO 2020056468 A1 WO2020056468 A1 WO 2020056468A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
electric power
power
power distribution
attributes
electrical power
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PCT/AU2019/051019
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English (en)
Inventor
Andrew John SCOBIE
Matthew Williams
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Third Equation Ltd
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Third Equation Ltd
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Priority claimed from AU2018903557A external-priority patent/AU2018903557A0/en
Application filed by Third Equation Ltd filed Critical Third Equation Ltd
Publication of WO2020056468A1 publication Critical patent/WO2020056468A1/fr
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/04—Arrangements for connecting networks of the same frequency but supplied from different sources
    • H02J3/06—Controlling the transfer of power between connected networks; Controlling load sharing between connected networks
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05F—SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G05F1/00—Automatic systems in which deviations of an electric quantity from one or more predetermined values are detected at the output of the system and fed back to a device within the system to restore the detected quantity to its predetermined value or values, i.e. retroactive systems
    • G05F1/10—Regulating voltage or current 
    • G05F1/12—Regulating voltage or current  wherein the variable actually regulated by the final control device is AC
    • G05F1/32—Regulating voltage or current  wherein the variable actually regulated by the final control device is AC using magnetic devices having a controllable degree of saturation as final control devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05F—SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G05F1/00—Automatic systems in which deviations of an electric quantity from one or more predetermined values are detected at the output of the system and fed back to a device within the system to restore the detected quantity to its predetermined value or values, i.e. retroactive systems
    • G05F1/66—Regulating electric power
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05F—SYSTEMS FOR REGULATING ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC VARIABLES
    • G05F5/00—Systems for regulating electric variables by detecting deviations in the electric input to the system and thereby controlling a device within the system to obtain a regulated output
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/12—Arrangements for adjusting voltage in AC networks by changing a characteristic of the network load
    • H02J3/16—Arrangements for adjusting voltage in AC networks by changing a characteristic of the network load by adjustment of reactive power
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/17—Demand-responsive operation of AC power transmission or distribution networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/28—Arrangements for balancing of the load in networks by storage of energy
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M1/00—Details of apparatus for conversion
    • H02M1/42—Circuits or arrangements for compensating for or adjusting power factor in converters or inverters
    • H02M1/4208—Arrangements for improving power factor of AC input
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M5/00—Conversion of AC power input into AC power output, e.g. for change of voltage, for change of frequency, for change of number of phases
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M5/00—Conversion of AC power input into AC power output, e.g. for change of voltage, for change of frequency, for change of number of phases
    • H02M5/02—Conversion of AC power input into AC power output, e.g. for change of voltage, for change of frequency, for change of number of phases without intermediate conversion into DC
    • H02M5/04—Conversion of AC power input into AC power output, e.g. for change of voltage, for change of frequency, for change of number of phases without intermediate conversion into DC by static converters
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M7/00—Conversion of AC power input into DC power output; Conversion of DC power input into AC power output
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M7/00—Conversion of AC power input into DC power output; Conversion of DC power input into AC power output
    • H02M7/42—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal
    • H02M7/44—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters
    • H02M7/48—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode
    • H02M7/505—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a thyratron or thyristor type requiring extinguishing means
    • H02M7/515—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a thyratron or thyristor type requiring extinguishing means using semiconductor devices only
    • H02M7/525—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a thyratron or thyristor type requiring extinguishing means using semiconductor devices only with automatic control of output waveform or frequency
    • H02M7/527—Conversion of DC power input into AC power output without possibility of reversal by static converters using discharge tubes with control electrode or semiconductor devices with control electrode using devices of a thyratron or thyristor type requiring extinguishing means using semiconductor devices only with automatic control of output waveform or frequency by pulse width modulation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G05—CONTROLLING; REGULATING
    • G05B—CONTROL OR REGULATING SYSTEMS IN GENERAL; FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF SUCH SYSTEMS; MONITORING OR TESTING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SUCH SYSTEMS OR ELEMENTS
    • G05B15/00—Systems controlled by a computer
    • G05B15/02—Systems controlled by a computer electric
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J2105/00—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load
    • H02J2105/50—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load for selectively controlling the operation of the loads
    • H02J2105/52—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load for selectively controlling the operation of the loads for limitation of the power consumption in the networks or in one section of the networks, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J2105/00—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load
    • H02J2105/50—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load for selectively controlling the operation of the loads
    • H02J2105/54—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load for selectively controlling the operation of the loads according to a non-electrical condition, e.g. temperature
    • H02J2105/55—Networks for supplying or distributing electric power characterised by their spatial reach or by the load for selectively controlling the operation of the loads according to a non-electrical condition, e.g. temperature according to an economic condition, e.g. tariff-based load management
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/001—Arrangements for handling faults or abnormalities, e.g. emergencies or contingencies
    • H02J3/0014—Arrangements for handling faults or abnormalities, e.g. emergencies or contingencies for preventing or reducing power oscillations in networks
    • H02J3/00142—Oscillations concerning frequency
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/001—Arrangements for handling faults or abnormalities, e.g. emergencies or contingencies
    • H02J3/0014—Arrangements for handling faults or abnormalities, e.g. emergencies or contingencies for preventing or reducing power oscillations in networks
    • H02J3/00144—Arrangements for handling faults or abnormalities, e.g. emergencies or contingencies for preventing or reducing power oscillations in networks using phasor measuring units [PMU]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/008—Circuit arrangements for power supply or distribution technologies responsive to energy trading
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02J—ELECTRIC POWER NETWORKS; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS OR SYSTEMS FOR SUPPLYING OR DISTRIBUTING ELECTRIC POWER; SYSTEMS FOR STORING ELECTRIC ENERGY
    • H02J3/00—Circuit arrangements for AC mains or AC distribution networks
    • H02J3/38—Arrangements for feeding a single network from two or more generators or sources in parallel; Arrangements for feeding already energised networks from additional generators or sources in parallel
    • H02J3/381—Dispersed generators
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H02—GENERATION; CONVERSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRIC POWER
    • H02M—APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION BETWEEN AC AND AC, BETWEEN AC AND DC, OR BETWEEN DC AND DC, AND FOR USE WITH MAINS OR SIMILAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS; CONVERSION OF DC OR AC INPUT POWER INTO SURGE OUTPUT POWER; CONTROL OR REGULATION THEREOF
    • H02M1/00—Details of apparatus for conversion
    • H02M1/42—Circuits or arrangements for compensating for or adjusting power factor in converters or inverters
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02B—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO BUILDINGS, e.g. HOUSING, HOUSE APPLIANCES OR RELATED END-USER APPLICATIONS
    • Y02B70/00—Technologies for an efficient end-user side electric power management and consumption
    • Y02B70/30—Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
    • Y02B70/3225—Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
    • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y04—INFORMATION OR COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVING AN IMPACT ON OTHER TECHNOLOGY AREAS
    • Y04S—SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS
    • Y04S20/00—Management or operation of end-user stationary applications or the last stages of power distribution; Controlling, monitoring or operating thereof
    • Y04S20/20—End-user application control systems
    • Y04S20/222—Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y04—INFORMATION OR COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVING AN IMPACT ON OTHER TECHNOLOGY AREAS
    • Y04S—SYSTEMS INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO POWER NETWORK OPERATION, COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING THE ELECTRICAL POWER GENERATION, TRANSMISSION, DISTRIBUTION, MANAGEMENT OR USAGE, i.e. SMART GRIDS
    • Y04S50/00—Market activities related to the operation of systems integrating technologies related to power network operation or related to communication or information technologies
    • Y04S50/10—Energy trading, including energy flowing from end-user application to grid

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the supply of electrical power, and in particular to a transaction-based energy network.
  • the electricity system is undergoing a change of scale not seen for decades.
  • the traditional model of centralised large-scale generation providing electricity and inertia is changing to allow for carbon-free generation technologies such as solar and wind to supply a greater percentage of our electricity needs.
  • This, combined with an increasing uptake in electric vehicles and electrification of heating systems is resulting in a system where the way we generate and use electricity has changed to a more decarbonised, decentralised, digitised and democratised system, but the way we transport it has not evolved and is no longer fit for purpose.
  • the fundamental design of the electricity grid has not changed in more than 100 years. It is based on a hub and spoke delivery system, with electricity flowing one way from large generators to tranched consumers. The distances travelled are generally quite large, spanning hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilometres, resulting in significant energy losses.
  • the entire system is generator-centric in that generators act to balance the grid by controlling the amount of power that is generated to match the amount of power that is consumed.
  • the traditional generators provide both the real power consumed, as well as other services to the grid to maintain stability such as inertia.
  • renewable energy generation is becoming cheaper than traditional generators because the marginal cost of production is very low.
  • coal power plants require a consumable input of coal to generate power
  • wind and solar only require the wind and the sun, which are freely available.
  • balancing services because of the nature of the generation as described above, the electricity grid must be provided with other services in order to maintain the fragile balance of supply and demand in real time to provide a reliable power supply, referred to as balancing services.
  • balancing services As the percentage of renewable energy generation increases so does the balancing services requirement. This has led to higher energy prices, for example in the USA the cost of energy is made up of 40% non-wholesale costs, and in some states such as New York this rises to 90% (source EIA). In Germany, the non-wholesale cost of energy accounts for 80.7% of the price of energy (source BDEW 2017).
