ES2536603B1 - Dynamic supercapacitor control system with optimization of loading and unloading. - Google Patents

Abstract

A dynamic control system is presented to optimize the time in which a series of supercapacitor modules is capable of offering a certain energy. For this, a dynamic management of the loading of said modules is carried out, as well as their download. Both procedures, although controlled from the same device, must be separated, so that they are not always loading and unloading the same supercapacitor modules at the same time. Thus, there are always modules in load, and the time available for downloading is extended. On the other hand, while the discharge is carried out at constant intensity, the load is carried out at constant power. In this way, the known property that supercapacitors charge faster at constant power than at constant intensity is used. One of the most interesting results is that the system can offer much higher output powers than the load power, during the relatively long time that the system has optimized. Therefore, said system becomes an effective absorber of power peaks. This application is known, but, unlike a simple supercapacitor, the present invention will do so for a long time. The applications are immediate: by absorbing peaks of consumption power, for example, the contracted power in a house, or the photovoltaic or wind power of a self-consumption system, both injected to grid and isolated, can be reduced. It is also an interesting system to apply to electric vehicles with photovoltaic modules, being able to reduce the required power of the batteries, and therefore the size of the batteries, in addition to extending their useful life. The elevators, which require high power peaks for certain periods of time, are also an immediate application.

Description

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DESCRIPTION

Dynamic supercapacitor control system with optimization of loading and unloading.

Technology Sector

The invention is part of the technical electronics sector, more specifically in relation to the management of storage systems and supercondenser energy management.

State of the art

Since supercondensers were invented in the 50s of the last century, their advantages stand out as large capacity energy accumulators. In addition, its load is much faster than that of other storage systems. The same can be said of its discharge, which, unlike other accumulators, can be performed until almost complete vacuum. Their useful life is also an advantage, since they have millions of cycles, compared to the hundreds or few thousands of cycles that conventional batteries can provide.

However, it is not until two decades ago that its large-scale commercial development occurs. This was due to the advancement of the technology that allowed the reduction of internal resistance. Since then, the number of patents that have to do with this type of devices and their applications is very numerous.

The use of supercapacitors has especially extended there! where an intense contribution of energy is necessary in a short period of time, such as starter motors (for example in electric vehicles, where also rapid loading is useful in braking), or absorption of short power peaks in network consumption electric

As regards the utility for the present invention, the research effort has been intense.

For example, regarding the design of control elements that allow the useful life of supercapacitors to be increased, avoiding overvoltages and applying controls to various supercapacitor modules, patents made by X. Maynard et al. (US 2013/0093400 A1), or E. Cegnar et al. (US 2009/0315484 A1). In both, and according to the voltages of the different modules, the control center decides which module or capacitor modules are charged at a certain moment and which ones are discharged. While Maynard focuses on surge protection, in the case of the Cegnar et al. Patent, the system is applied to continuously activate LED luminaires.

Other very useful patents are, for example, US 2005/0041370 A1 by M. Wilk et al., Or US 2013/0082520 A1 by F. Leeman et al. Both describe different methods of packaging and interconnecting supercapacitors in a very compact way, thus reducing! the space that the accumulator needs.

Also of special importance are inventions that use supercapacitors as a complement to other accumulators, such as batteries or even water systems. In these systems, the supercapacitors allow very powerful instantaneous discharges, leaving the most uniform and prolonged discharges in time for the other systems

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of accumulation. Examples of inventions in this regard are WO 2006/059016 A1 by J. Siaudeau, WO 2008/050031 A3 by E. Condemine, ES201100429 by E. Dominguez Amarillo, or US 2012/0025614 A1 by P. Taimela et al. The application of this combination is useful, for example, in uninterrupted power supply systems (UPS).

Finally, there are also inventions that apply part of the above to specific utilities, such as distributing power to different kitchen appliances (WO 2012/140399 A2), or road signs driven by photovoltaic solar modules (US 2009/0211133 A1).

Explanation of the invention

The study of the state of the art allows us to observe that no known invention tries to prolong the time in which a series of supercapacitor modules can offer a certain power.

The present invention is a dynamic supercondenser control system (1) that precisely seeks to optimize the loading and unloading time, prolonging the latter. It uses many of the inventions mentioned above and combines them to achieve that goal. There will be a number n of supercapacitor modules (2) (named "a" to "n" in Figure 1), each of which will consist of several unit supercondensers connected in series. The connection between supercapacitor modules (2) is flexible by means of relays or another form of interconnection, so that several of them can be connected in series and / or in parallel, as decided. This decision will be taken by a control system (3) as described in the inventions of the previous section.

To make the decision, the system (3) will collect data from both the power source (which can be photovoltaic solar modules (4), windmills (5), the electricity grid (6) or any other power source), such as of the load associated with the circuit (7) (for example, the different consumptions of a house). Depending on the loading and unloading data, you will connect the supercapacitor modules in series and / or parallel (2). It is important to note that the load from the source (4 to 6) is carried out separately from the discharge towards consumption (7). This means that if, for example, the dwelling (7) is consuming the modules "b" and "c", the load from the source (4 to 6) can be carried out in other modules, for example the " a ”and the“ n ”, or partially in them“ b ”and“ c ”. The number of modules (2) that is loaded or unloaded at the same time is variable and will be determined by the control system (3), which will decide based on the data received. Likewise, the configuration of the system (1) is also variable, for example in terms of the total number of supercapacitor modules, which may increase or decrease depending on the final application.

As a result, a calculated number of supercapacitor modules (2) is always loaded, so that the discharge, which can be produced with several modules (2) in series and / or in parallel, is prolonged over time. Said time will be optimized by the control system (3) according to the data received at each moment. The optimum will depend on the input power, and the output intensity.

On the other hand, the input to the system (1) is made at constant power, while the output is at constant intensity. In this way, the charge of the supercapacitor modules (2) will be faster than the discharge, since the input voltage will always be the maximum possible (at the output it will always be determined by the

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intensity). This method helps to optimize the download time performed by the control system (3).

The result of the dynamic control system is a long, optimized time of the discharge of the supercapacitor modules (2). This implies extending the advantages of supercapacitors over time, that is, managing to supply high powers for a longer period of time, the optimum of which will depend on the configuration of the dynamic control system (1).

Description of the drawings

Figure 1. Dynamic control system (1) formed by several supercapacitor modules (2) and a control system (3) thereof, which manages the load from a source (4 to 6) and the discharge in any device ( 7).

Figure 2. Consumption curve of a type house in a typical dla. The contracted power "c" must match the maximum power consumed if it is desired to cover all consumption. However, using the dynamic control system (1), the contracted power can be lowered to "b" or even "a".

Figure 3. Mode of realization of the invention, preferred but not exclusive, in which a renewable photovoltaic (4) and / or wind (5) installation injects to the dynamic control system (1), which is connected to a power inverter (8). This is also connected to the electrical network (6), and to the discharge device (7).

Figure 4. Mode of realization of the invention, preferred but not exclusive, in which a renewable photovoltaic (4) and / or wind (5) installation injects the dynamic control system (1) and an accumulator (10) through a charge regulator (9). Both system (1) and accumulator (10), are connected to a power inverter (8) that discharges into the device (7).

Figure 5. Typical consumption curve of an elevator. The torque corresponds to the current and in each case the values are different depending on the counterweight, the weight of the cabin and the load in the cabin. IME is the current that is maintained in nominal regime. IM1L is an instant peak. IMAE1 and IMAE2 are the currents in the first and second Jerk. Typically IMAE1 is taken to size the frequency converters because the current at the end of the first Jerk is practically maintained throughout the acceleration process. This process varies depending on how the elevator is parameterized but usually takes between 1 and 2 seconds.