  • renewable generation is not dispatchable like traditional generation : it is dependent on the weather which is outside the generators' control. This means the generators at times do not meet their generation requirements, or affect the short-term system stability by immediately starting or stopping generation. Renewable generators often underestimate the amount of energy they will produce in order to avoid undersupply and the associated financial penalties, which means these generators have to curtail excess energy.
  • geographically distributed power generation means that the power flows within the electricity grid are changing, both in quantity and sometimes direction. The grid owner and operator generally have no insight as to what is happening within the system as monitoring instrumentation was not previously required in these locations. This makes it more challenging for the grid to be kept operating effectively and efficiently.
  • an electric power distribution controller configured to be communicatively coupled to other instances of the electric power distribution controller to form a network of electrical power distribution controllers that collectively control the flow of electric power in an electric power distribution network to satisfy requests for electric power with one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: power amount, power quality, and attributes of electric power generation.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes include power amount.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes are a plurality of specified electric power attributes including power amount and one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: power quality, and attributes of electric power generation.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes are a plurality of specified electric power attributes including power amount and one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: power quality, attributes of electric power generation, and pricing.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes are a plurality of specified electric power attributes including power amount and pricing, and one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: power quality, and attributes of electric power generation.
  • each said electric power distribution controller is communicatively coupled to or is a component of a corresponding electrical power control apparatus including :
  • one or more signal conversion components receiving electrical power in the form of a corresponding first signal having a corresponding first fundamental frequency and a corresponding first characteristic voltage, and generating a corresponding second signal having a corresponding second fundamental frequency and a corresponding second characteristic voltage;
  • a signal conversion control component that controls operation of the signal conversion components to determine an output voltage and an output frequency of an output signal of the electrical power control apparatus
  • the electric power distribution controller controls operation of the signal conversion control component to satisfy said requests.
  • n electrical power control apparatus including :
  • one or more signal conversion components receiving electrical power in the form of a corresponding first signal having a corresponding first fundamental frequency and a corresponding first characteristic voltage, and generating a corresponding second signal having a corresponding second fundamental frequency and a corresponding second characteristic voltage;
  • a signal conversion control component that controls operation of the signal conversion components to determine an output voltage and an output frequency of an output signal of the electrical power control apparatus
  • an electric power distribution controller that controls operation of the signal conversion control components and is configured to be communicatively coupled to other electric power distribution controllers of respective other instances of the electrical power control apparatus to form a network of electrical power control apparatuses that collectively control the flow of electric power in an electric power distribution network to satisfy requests for electric power with one or more specified electric power attributes selected from : power amount, power quality, and attributes of electric power generation.
  • each said electrical power control apparatus includes:
  • a magnetic core including at least three interconnected limbs defining a plurality of magnetic circuits, the at least three interconnected limbs including a first limb and second limbs;
  • a primary winding to receive input electrical power having an input voltage, an input current, and an input power factor, the primary winding being wound around the first limb of the limbs of the magnetic core to generate a corresponding first magnetic flux in the first limb that is divided between the second limbs;
  • secondary windings to provide output electrical power having an output voltage and an output power factor to a load, the secondary windings being wound around the first and second limbs of the magnetic core to generate the output voltage across the secondary windings from magnetic flux in the first and second limbs of the magnetic core, wherein the secondary windings around the second limbs are wound in opposite polarities;
  • control windings wound around the second limbs to modify the magnetic flux in the second limbs and thereby modify the output voltage and the input power factor, wherein the control windings around the second limbs are wound in opposite polarities.
  • each said electrical power control apparatus is configured to reduce harmonics such that the output signal has lower distortion than the received first signal.
  • each said electrical power control apparatus is configured to correct power factor such that the output signal has an improved power factor relative to the received first signal.
  • each said electrical power control apparatus is configured to balance power between phases of the received electric power.
  • the electric power distribution controller is configured to: receive requests for electric power from corresponding downstream electric power distribution controllers specifying one or more corresponding electric power attributes selected from: power amount, stability, noise, reliability, sustainability, and pricing ; and for each request received from a corresponding downstream electric power distribution controller: (i) process the received request to generate corresponding requests for sending to corresponding upstream electric power distribution controllers in order to determine the abilities of their respective upstream electrical power control apparatuses to individually or collectively supply electric power satisfying the received request;
  • step (iii) determines that the upstream electric power distribution controllers are unable to satisfy the received request
  • the electric power distribution controller is configured to cause a corresponding message to be sent to the upstream electric power distribution controllers so as to provide a further opportunity for the upstream electric power distribution controllers to improve their individual or collective ability to satisfy the request.
  • steps (i) to (vi) constitute a transaction between the electric power distribution controller, the corresponding downstream electric power distribution controller, and the one or more selected upstream electric power distribution controllers, and each of the electric power distribution controllers participating in the transaction is configured to store data representing the transaction in a corresponding database.
  • the attributes specify a cost function that defines pricing for electric power in dependence on the proportions of renewable and non-renewable sources of the electric power.
  • the attributes specify a cost function that defines pricing for electric power in dependence on harmonic distortion and/or power factor of the electric power.
  • a n electric power distribution process executed by an electric power distribution controller communicatively coupled to other instances of the electric power distribution controller to form a network of electrical power distribution controllers that collectively control the flow of electric power in an electric power distribution network to satisfy requests for electric power with one or more specified electric power attributes selected from : power amount, power quality, and attributes of electric power generation, the process including the steps of:
  • corresponding downstream electric power distribution controllers specifying one or more corresponding electric power attributes selected from: power amount, stability, noise, reliability, sustainability, and pricing; and
  • an electronic storage medium having stored thereon FPGA configuration data representing executable instructions or processor-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one FPGA or processor, cause it to execute the above steps.
  • an electrical power distribution controller for communicatively coupling to other instances of the electrical power distribution controller to form a network of electrical power distribution controllers that collectively control the flow of electric power in an electrical power distribution network to satisfy requests for electric power with one or more specified attributes selected from: power amount, stability, noise, reliability, sustainability, and pricing.
  • an electrical power distribution network including : a plurality of electrical power control apparatuses, each of the electrical power control apparatuses including :
  • one or more signal conversion components receiving electrical power in the form of a corresponding first signal having a corresponding first fundamental frequency and a corresponding first characteristic voltage, and generating a corresponding second signal having a corresponding second fundamental frequency and a corresponding second characteristic voltage;
  • a signal conversion controller that controls operation of the signal conversion components to determine an output voltage and an output frequency of an output signal of the electrical power control apparatus
  • electrical power consumption components acting as sinks of electrical power from at least some of the electrical power control apparatuses
  • the electrical power control apparatuses operate autonomously but are interconnected such that an output of each of the electrical power control apparatuses is connected to an input of at least one corresponding other of the electrical power control apparatuses and to one or more of the sinks and/or sources of electrical power so that the electrical power control apparatuses collectively maintain the voltages and frequencies of electrical power signals flowing through the electrical power distribution network at target values to compensate for variations in the sinks and/or sources of electrical power.
  • Figure 1 is a functional block diagram of an electrical power control
  • Figure 2 is a block diagram of an electrical power control apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, including a magnetic core having multiple magnetic circuits and a control system to control the modulation of magnetic flux in those magnetic circuits;
  • Figure 3 is a circuit diagram with a rectifier circuit, a DC link and two bridge circuits to provide pulse width modulation of a control winding of the electrical power control apparatus;
  • Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a single-phase magnetic core of a single- phase embodiment of the electrical power control apparatus, showing the configurations and connections of the primary, secondary, and control windings;
  • Figure 5 is a graph showing the B-H curve of electrical steel used in the described embodiments of the electrical power control apparatus
  • Figure 6 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the control system of the electrical power control apparatus
  • FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a phase lock loop (PLL) component of the control system
  • Figure 8 is a block diagram of a vector signal generator component of the control system
  • Figure 9 is a block diagram of a half park transform component of the control system.