Modes of realization of the invention

One of the applications of the system (1), preferred but not exclusive, is the reduction of contracted electrical power. For example, in a typical house, a typical power consumption is that represented in Figure 2. The contracted power must always be the maximum expected at any given time. This implies that the dwelling in Figure 2 must hire the power “c” to cover its maximum power. However, it is observed that this power is only needed for a very small interval of time. In fact, the maximum power peaks, well above the minimum, always occur at intervals of minutes, at most of an hour.

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For all the above, the system (1) can be designed in such a way that the discharge time covers the power peaks at times such that it allows reducing the contracted power to a level "b", or even to a level "a" (see Figure 2.) During the intervals in which the system (1) is not working (most of the time) it is loaded with the source (4 to 6), and will only work in the limited time intervals in which it is Give the power peaks.

This same concept is applicable to other more industrial sectors, such as elevators or escalators. These need their maximum power only during certain moments, especially at startup. Figure 5 represents the consumption curve of a typical elevator. The nominal current IME is the current that the elevator will use only a few seconds after starting. It is observed that the value of this current is much less, even half, of the currents used for starting. Therefore, the system (1) can be used to, on the one hand, reduce the contracted power necessary for a sector traditionally with high energy consumption; and, on the other hand, the elevator or escalator could also be connected to a power source (4 to 6) coupled to a system (1), such power peaks are provided by this system and can also serve as alternative emergency system, in case of power failure.

In the same sense, another mode of realization, also preferred but not exclusive, is the reduction of photovoltaic or wind power of a self-consumption system injected into the network, as shown in Figure 3. In said system, the source renewable 4 and / or 5 directly injects to the dynamic control system (1), loading the supercapacitor modules. The system (1) is connected to a power inverter (8), also connected to the electricity grid (6), and finally to the final load (7), for example the house. The number of photovoltaic modules (4) and / or windmills (5) is reduced, since the power peaks are absorbed by the dynamic control system (1).

Another non-exclusive embodiment is the application to an isolated photovoltaic and / or wind system, such as that shown in Figure 4. It is applicable, for example, to a home isolated from the grid, as well as to an electric car. In said system, the source (4 and / or 5) injects both directly to the accumulator (10) through a regulator (9), and to the dynamic control system (1). Both, accumulator (10) and system (1) are connected to a power inverter (8), which in turn discharges into, for example, housing (7). Also in this case the necessary photovoltaic and / or wind park is reduced, since the peak power optimized for a prolonged time is absorbed by the dynamic control system (1).

Claims (4)

5 10 fifteen twenty 25 30 ES 2 536 603 A1 1. Dynamic supercondenser control system with optimization of the load and discharge (1) characterized by being composed of a variable number of supercapacitor modules (2), said modules composed of a also variable number of supercapacitors connected in series with each other , and by a control system (3), which allows the loading of the modules (2) can be carried out separately or jointly from the discharge, as well as the connection of them in series or parallel according to the need for power output, and as the need for charging is estimated, thus prolonging the discharge time until reaching an optimum, always having modules in charge, and carrying out the load at constant power and the discharge at constant intensity. 2. Dynamic supercapacitor control system with optimization of the load and discharge (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that when applied to reduce the electrical power contracted in an electrical supply, in buildings or in elevator systems or escalators , absorbs power peaks during the optimized time; as well as being applied in elevators or escalators in such a way that said power peaks are provided by this system (1), coupled to a power source (4 to 6) by operating it autonomously and can also serve as an emergency system alternative, in case of power failure. 3. Dynamic supercapacitor control system with optimization of the load and discharge (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that when applied to reduce the photovoltaic or wind power of a self-consumption system connected to the network, it absorbs power peaks during The maximum download time. 4. Dynamic supercapacitor control system with optimization of the load and discharge (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that when applied to reduce the photovoltaic or wind power, as well as the accumulation capacity, of an isolated self-consumption system , absorbs power peaks during maximum discharge time.