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram of a reference voltage generator component of the control system
  • Figure 11 is a block diagram of a voltage controller component of the control system
  • Figure 12 is a block diagram of a reactive power estimator component of the control system
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram of a reactive power regulator component of the control system
  • Figure 14 is a wire frame representation of a three-phase magnetic core of a three-phase embodiment of the electrical power control apparatus, which is able to control voltage waveform, RMS voltage, power factor, and balance power across the three phases;
  • Figure 15 is a Nichols plot of the response of the phase lock loop component of Figure 7
  • Figure 16 is a Nichols plot of the response of the voltage controller component of Figure 11 for different power factors
  • Figure 17 is a Nichols plot of the response of the reactive power components of Figures 13 for different power factors
  • Figures 18 to 21 are three-dimensional surface plots of respectively the output to input voltage ratio (Figure 18), the output power (Figure 19), the control power ( Figure 20), and the power factor (Figure 21), each of these being plotted as a function of input voltage amplitude and phase for different control voltages;
  • Figure 22 is a screen capture image showing actual measured waveforms of input signals provided to the apparatus and corresponding output signals generated by the apparatus, including the input voltage waveform (top left), RMS voltage (middle left) and power factor (lower left), and the output voltage waveform (top right), RMS voltage (middle right) and power factor (lower right);
  • Figure 23 is a graph of a measured input voltage waveform, and the corresponding control signal voltage and output voltage waveforms, demonstrating removal of 3 rd , 5 th and 7 th harmonics present on the input waveform from the output generated by the electrical power control apparatus;
  • Figure 24 is a plot of a physical voltage dip test completed to IEC standard 610000-4-11, showing the reduction in voltage dip in the output generated by the electrical power control apparatus;
  • Figure 25 is a magnetic circuit diagram of an embodiment of the electrical power control apparatus, showing the configuration of primary, secondary, control, and rectifier windings/coils;
  • Figure 26 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the magnetic core and windings/coils of an embodiment of the electrical power control apparatus
  • Figure 27 is a cross-sectional side view of the magnetic core of an embodiment of the electrical power control apparatus as shown in Figure 26 showing the arrangement of the copper turns in the coils, and the locations of thermocouple sensors;
  • Figure 28 is a three-dimensional wire frame view showing the three-dimensional spatial arrangement of the windings/coils shown in Figure 26, together with a structural frame to support and move the apparatus;
  • Figure 29 is a block diagram of power electronics used to drive the control windings and rectifier winding of the apparatus of Figure 25;
  • Figure 30 is a circuit diagram of the power electronics shown in Figure 29, including a rectifier circuit, a DC link and two bridge circuits to provide pulse width modulation (PWM) of the control windings and rectifier winding;
  • PWM pulse width modulation
  • Figure 31 is a schematic wireframe representation of a three-phase configuration of a magnetic core for an electrical power control apparatus to control voltage waveform, RMS voltage, power factor, and balance power across the three phases through the magnetic core;
  • Figures 32 and 33 are schematic diagrams of an electrical power device or system in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
  • Figure 34 is a flow diagram of a power control process executed by a transaction or routing engine of the system of Figure 33;
  • Figures 35 to 42 are block diagrams illustrating energy transactions between transaction or routing engines of electricity distribution networks.
  • Figure 43 is a flow diagram of an energy transaction process executed by a transaction or routing engine of the system.
  • the described embodiments of the present invention include an electrical power control apparatus and process that involve receiving input electrical energy in the form of an input signal having some voltage waveform and root-mean-square (RMS) voltage, and converting that input electrical energy to output electrical energy in the form of an output signal having a desired or 'target' voltage waveform and a desired or 'target' output RMS voltage.
  • the input electrical energy will typically vary over time (that is, its voltage waveform and/or RMS voltage is time-dependent), and thus the apparatus and process operate to dynamically control the conversion so that the output electrical energy has the desired target voltage waveform and target RMS voltage, which themselves may also vary over time. Additionally and simultaneously, the output electrical energy of the apparatus will have a power factor determined by the downstream load drawing power from the apparatus.
  • the apparatus determines that power factor on its output and provides a unity power factor on its input, such that (the input of) the apparatus appears as an ideal (purely resistive) load.
  • the electrical power control apparatus and process are thus able to provide voltage waveform and RMS voltage conversion while simultaneously providing power factor correction, utilising high-speed electromagnetic path modulation instead of electronic circuit switching (used in power electronics devices) to deliver improved efficiency and performance (as well as electrically isolating the two systems).
  • the electrical power control apparatus and process are primarily described herein in the context of mains power distribution, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the electrical power control apparatus and process may be used in essentially any electrical system application that requires control of output power factor and/or voltage waveform and/or RMS voltage, including, transformers, power factor compensation, harmonic filters, and other applications, for example. Many other applications of the electrical power supply system and process described herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure.
  • signal is used for convenience of reference, and is to be construed broadly as referring to a form of electrical energy characterised by a voltage, current, and at least one fundamental frequency (which could be zero in the case of a DC voltage), and does not necessarily require that any form of information is represented by or conveyed by the signal, notwithstanding that some embodiments of the invention may involve the communication of information encoded in the signal.
  • an electrical power control apparatus 100 (also referred to herein as a "Faraday exchanger”) includes a voltage control component 104, a power factor control component 108, and a controller 106.
  • the voltage control component 104 receives an input signal of some characteristic input voltage, and provides a corresponding output signal having a selected or desired output voltage, regardless of the input voltage.
  • the power factor control component 108 receives an input signal of some output power factor, and provides a corresponding signal having a selected or desired input power factor, regardless of the input signal power factor.
  • the voltage control component 104 and the power factor control component 108 act in concert so that the apparatus 100 receives an input signal having some (typically time-varying) characteristic voltage Vm and power factor PFm and generates a corresponding output signal having a selected voltage Vout and a selected power factor PF 0Ut , where the output voltage Vout is maintained substantially at a desired value and the input power factor PFm is maintained substantially at unity.
  • the apparatus 100 can be configured so that the output voltage Vout is constant and equal to the required voltage level independent of Vm, and the output waveform is maintained as a perfect (or at least improved) sine wave independent of the input waveform, and the power factor on the input side is maintained at 1 independent of the output power factor being determined by the load on the apparatus 100.
  • Waveform harmonics and voltage deviations are a major source of losses and instability within an electricity grid.
  • the controller 106 uses step down devices (e.g., buck converters in the described embodiments) to monitor the input voltage, and generates corresponding voltage control and power factor control signals that are respectively used to control the operation of the voltage control component 104, and the power factor control component 108.
  • step down devices e.g., buck converters in the described embodiments
  • the same result can be delivered by changing the voltage control component to a current control component.
  • the current is measured instead of the voltage at the same location, but using current sensors instead of voltage sensors.
  • the same result can also be delivered by changing the voltage or current control component to a flux control component.
  • the magnetic flux is measured instead of the voltage or current, at the same location but using flux sensors instead of voltage or current sensors.
  • a transformer is an electromagnetic device that transfers electric energy from one circuit to another circuit via mutual inductance, and is typically made up of a primary winding, a magnetic core and a secondary winding.
  • an alternating voltage is applied to the primary winding, an alternating current flows through the primary winding.
  • This magnetizing current produces an alternating magnetic flux.
  • the flux is mostly constrained within the magnetic core, and induces a corresponding voltage in the linked secondary winding, which if connected to an electrical load produces an alternating current.
  • This secondary load current then produces its own alternating magnetic flux which links back with the primary winding.
  • the secondary voltage is determined by the product of the primary voltage and the ratio of the number of turns in the secondary winding and the number of turns in the primary winding.
  • Transformers are commonly used to convert between high and low voltages, but they are bulky by necessity at distribution frequencies. They offer high efficiency, simplicity of design, and bidirectional power transfer. However their passive nature affords limited regulation of the power transferred, requiring the introduction of inefficient power factor control and voltage regulation. The physics of operation at mains supply frequencies also makes them comparatively large for a given power rating, increasing costs of materials, fabrication and insulation management.
  • a device in the described embodiment, includes a magnetic core in the form of an El core (of single phase shell configuration) where the primary and secondary coils or windings (these terms being equivalent in this specification) are located on the centre limb of El the core; however, unlike a conventional transformer, the secondary is connected in series to an additional pair of coils on the two outer limbs, one wound with the same polarity or sense as the centre secondary coil, and the other wound with the opposite polarity or sense.
  • a corresponding pair of control coils are also wound around the outer pair of limbs, with the two control coils wound in opposite polarities or senses on each limb.
  • This geometry combined with selection of the magnetic core material (being an M400-50A non grain oriented soft electrical steel in the described embodiments), results in good magnetic coupling between the primary coils and secondary coils, good magnetic coupling between the secondary coils and control coils, but poor magnetic coupling between the primary coils and the control coils, this general arrangement providing the best performance.
  • the magnetic core material being an M400-50A non grain oriented soft electrical steel in the described embodiments
  • the primary winding on the centre arm has Ni turns, and the secondary winding is split across all 3 limbs, with the centre limb having N 2 turns, and the outer limbs having xl ⁇ l 2 and -XN 2 turns, meaning that they are wound in opposite directions.
  • the control windings have an equal number of turns wound in opposite directions. When the control windings are turned off (have no power flowing through them), the flux flowing in the core is evenly split between the two outer flux paths (/.e., defined by the outer limbs) because the geometry is symmetrical.
  • phase shift in the control coil voltage will produce a phase shift between the primary and secondary coils. This allows the input and output power factors to be adjusted independently.
  • an additional coil is added to the centre arm of the core and is connected to a rectifier, as shown in Figure 26.
  • This rectifier forms part of the controller as shown in Figure 29 and is connected to an inverter through a DC link with a capacitor.
  • the device operates in a different section of the core material B-H curve to a normal transformer.
  • a material with linear properties in the operating area of the B-H curve is desirable to enable the device to be controlled to deliver voltage waveform, RMS voltage and power factor control.
  • the core material should have a permeability curve which has a soft increase (i.e. does not rapidly change from one value to another) in the magnetic field up to material saturation to enable the device to be controlled to deliver voltage waveform, RMS voltage and power factor control.
  • the core of the device can be composed of any electromagnetic material that will allow magnetic flux to be transferred between windings. In the described device, this is a non grain-oriented electrical grade steel.
  • the windings of the device can be made with any electrical conductor, in the described device this is high conductivity copper.
  • the specific configuration of a device can be determined using standard electromagnetic design methods known to those skilled in the art.
  • M400-50A electrical steel One such core material that could be used is M400-50A electrical steel. This material is described in the table below, and its flux density against field strength (B-H curve) is shown in Figure 5.
  • the sizing of the magnetic core is dependent on the amount of energy passing through the device, in the same way that the core of a transformer is dependent on its power rating.
  • the number of windings in the primary, secondary and control coils is dependent on the performance of the device required, such as the standard voltage transformation as well as the range of voltage control performance.
  • the configuration and dimensions of one embodiment of the device are shown in Figure 26, with each coil having the following number of turns: A 113, B 54, C 13, D13, E 14, F 14, G 79.
  • a cross section of these windings is shown in Figure 27.
  • the electrical power control apparatus can be expanded from a single phase to a 3 phase device in multiple ways. Firstly, 3 single phase devices can be used individually on each phase of a 3 phase connection. This arrangement successfully controls voltage and power factor in the same way as a single phase device does.
  • the control of the device will consist of power electronics, which will also have the capability to balance power across the 3 phases.
  • a more advanced core arrangement can be utilised where all 3 phases pass through a single electromagnetic core, as shown in Figure 14. This works using the same principles as a single phase device, however power can be balanced between the phases within the magnetic core as they are magnetically coupled.
  • the arrangement shown in Figure 14 has multiple control windings which, using the same control scheme expanded to 3 phases, can control the voltage, frequency and power factor, as well as balance power across the phases.
  • Figure 31 shows another 3 phase geometry, with each rectangular face of the triangular prism consisting of a single phase shell type core.
  • the primary coil is wound around the middle horizontal arm, the secondary coil wound around all three horizontal arms, the control windings wound around the top and bottom horizontal arm.
  • a rectifier coil can be wound around the centre horizontal arm. This constitutes 7 coils on each phase, or 21 coils for the three phase device.
  • the performance of the energy exchange device is dependent on several parameters such as the mutual and self inductances of the primary, secondary and control coils, as well as a number of variables such as the input, output and control voltages, power throughput and load power factor.
  • L (H) and R (W) denote the inductance and resistance matrices between the device primary (1), secondary (2) and control (3) coils.
  • w 2p ⁇ (rad/s) as the angular frequency of the supply voltage
  • i [ii , i 2 , 13] (A) as the current through the coils
  • v [vi , V2 , v 3 ] (V) as the voltage across them.
  • the relationship between current and voltage across the device is given by:
  • Figure 18 shows the voltage ratio VI / V2 x
  • the voltage ratio clearly varies with the control voltage and in fact the relationship is almost linear when the control is in phase with the primary voltage. This implies that ratio across the device can be altered and, since the variation is monotonic, it can be controlled.
  • Figure 19 shows the output power as a function of the control voltage magnitude and phase relative to the primary voltage signal.
  • the output power varies as the output voltage squared hence the profile of output power is very similar to that of output voltage. In practice the output power will be determined by the behaviour of the electrical load.
  • Figure 20 shows the control power as a function of the control voltage magnitude and phase relative to the primary voltage signal.
  • Control power can clearly be either positive or negative depending on the magnitude and phasing of the applied control voltage and the power electronics needed to drive the control coils must be able to inject and absorb power from the device.
  • Figure 21 shows the input power factor as a function of the control voltage magnitude and phase relative to the primary voltage signal. Power factor is clearly influenced by the control voltage, particularly its phase. As the power factor relationship with respect to control voltage phase is monotonic, and that of the voltage ratio with respect control voltage amplitude is also monotonic, then it is possible to control both voltage ratio and input power factor simultaneously.
  • the control system monitors the apparatus output voltage and input current and voltage, with the objective of ensuring that the output voltage waveform is a sinusoid of the correct amplitude and the input power factor is unity.
  • Those skilled in the art will know there are many ways to achieve the desired control, of various algorithms and configurations, using a variety of different hardware implementation types. One such implementation is described below, implemented as a discrete process on digital processors, as described below.
  • phase lock loop monitors the input voltage and synchronizes the output frequency and phase angle of the reference voltage generator to the input waveform.
  • the voltage controller monitors the error between this reference and the measured output voltage and generates the control demand needed to drive the voltage error to zero.
  • phase of the reference voltage signal is augmented by the reactive power controller. This drives the estimated input reactive power to zero and hence the input power factor to unity.
  • Reactive power is estimated by monitoring input current and voltage over an entire cycle.
  • the 3 closed loops that operate in the control system are the PLL, VCL and RPL. Their control performance is assessed within the following paragraphs.
  • PLL Phase lock loop
  • the components in the phase lock loop are shown in Figure 7, 8, and 9.
  • the input voltage is first scaled approximately to generate a signal that has a maximum value around unity.
  • the scaling doesn't have to be precise as the PLL is relatively insensitive to input amplitude.
  • a vector consisting of the input signal phase shifted by 90 deg is produced by the AB vector generator shown below. This is then Park transformed into the DQ frame using the phase angle generated by the PLL. Only the Q component is needed.
  • the Q component is zero when the PLL phase is synchronised to the input signal.
  • the PI control law increases or lowers the estimated frequency (and hence its phase) in order to drive the Q error to zero.
  • LP (low pass) filters are included to remove any unwanted noise from the voltage signal.
  • the feedforward reduces feedback requirements allowing the bandwidth of the closed loop to be made as low as possible, this reduces the sensitivity signal noise even further. Parameters for the PLL are defined in the table below.
  • the PLL provides the phase synchronisation needed by the other 2 control loops, but its operation is virtually independent.
  • the loop is deliberately made as low bandwidth as possible to enhance suppression.
  • the open loop characteristics are shown in the Nichols plot in Figure 15 and key control parameters summarised in the table below.
  • the purpose of the reference voltage generator is to produce a voltage demand for the voltage control loop to track. This is shown in Figure 10.
  • the amplitude input is set to the desired output voltage, and the phase is set by the PLL and reactive power regulator. As such, no parameters are needed.
  • the voltage control law shown in Figure 11 is a high gain integral action control law equipped with low bandwidth feedback to wash out unwanted DC signal. Parameters for the control law are defined in the table below.
  • the voltage control loop requires to track the voltage reference signal precisely which requires a high bandwidth to attenuate harmonics.
  • a Nichols plot of the voltage open loop is shown in Figure 16, and the key control parameters summarised in the table below.
  • the open loop transfer function (OLTF) is relatively independent of the load power factor due to careful selection of the core magnetic material to minimise core flux dispersion (leakage) and primary to control coil cross coupling inductance.
  • the low frequency roll-off of the control system is required to avoid saturating the control amplifier input with a DC signal.
  • Reactive power is computed by multiplying the quadrature component of input voltage by current and averaging this over a complete cycle.
  • the reactive power estimator is shown in block diagram form in Figure 12. Note that 1 / 4 (quadrature) and full cycle delays are approximated to the nearest sample time using the z-d operator.
  • the reactive power regulator is a low gain limited integrator as shown in Figure 13.
  • the limiter is used to curtail the degree of control action used to avoid saturating the magnetic core of the FE with unrealistic power factor compensation demands. Parameters for the regulator are defined in the table below.
  • the reactive power regulator is required to hold the input power factor at unity.
  • the control loop is inherently nonlinear by virtue of the product of voltage and the quadrature current used in the reactive power estimation algorithm. Stability and performance should therefore be evaluated using a nonlinear method of analysis such as phase plane.
  • the Nichol's plot in Figure 17 shows the OLTF of the loop when linearised about a primary voltage. The key parameters are summarised in the table below.
  • Figure 22 is a screenshot showing the actual measured input and outputs of the described embodiment device in operation.
  • the left column includes three plots of values measured on the primary winding, and the right column includes plots of respective values measured on the secondary winding.
  • the top row shows the primary AC voltage waveform, with significant random noise.
  • the output waveform on the secondary is a relatively clean AC waveform.
  • the device is able to reduce the total harmonic distortion (calculated as the harmonics energy divided by the total energy) from 35% on the input to less than 2% on the output.
  • the middle row includes plots of RMS voltage, with random noise and a step function on the primary windings, and a stable output voltage on the secondary winding.
  • the bottom row includes a plot showing a load power factor varying on the secondary winding. However, this is not passed upstream to the primary winding, as can be seen by the stable unity power factor of the primary winding shown in the left-hand plot.
  • Figure 64 shows the apparatus performance for a voltage dip.
  • the power flow through the apparatus is regulated by controlling its control windings shown in Figure 4.
  • the control windings are correspondingly adjusted by changing the DC or AC control current to provide a selected level of reluctance.
  • the control current can be either a direct analog signal, where the current level is changed directly, or can take the form of a digital signal using pulse width modulation (PWM) to provide an equivalent average current.
  • PWM pulse width modulation
  • PWM uses a digital signal switched at a rate much higher than will affect the load to control the power supplied. Switching the voltage to a load with the appropriate duty cycle approximates the desired voltage level.
  • the duty cycle can be varied to deliver an approximation of an analog waveform using digital sources. Modern semiconductors are able to provide this switching in microseconds, meaning that power loss is very low, but the imperfect waveform produce can cause significant harmonics and losses in some applications.
  • PWM of the current through the control winding is achieved through a control circuit consisting of a rectifier, a DC link, and two bridges, as shown in Figure 3.
  • the two bridges are made up of four diodes and four insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT).
  • IGBT's are switched on and off by controller 106 in order to provide the correct current level in the control winding 202 to deliver the target signal output. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this can be achieved in a number of various circuit topologies.
  • a control circuitry topology utilising step down converters (buck converters) allows a greatly reduced power usage to achieve the desired magnitude and range of virtual air gap control.
  • the waveform of the output signal is modulated using the control windings in order to smooth out harmonics, as shown in Figure 23. Faster control speeds better compensate and correct harmonics.
  • the rectifier is connected to the magnetic core of the device through a winding on the centre limb, as shown in Figure 25.
  • the rectifier is actively controlled by the control system in order to regulate DC link voltage and input reactive power.
  • the inverter is able to control output voltage and also input reactive power.
  • the combined control of both the rectifier and inverter is therefore able to regulate output voltage and input power factor. Balancing reactive power injection between the control coil and the rectifier to hold unity power factor should reduce the size of both the rectifier and the inverter.
  • an energy recovery circuit is used to store the excess energy that would be otherwise lost. This energy can be stored within a capacitor, inductor or other energy storage device, and subsequently reinjected into the main power flow through the device directly, or directly from the capacitive, inductive or other storage.
  • the frequency of the coupled electrical system is dependent on the frequency of the generated electricity and balanced with the load, as this balance between generation and load varies, the frequency of the system will vary. Therefore changing the control winding current, the reluctance of the circuit will change and energy will be injected into or taken from the power flow as described above. This can provide short term frequency stability for an electrical system.
  • a core type transformer is manufactured using standard core cutting and stacking techniques (see, for example,
  • the control winding is powered by an electronic circuit switching control circuit, utilising pulse width modulation of an AC control signal, as shown in Figure 3.
  • a high speed microprocessor such as the 100MHz Texas Instruments device described at http://www.ti.com/product/TMS320F2808 has sensor inputs from the input and output (the circuit directly before the primary and directly after the secondary windings) to measure voltage.
  • the microprocessor executes a control process to PWM the four IGBT devices in the bridge circuits shown in Figure 3. This varies the flow through the control coils in order to maintain the correct level of flux at each monitored location, which in combination with the measured voltage and current input and output, delivers the target setpoint at the output.
  • the flux control feedback loop operates at 1MHz, and the phase lock loop at 100kHz.
  • An energy recovery circuit is included to capture and store the energy diverted as a result of the virtual air gap.
  • This recovery circuit includes a capacitor to allow short term storage and smoothing of the energy flow.
  • an electrical energy supply system includes a additional form of energy storage which can absorb and inject energy directly into the magnetic flux of the core.
  • This can consist of capacitors or any other fast responding energy storage to increase the available stored energy. For instance this would increase the total available stored energy within the outer shell of Figure 4.
  • the controller 106 receives a signal representative of the frequency and voltage of a corresponding input signal applied to the system, generates corresponding frequency, power factor and voltage control signals that are respectively provided to the frequency control components 102 and the voltage control component 104 and power factor control component 108 in order to control the operation of each of these components to ensure that the corresponding output signal has the desired target output frequency and output voltage and input power factor.
  • Hall effect flux sensors are utilised located at the specific points where the control winding(s) interact and affect the flux in the magnetic core. These measurements are used in conjunction with the input and output voltage and frequency to determine the control signal required.
  • other measurement sensors and techniques can be used to monitor the flux, such as a winding around the magnetic core that will have a current induced based on the flux.
  • the operational speed of the controller 106 is dependent on the frequency of the power flow being controlled by the system. Given this can be in the kHz range, high speed control can be utilised if required by the application requirements in use within a system. Within an electricity grid of 50Hz or 60Hz, microprocessors with relative low clock frequencies in the MHz range are sufficient.
  • the controller 106 constantly measures the voltage and frequency of the input signal and, in some embodiments, also the voltage and frequency of the output signal to directly control the control windings by way of the voltage and frequency and power factor control signals in order to maintain a target setpoints.
  • the controller reduces the power flow through the device by increasing the reluctance of the magnetic circuit. Increasing the reluctance of the device means that additional power is stored in the magnetic field of the device.
  • the controller determines this by monitoring the input and output signals, and generates corresponding control signals to increase the power flow through the device by decreasing the control current in its control winding(s). This decreases the reluctance and increases the flux in the device, discharging stored magnetic energy within the device to the output, thereby delivering an essentially instantaneous power output that is greater than the power input to the device. If the device is already at a minimum level of reluctance (/.e., the control current is already zero and thus cannot be decreased further), in some embodiments the energy stored within additional energy storage devices such as capacitors can be used to compensate for this lack of power in the short term.
  • An alternative control methodology for the electrical power supply system is a lagging control (rather than a leading control as described above).
  • the system acts in a synchronous manner, with the input and output injecting and sucking energy out of the magnetic field as required and based on the instantaneous input and output power levels. This then changes the reluctance of the magnetic circuit and the balance of efficiency of energy transfer between the primary and secondary windings.
  • the controller monitors the input and output, and then reacts to the effect of this imbalance to bring the system back to balance.
  • the controller 106 is implemented as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), powered from the power flow through the device, and the electrical power supply processes are implemented as configuration data stored in non-volatile memory.
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • controller 106 could be implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or as a microprocessor (for example, an IntelTM Architecture IA-64 Core i7 multi-core processor) programmed to execute instructions stored in non- volatile memory. It will also be apparent to those skilled in the art that in other embodiments the controller may be powered by a separate local power supply where available, such as local control power from a distribution board.
  • ASIC application-specific integrated circuit
  • microprocessor for example, an IntelTM Architecture IA-64 Core i7 multi-core processor
  • the controller may be powered by a separate local power supply where available, such as local control power from a distribution board.
  • the measured flux is used for a control feedback loop with the FPGA (or other controller device, where applicable) as shown in Figure 6.
  • the reference signal for this control is provided by a phase lock loop (PLL) driven by the measured flux.
  • the phase lock loop uses a phase detector, filter and voltage control oscillator with a feedback loop to lock the input and output frequency to each other, as shown in Figure 7.
  • the phase lock loop is controlled at a frequency of 1kHz; however, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a different control frequency can be used in other embodiments.
  • the same process applies for reverse power flow by interchanging the primary and secondary inputs, outputs and setpoints.
  • the same process can be used for 3 phase power by applying the process to each phase.
  • the electrical power supply system and process described above are particularly advantageous as they are able to dynamically and rapidly respond to changes in the input energy received by the system in order to generate corresponding output energy having a target voltage and a target frequency.
  • this ability allows the described system and process to match the output energy to the energy required by the loads on the system.
  • the system and process are bi- directional, meaning that they are able to do this for energy supplied from an energy grid and flowing in one direction, for example, and also for energy supplied from renewable energy sources, which may be flowing through the system in the opposite direction.
  • changes in local energy generation arising from changes in wind and/or changes in available sunlight are able to be mitigated by the system and process to provide a relatively constant output for a fixed load.
  • changes in the load on the system can be compensated for within the ability of the corresponding devices.
  • a Faraday grid electrical power distribution network includes electrical power control apparatuses in the form of Faraday exchangers that are typically distributed throughout the network and that collectively maintain the corresponding voltages and frequencies of electrical power signals flowing through the electrical power distribution network at corresponding target values to compensate for variations in the sinks and/or sources of electrical power, including the variability of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, for example.
  • a transaction-based electricity network A transaction-based electricity network
  • a Faraday grid network as described above can be enhanced by the addition of a further control layer wherein each electrical power control apparatus has an additional control component referred to herein as a 'transaction engine' or 'routing engine'.
  • the routing engines of the electrical power distribution network communicate with one another to make collective decisions as to which of the associated electrical power control apparatuses will supply electrical power in order to satisfy a request or demand for electric power with one or more specified attributes of the requested electric power, including at least a value for the amount of power requested (e.g., in kW).
  • these attributes are selected from power quality (which can include quality attributes such as specified acceptable amounts of noise/distortion, power factor, frequency stability, reliability), and attributes of electric power generation (including proportion of renewable power generation and geographical locality of that generation), and pricing, but other attributes and combinations thereof can be provided in other embodiments.
  • power quality which can include quality attributes such as specified acceptable amounts of noise/distortion, power factor, frequency stability, reliability
  • attributes of electric power generation including proportion of renewable power generation and geographical locality of that generation
  • pricing but other attributes and combinations thereof can be provided in other embodiments.
  • the provision of electric power beyond bare supply is regarded as an additional service, and can be charged for accordingly.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes include power amount and optionally one or more further specified electric power attributes.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes are a plurality of specified electric power attributes including power amount and one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: stability, noise, reliability, and sustainability.
  • the one or more specified electric power attributes are a plurality of specified electric power attributes including power amount and pricing, and one or more specified electric power attributes selected from: stability, noise, reliability, and sustainability.
  • an electrical power device or apparatus 100 autonomously requests and supplies electrical power sourced from other ('downstream' in the sense of power flow at any given time, although that flow can change direction) instances of the electrical power device or apparatus in accordance with requests for electric power from yet other ('upstream' in the sense of power flow at any given time) instances of the electrical power device or apparatus, where each request includes data representing attributes of the requested electrical power and the electrical power device or apparatus 100 selects one or more of the upstream electrical power devices to supply that power based on their ability to do so.
  • Instances of the electrical power device 100 can be interconnected as described below, together with sources and/or sinks of electrical power, to form an electrical power distribution network or power grid that autonomously manages the supply of electric power throughout the network or grid to meet power supply requirements (insofar as it is possible for the network to do so) specified by attributes of the electric power including power amount, and optionally one or more additional attributes, which in some embodiments are selected from (but are not limited to) stability, noise, reliability, sustainability, and pricing. Other electric power attributes may be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure.
  • each electrical power device 100 When connected as part of an electrical distribution network or grid, each electrical power device 100 has power and data inputs and outputs, but is completely agnostic as to what it is connected to: it can be connected to one or more generation, consumption, transmission, or distribution components, or combination thereof, or any other such component of an electricity system.
  • a power input of an electrical power device is described herein as being connected to multiple sources or suppliers of electric power, including one or more other instances of the electrical power device, and optionally one or more generators of electric power, and optionally one or more sinks of electrical power.
  • the generators of electric power can include renewable generators of electric power such as solar power generators, wind power generators, hydro-electric power generators, and the like, and/or one or more non-renewable generators of electric power, such as coal or gas fired turbine generators, for example.
  • renewable generators of electric power such as solar power generators, wind power generators, hydro-electric power generators, and the like
  • non-renewable generators of electric power such as coal or gas fired turbine generators, for example.
  • a data input receives data from other instances of the electrical power device representing attributes of the electrical power that is available to be supplied by those electrical power devices, which for the purposes of description can be thought of as being topologically upstream of the electrical power device, although the device can operate in either direction.
  • the data input and output of each device can, and typically are, implemented as a single bidirectional communications port.
  • the electrical power device 100 has its power input connected to one or multiple generators and/or one or multiple suppliers of electric power, including other instances of the electric power device, and optionally one or more sinks of electrical power which can also be other instances of the electrical power device.
  • each electrical power device 100 has a power output connected to multiple consumers of electric power (which for the purposes of description can be thought of as being topologically downstream of the device), including one or more other instances of the electric power device, and optionally one or more generators of electric power and optionally one or more sinks of electrical power, which can also include instances of the electrical power device.
  • Each electrical power device 100 can be thought of as a type of router of electrical power within an electrical distribution network or grid. Briefly, the device 100 receives one or more requests for electric power satisfying one or more corresponding attributes, and selects one or more suppliers or sources of electric power that are able to satisfy the received requests.
  • the attributes of a demand or request define at least the amount of power (e.g., in kW) required and the price (e.g., per kW) that the requestor is willing to pay.
  • a device 100 able to supply electric power with the requested attributes issues an offer to supply the requested electric power.
  • the attributes of an offer define at least the amount of power (e.g., in kW) that the supplier has available, and the price (e.g., per kW) that the supplier is willing to sell that power for.
  • an electrical power device 100 can select a supplier that is able to supply at least the requested power at a price that is no higher than the requester's price. However, it may be that no one supplier is able to supply sufficient power to satisfy the request, and the electrical power device 100 has to select multiple suppliers that collectively are able to supply the requested amount of power. Similarly, it may be that the available suppliers are not willing to sell power at the requested price, and the electrical power device 100 mediates a negotiation between the upstream suppliers and the downstream requester, as described below.
  • attributes other than price can also play a role in the selection of suppliers.
  • a requester may specify that at least 50% of the supplied power is generated from renewable energy sources.
  • a requester may specify that the supplied power has to meet certain quality attributes, such as stability and/or noise, for example.
  • each electric power device or system 100 includes a power control component 202 and a routing engine 204.
  • the power control component 202 includes electric power control hardware 206 and a hardware controller 208.
  • the electric power control hardware 206 operates under control of the hardware controller 208 to receive electric power having certain (and usually unknown in advance) input characteristics, and to output corresponding electrical power having certain desired output characteristics. Characteristics of the input electric power received by the power control hardware 206 are measured by corresponding measurement components (not shown) known to those skilled in the art and the measured characteristics are provided in the form of signals or data to the hardware controller 208. Based on these measured characteristics such as voltage, current, phase angle, power factor, active power, reactive power, and harmonics, for example, the hardware controller 208 generates control signals for the electric power control hardware 206 that cause the latter to dynamically modify the received electric power in order to generate output power having the desired values of the measured characteristics.
  • the power control component 202 is used to control the RMS voltage, voltage waveform (to remove harmonics), and power factor, and to balance power across all three phases. In some embodiments, deviations of these attributes from target values are measured and used to control the power control component 202 to restore those attributes to as close to the target values as practical. In other embodiments, the electric power control hardware 206 only has the ability to transmit the electric power directly through the device without modification.
  • the power control component 202 is based on the electric power control apparatus referred to as a "Faraday Exchanger” (abbreviated as "FE"), and described in international patent application No. PCT/ AU2019/050246, entitled An Electrical Power Control Apparatus And Process, as described further below.
  • FE Frequency Exchanger
  • the electric power control component 202 may take other forms and perform different operations on the electric power flowing through it.
  • the electric power control hardware 206 can be any one or more instances of a standard electric power device or apparatus known to those skilled in the art, such as an inverter, a transformer, a rectifier, a voltage booster, a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), a static VAR compensator (STATVAR), or even a simple capacitor bank, or any practical combination of these and/or other power devices or apparatuses.
  • a standard electric power device or apparatus known to those skilled in the art, such as an inverter, a transformer, a rectifier, a voltage booster, a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM), a static VAR compensator (STATVAR), or even a simple capacitor bank, or any practical combination of these and/or other power devices or apparatuses.
  • STATCOM static synchronous compensator
  • STATVAR static VAR compensator
  • the hardware controller 208 can be incorporated into the routing engine 204 such that the latter directly controls the operation of the electric power control hardware 206 in addition to the routing and other functions described
  • a standard communications protocol such as Modbus or Direct I/O
  • Many other possible combinations and configurations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of this disclosure, such as incorporation of the routing engine 204 into the hardware controller 208, for example.
  • a routing engine 204 can also be directly coupled to a generator of electric power (such as wind, hydro, or solar generator, for example) or a sink of electric power (such as a factory or a residence, for example), instead of a power control component 202.
  • a generator of electric power such as wind, hydro, or solar generator, for example
  • a sink of electric power such as a factory or a residence, for example
  • the routing engine 204 handles the data communications between other (upstream and downstream) instances of the electric power device 100 to determine which of these is/are to provide electric power to the corresponding electric power control hardware 206. This allows the combination of power flows from the corresponding electric power devices 100 to be monitored and recorded at the most granular level possible (/.e., by individual electric power devices 100) to provide better reconciliation of power flows and transactions. Power will flow within the electricity grid based on the behaviour of the electric power devices 100, with each electric power control hardware 206 and corresponding hardware controller 208 affecting the flow through control of voltage and current, power factor, and phase balancing.
  • the routing engine 204 receives requests for electric power (representing demand) from downstream components of the electricity grid (typically, but not necessarily, being other instances of the electric power device 100, possibly in combination with one or more direct sinks for (or consumers of) electric power, as described above, and issues corresponding requests to components of the electricity grid that supply electric power (referred to for convenience as "suppliers”, and typically, but not necessarily, being other instances of the electric power device 100, possibly in combination with one or more suppliers of (generators of) electric power and, if required, negotiates with those suppliers and the requestors in order to reach agreement between these components to supply electric power satisfying the required attributes at an agreed price.
  • supply electric power typically, but not necessarily, being other instances of the electric power device 100, possibly in combination with one or more suppliers of (generators of) electric power and, if required, negotiates with those suppliers and the requestors in order to reach agreement between these components to supply electric power satisfying the required attributes at an agreed price.
  • the routing engine 204 also receives sensing data representing one or more operating parameters of the electric power control hardware 206. This includes the voltage and current of the input and output power flows through the power control component 202 of the device 100. This information is stored locally, and is used by the routing engine 204 to calculate the electric power flowing into and out of the device 100, and therefore the amount of energy that has been transferred as part of the corresponding energy transaction between itself and its corresponding upstream and downstream devices. In embodiments of the device 100 in which the electric power control hardware 206 has the abilities of a FE, there may be differences in the power flow from the input to the output, including one or more of voltage correction, power factor (reactive power), phase balances, and a reduction in harmonics. This information is also stored locally, enabling the device 100 to calculate the amount of electricity system 'service' it is providing, such as frequency stability, power conditioning, and others within regulatory energy markets, such as those described at
  • these operating parameters can include one or more of: the voltage(s) on the control winding(s) of the magnetic circuits, the temperature(s) of these and any other primary, secondary, or any other windings, and vibration of the power control hardware 202.
  • This information is stored locally and can be utilised to identify changes in operating conditions and responses which may indicate device performance degradation, and/or maintenance requirements. This information can be retrieved automatically, or manually by the device operator or owner by way of an external communications protocol with the device.
  • the routing engine 206 stores two sets of data representing its operations.
  • the sets of data are respectively stored in a transactions database 210 and an operations database 212.
  • the databases 210, 212 are represented as being coupled directly to the routing engine 204, and may be physically incorporated as part of the same device or apparatus 214. However, it should be understood that either or both of the databases 210, 212 may be networked databases distributed in one or more other locations, which may be geographically remote from the routing engine 204. Databases 210 and 212 may also be a single database with the information combined.
  • the transactions database 210 stores data representing each agreed energy supply transaction
  • the operations database 210 stores details on the operation of the electric power control hardware 202 for each transaction.
  • the operation details include: (i) operating parameters such as voltage, current, temperature, and vibration, and (ii) details on the electric power operations that were performed by the electric power control hardware 206 for a corresponding power transaction in order to improve the quality of the electric power it supplied relative to the quality of the received electric power.
  • these operations include voltage control, phase balancing, reduction of harmonics, and power factor correction.
  • These can be regarded as services provided to the energy consumer in order to improve the quality of the supply. In some embodiments, these services are charged for accordingly by applying a services cost function to the power services that were provided for that supply period and that supply.
  • Figure 34 is a flow diagram of a power control process executed by each routing engine 204 of the network.
  • routing engines 204 of respective electrical power devices 100 negotiate with one another in order to determine electrical power transactions in which a demand for electric power (with one or more required attributes) communicated by an electrical power device 100 is met by a supply of electric power from one or more other electrical power devices 100.
  • two electrical power devices 100 communicate and transact directly with each other.
  • Device B communicates a demand for electric power to device A
  • Device A communicates to B its capacity to supply electric power.
  • a demand for electric power takes the form of an electronic message representing a request for electric power with one or more required attributes, these attributes specifying at least a required amount of power (e.g., in kW), and typically (but not necessarily) one or more additional attributes (such as total amount of energy or the expected duration of the supply, for example).
  • these additional attributes include at least a cost function that is used to calculate a numeric score or 'cost' that provides a basis on which one energy supplier is selected in preference over another energy supplier.
  • the cost function includes a price of the electric power demand or supply (e.g., in $/kW), either alone or in combination with one or more other quantitative parameters.
  • a cost function can define one price for energy from renewable sources, and a different price for energy from non-renewable sources, or a linear combination thereof with different weighting factors.
  • Other examples of variations in cost functions are the quality of power, the average (or RMS - root mean square) voltage value, and the total harmonic distortion (defined as the ratio of total harmonic amplitudes to the amplitude at the fundamental frequency). This can be in addition to one or more Boolean requirements, such as a demand requiring that the supplied energy be entirely from renewable sources, for example.
  • price (if used in a cost function as a transaction attribute) represents the maximum price that the requestor is willing to pay.
  • price represents the actual price at which the supplier wishes to sell power. If the cost values (determined by their respective cost functions) of the demand and supply are mismatched, then it is open for either entity to adjust its cost values in order to seek a matching cost value from another transacting party. Once a match is found, the entities agree to complete a transaction. Each entity stores the transaction data in its corresponding transaction database 210, and the supplier supplies electric power in accordance with the agreed transaction parameters.
  • each routing engine 204 records its own operational data for the power being sent or received (as the case may be) in its corresponding operations database 212.
  • both routing engines 204 maintain a record of what they believe the total transaction was, typically including at least the parties involved in the transaction, a timestamp and duration of supply, total energy transferred (e.g., in kW.h), price, a cost function that was applied (for example this could be a simple 1 to 1 function with price, or a surge pricing function based on constraints within the network), a services cost, a services cost function that was applied (for example this can be a variable price for a voltage correction service, based on the constraints within the network and the total amount of correction provided), and the total transaction cost.
  • the total price of supply is determined by applying the cost function to the amount of energy supplied (the total energy transferred multiplied by the price per unit energy) and adding the total value of the services provided (the service cost function multiplied by the services cost) upon reconciliation of the transaction, based upon any requested services provided by the electrical power device 100.
  • the services provided typically include one or more of voltage control, phase balancing, harmonics reduction, and power factor correction.
  • Each routing engine 204 can check its transactions by comparing its records to all the other routing engines 204 it has transacted with. For example, in a transaction between three of the devices 100, as illustrated in Figure 36, device X verifies its records against those of both device Y and device Z.
  • the amount of power for a demand does not need to be specified, as it is inherent to the price. If a device 100 is buying energy, then its price will be greater than zero, and this fact is equated to having a demand. Conversely, if a device 100 does not require power and therefore has no demand, its price will be zero and it will not transact. When a device 100 has a large amount of power available, then it can lower its price initially, and then increase it again as the amount of power it has to sell decreases. If a device has no available power to sell, then it can set its price to an (effectively) infinitely high value so that no device 100 would ever agree to transact with it.
  • device X has access to view the transaction lists (databases 210) of both Y and Z. This allows X to verify its transactions with both parties, but also to check that it is not being misled by either party, bearing in mind that the devices 100 can be operated by different organisations with potentially competing interests.
  • device X is also able to view the operations database 212 of both Y and Z, allowing X to verify that the inputs and outputs from devices Y and Z are aligned with the transactional values (such as services costs) being applied.
  • Y and Z transaction lists include both their consumer and supplier transactions, X is able to determine whether either party is falsifying its price or demand data. Because devices Y and Z can review all transactions that X has completed between them, a complete backup of X transactions is already maintained. Copies of Y and Z transaction lists can optionally be stored on X for additional data redundancy.
  • Figure 37 shows four devices 100 in a linear transaction.
  • device A is directly coupled to or includes a wind turbine generating power
  • device D is directly coupled to a residential home consuming that power.
  • Devices B and C are devices 100 within the electricity grid that allow the power to be transported between the two end locations. Within the electricity grid, some appliances at residence D are turned on, and start to draw power from the grid, causing power (electric current) to flow through A - B - C - D.
  • device A pushes a data update of a price to B.
  • This type of push update will occur every time there is a change in value, as well as after a set amount of time since the last push notification to ensure communications health and data validity. This can be achieved using any of many different communications protocols and standards, as known by those skilled in the art.
  • B then has a price it can buy (from A) and sell power at, which it communicates to C.
  • C then has a price it can buy (from B) and sell power at, which it communicates to D.
  • D determines that it would like to purchase the electricity at this price and communicates that price to C.
  • C accepts the price from D, and sends its price to B.
  • B accepts the price from C, and sends a price to A.
  • A accepts the price from B.
  • A does not directly transact with D.
  • This device-centric approach where devices 100 transact only with devices they are connected to, is completely scalable and expandable to any grid size and configuration.
  • devices D and E are generators
  • B and C are consumers
  • A is a transportation point between them.
  • D sends a price (Dp) to A;
  • a now has a price it can sell power at (Ap min (Dp and Ep)), which it communicates to B and C (in this hypothetical example, Dp is lower);
  • D and E can both see the transaction list of A, they will know the price of the other generator, the amount it can supply, and the total demand that is coming from B and C. This means they can act intelligently to set their own prices. Acting together, the devices 100 described herein allow an open market for buying and selling electricity, price collusion is prevented unless every single operator works together. It is expected that like other markets there is external oversight and regulation to prevent such collusion events occurring.
  • device A is an electricity grid device 100
  • devices B and D are consumers
  • devices C and E are prosumers able to both consume and generate power.
  • Device A receives a price from B, C, D, and E. This allows A to, for example, transact with C to buy power, and then sell that same power to B, following the standard operating principles described above. Transacting through A (rather than C to B directly) allows the utility that owns A and the wires connecting B and C to earn revenue against its assets that are providing an energy transportation service between C and B. This is a unique feature of the devices described herein when compared to existing energy grids.
  • the routing engines 204 of the power control devices 100 described herein constitute an open and agnostic platform that allows all participants/agents within an entire electricity grid to interact as a marketplace for energy distribution.
  • the resultant system provides autonomous decentralised control of the electricity network, resolving issues of volatility (such as voltage management, harmonics management, inertial requirements for balancing, and the like).
  • the ability of the routing engines 204 to trade in an efficient and price driven manner resolves the network issues of intermittence, allowing an open free market to deliver energy at the lowest cost.
  • the device 100 can control the power flow through the magnetic core to control power flow, both for the network and for itself, taking into consideration :
  • attributes requested by agents within the system such as requests for power quality level or renewable energy sources, and price; ( ⁇ ) determine price for the consumer taking into account both generation and transportation costs in real time, dependent on network operating conditions ,
  • the operational structure of the electricity grid as described herein allows it to operate as an autonomous marketplace without additional communications infrastructure, and incremental roll out of participants without upfront capital expenditure in networks or control systems.
  • data communication technologies such as 4G and/or Ethernet, for example, can be used to communicate between devices.
  • Energy traded within the grid can have one or more associated attributes that are taken into consideration when establishing trades. These attributes act as metadata, and allow users to have further control over their energy usage and can include at least the following :
  • Generation Type the source of the energy generation, such as environmentally friendly or fossil fuel, for example allowing users to prioritise 'green' energy within certain quality, price, and percentage parameters.
  • Quality Parameters the power quality RMS voltage and harmonics profiles, for example allowing users who are sensitive to voltage fluctuations (such as large industrial motors) to maximise productivity of the asset.
  • Energy Security the security of supply, for example allowing users with critical energy requirements to ensure that their supply is maintained in preference to other users (this is primarily achieved through real time pricing response).
  • the devices 100 will seek to optimise the transaction cost for their corresponding agents.
  • Every power control device 100 utilises the same basic component parts and functionality, allowing it to fill any roles within the system.
  • the devices 100 have operating modes which can be selected by the user in order to ensure that the device 100 operates in the desired manner. This can be selected directly by the users (as described below), or determined autonomously by the device 100.
  • the basic operating modes of each device 100 are:
  • Prosumer - the device is connected to a downstream component which is able to use and generate power but has no additional downstream devices.
  • the fees between devices will create a net zero cost transaction.
  • an electricity grid owner may have thousands of instances of the device 100 within their network in order to provide the functionality described herein.
  • the cost functions and total cost added by each device 100 for its operation will be income on one side of the transaction and an expense on the other.
  • these will negate each other, and the cost differential between the input transaction on one side of the transaction chain and the output transaction on the other side of the transaction chain will be the income generated by the network owner for providing the corresponding service(s).
  • a single household residence with a power control component 202 in the form of a Faraday Exchanger connecting the household to the electricity grid, and multiple consumption devices within the residence with transactional capabilities provided by 214, or in combination with 202, or device 100.
  • a power control component 202 in the form of a Faraday Exchanger connecting the household to the electricity grid
  • multiple consumption devices within the residence with transactional capabilities provided by 214, or in combination with 202, or device 100.
  • all devices will be registered to the same owner, and transaction fees between the devices will negate each other. This is desirable as the household also owns the wires conducting the electricity, so a third party does not need to generate revenue for providing the energy transportation service.
  • the electricity grid described herein can operate automatically, based on the parameters selected by the user, and does not require constant monitoring or control action. Users can interact with their devices 100 through an interactive interface accessed via a standard web browser or smart phone application and a web server executed by at least one processor of the routing engine 204.
  • the routing engine 204 is implemented as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and the described energy transaction processes are implemented as configuration data stored in non-volatile memory.
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • the routing engine 204 could be implemented as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or as a microprocessor (for example, an IntelTM Architecture IA-64 Core i7 multi-core processor) programmed to execute instructions stored in non-volatile memory.
  • ASIC application-specific integrated circuit
  • microprocessor for example, an IntelTM Architecture IA-64 Core i7 multi-core processor
  • the routing engine 204 and controller 106 can be implemented as respective control layers in the same FPGA (or ASIC or software components executed by one or more processors).
  • a user can interact with their device 100 and select pre-defined profiles; for example, to prioritise green energy, optimised price, local energy, and the like.
  • An appropriately authorised user can also select an operating mode (prosumer, transportation, et al) ; however, the device 100 is also able to detect its directly connected devices 100 and autonomously decide its own operating mode. This is done through an initial communications ping to any devices 100 (also referred to herein as nodes) it is directly connected to within the network. The nodes respond by identifying their own operating mode, providing context to the requesting device 100.
  • a device 100 is always configured for the profile that the end user is likely to have. For example, an electricity utility is provided with default Transportation mode devices 100, unless specified otherwise.
  • the ability for user to interact with a device 100 can be removed after an initial configuration (or at any time) by manual physical adjustment of the communications hardware within the device, thus preventing (or at least inhibiting) cyber tampering.
  • the service(s) provided by the device 100 can then be apportioned to the upstream or downstream connected devices, as determined by the operational measured data.
  • the service cost will always be apportioned in respect to the benefit received. For example, voltage control and harmonic suppression benefits will have their cost passed downstream, whilst power factor control will have cost passed upstream with respect to the electricity flow.
  • Each device 100 monitors its own performance on both its input and output. By measuring the instantaneous voltage and current at each interface, it is able to calculate and record the amount of energy transported (i.e. the transportation service).
  • a device 100 that includes a Faraday Exchanger (or a similarly capable component), it is also able to record and quantify the services provided in terms of voltage control, power factor control, phase balancing and/or harmonics removal.
  • a Faraday Exchanger As each Faraday Exchanger is able to control RMS voltage, remove harmonics, control power factor, balance power across phases, and store energy, a significant service can be provided to the electricity system to maintain stability and efficiency as described above. These services can be measured by monitoring the input and output of the device, recording and quantifying the measurements (or metrics thereof) in real time, thereby capturing and determining the value for remuneration. This enables an electricity system where Faraday Exchangers are not bought and owned by the grid, but are rented or provided free to the grid, with a fee for service model being used.
  • each device 100 charges a small fee on the buy and sell sides of each transaction it participates in. In the described embodiments, this charge is calculated as a percentage of the value of the transaction that is taking place. The fees on the buy and sell side are identical to prevent participants from attempting to game the system.
  • the fees include charges for the following :
  • Transportation - a fee for providing the ability to move the energy. This is a fixed percentage of the value of the total energy transported.
  • the electricity grid described herein is based on a private chain model with a distributed ledger, an example of which can be found at https://energyweb.org/. This means that there is no central repository of information, with only participants that are authorised with the system allowed to access it, as opposed to a public chain model that is open to anyone.
  • the system described herein allows only permissioned agents (such as a device 100) within the system to access and store information for other agents that it is in direct communication with.
  • Second degree connections defined as a device 100 that can trade with another device 100 that is capable of trading with the participant
  • Device X has a local copy of all transactions it has completed in its ledger. It also has access to the ledger of both devices Y and Z. As such, device X can review the transactions that Y and Z have completed and have had verified by their other transaction partners. This chain of trust ensures that a single device 100 cannot fraudulently act within the network. If device X were to fail, the ledger information that would have existed with device X can be reconstituted through the combination of the other ledgers that it had transacted with, in this case Y and Z.
  • a device 100 it is possible for a device 100 to operate in a data redundant mode, whereby each device maintains a copy of their transactions on another single device 100, on multiple devices 100, or on all of the directly connected devices 100 that they directly trade with. This allows the grid to have complete data redundancy, securing data in the event of any device failure. If a failure does occur, the failed device 100 can be repaired or replaced, and the data can be automatically replicated and the new device 100 seamlessly integrated with the grid.
  • the data privacy mode can be chosen by the device 100 owner and is changeable.
  • a residential home has a device 100 (a routing engine 204) as the connection for the home to the electricity grid. These can be packaged as part of a new installation, or as upgrades undertaken by existing companies operating in this space.
  • the home may have solar panels connected to battery storage, with both the solar generation and the battery storage connected to the device 100.
  • the device 100 makes decisions based on price signals within the grid market and the current situation within the home to determine how to act. For example, to determine whether to store current solar power generation and use grid power, or to use the solar power as it is generated.
  • multiple devices 100 can be connected through a power control adapter plug (a smart adapter to send and receive information through the power outlet) or a device 100 or routing engine 204 within the consumer device itself, and each device 100 / routing engine 204 is able to make real time decisions about purchasing energy and modifying its behaviour appropriately. For example, a heater can let the temperature drift if power is expensive, or can temporarily overheat is power is cheap.
  • a heater can let the temperature drift if power is expensive, or can temporarily overheat is power is cheap.
  • These devices can all act within a single grid account to optimise the position of the owner against a set of configurable rules. This layer of energy management can improve systemic demand management.
  • the devices are all connected to the same electricity grid market as described herein, they can trade with the upstream device they are directly connected to, whether that be a Device 100 connecting the solar panels, battery, and home to the electricity distribution grid, or a device 100 within the distribution grid.
  • a number of residential and/or commercial properties can form a microgrid that is connected to the main electricity grid, with multiple small scale renewable generation and storage devices within the microgrid.
  • a Faraday Exchanger e.g., the 7200V / 240V transformer
  • a peer to peer transactional grid can operate.
  • microgrids can be operating together or remotely to form a single market.
  • Each microgrid operates as a transactional grid with the appropriate hardware installed internally to the microgrid.
  • the transactional connection can occur directly to expand the scope of the two microgrids. Where they are geographically separated, but connected through a distribution or transmission network that has Faraday Exchangers, the transactional connection can still operate over the third party network.
  • the household can use its stored energy (or energy being directly generated behind the meter) rather than buying expensive energy. This means that the average price of electricity being purchased from the grid is a much lower wholesale price, with exposure to the market spikes removed.
  • the transactional electric power apparatus/device and processes described herein allow for the efficient routing of electric power through an energy distribution network or grid to meet the requirements of energy producers, consumers and distribution network operators, while also improving the quality of the electric power to meet consumer requirements, and the desired sourcing of that power (for example, in terms of the proportion of renewable power and its locality of generation).
  • the matching of energy producers and suppliers to consumers improves the performance of the energy distribution network and consumer and producer outcomes.

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Abstract

L'invention concerne un dispositif de commande de distribution d'énergie électrique configuré pour être couplé en communication à d'autres instances du dispositif de commande de distribution d'énergie électrique pour former un réseau de dispositifs de commande de distribution d'énergie électrique qui commandent collectivement le flux d'énergie électrique dans un réseau de distribution d'énergie électrique pour satisfaire des demandes d'énergie électrique ayant un ou plusieurs attributs d'énergie électrique spécifiés sélectionnés parmi : niveau de puissance, qualité de l'énergie et attributs de production d'énergie électrique.
PCT/AU2019/051019 2018-09-21 2019-09-23 Réseau d'énergie basé sur les transactions Ceased WO2020056468A1 (fr)

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