GB2578300A

GB2578300A - Balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network

Info

Publication number: GB2578300A
Application number: GB1817094.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tomlinson Clive
Original assignee: SWANBARTON Ltd
Current assignee: SWANBARTON Ltd
Priority date: 2018-10-19
Filing date: 2018-10-19
Publication date: 2020-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 2038-10-19
Also published as: GB201817094D0; GB2578300B

Abstract

Power balancing is desirable in all power transmission and distribution networks 1. Domestic water heaters 9 may be used as either turn-down services, where consumption is reduced when the network operator 23 asks for it or turn-up services, where consumption is increased when the network operator 23 asks for it as part of a demand response system. A controller 13 within a domestic setting 5 is connected to the grid 1 via line 11 and current clamp 15. The controller monitors power consumption in line 11 and interrupts consumption in response to an instruction from server 17. The controller collates and sends data regarding the power consumption of water heater 9 to server 17 over communication network 19. The server may send instructions to the controller if it determines that balancing of the network is required. Determining a balancing requirement may comprise determining an AC frequency of the network.

Description

BALANCTNG ELECTRIC AT, POWER CONSUMPTION ON AN ELECTRICTTY DTSTRTBUTTON NETWORK The present invention relates generally to balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network.

Power balancing is desirable in all power transmission and distribution networks (including the UK's National Grid), and most major network operators worldwide enact some form of power balancing, either directly or via external services, to help them to match instantaneous generation and consumption of electricity. To avoid interruptions in power supplies, network operators have to ensure that substantially the same amount of power flows into the grid from generation as is taken out of it by consumption at any given time; ideally, these amounts should be as close to each other as possible to avoid waste and problems relating to an excess of power in the network. One solution to generation/consumption imbalance is energy storage; however, this is notoriously difficult and inefficient. Another solution is to attempt to match power generation to an expected consumption, but consumption is difficult to predict, and generation cannot easily be increased or decreased on demand. Many renewable generation technologies (notably wind and solar) aren't fully predictable. Therefore, as renewable generation becomes more widespread, power balancing become more necessary. It is therefore desirable to match instantaneous power consumption to current power generation; however, this requires the identification of a relatively large load that does not require power from the network at a specific time. I lerein, the term distribution network should be taken to mean any form of power transmission and/or distribution network, not merely those conventionally referred to in the field as a distribution network (or indeed transmission network).

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the system comprising: an electrical water heater; a controller, the controller configured to: monitor electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater; and send data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over a communication network; and a server, the server configured to: receive the data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over the communication network; determine a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and send an instruction to the controller in response to determining the balancing requirement; wherein the controller is further configured to interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving the instruction from the server.

In this way, domestic/ commercial water heaters may be used as either turn-down services, where consumption is reduced when the network operator asks for it, or turn-up services, where consumption is increased when the network operator asks for it. Domestic water heating is typically achieved with an immersion heater set into an insulated hot water tank, and some commercial or other premises also include such electrical water heaters. Water heaters Typically are controlled by thermostats and either timers or switches. When the water is at the temperature set by its thermostat, it will stay hot for some hours, and will supply domestic demand for some hours. It can take more than an hour for a water heater to fully heat a tank of water: interrupting that process for a few minutes is unlikely to be noticed by a householder.

The electrical water heater may be an immersion heater, and/or domestic water heater. The electrical water heater may be configured to heat water within a hot water tank. 'the hot water tank may be thermally insulated.

The controller may comprise a digital computer, micro-controller and/or similar controller.

Monitoring electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater may comprise monitoring a current drawn by the electrical water heater, for instance at a predetermined (e.g. previously sensed, pre-programmed and/or pre-input) voltage and/or simultaneously monitoring a voltage drawn by the electrical water heater. Monitoring may comprise using a voltmeter, ammeter, current damp, and/or similar current and/or voltage detecting devices. Monitoring may comprise detecting current and/or voltage drawn by the electrical water heater.

The controller may be configured to calculate a power consumption of the electrical water heater from the detected current and/or voltage, and may send the calculated power consumption over the communication network. Alternatively or additionally, the controller may be config,ured to send the detected current and/or voltage reading over the communication network.

In one arrangement, monitoring electrical power consumption may comprise determining that power is being consumed by the electrical water heater; that is, the amount of power, current and/or voltage concerned is irrelevant. The monitored electrical power consumption (e.g. Yes/No reading) may be sent over the communication network.

The controller may comprise a controller memory. 'Monitoring may comprise storing the detected power consumption, current and/or voltage (and/or the calculated power consumption) in the controller memory. the storing may be temporary. The controller memory may comprise a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory. The controller may comprise a transmitter. The transmitter may comprise a transceiver. 'The transmitter may be configured to transmit data over the communication 10 network. The communication network may comprise a telecommunications network, such as a wireless network, LAN, WAN, mobile telecommunications network, and/or the Internet. Communication over the communication network may he secure and/or encrypted.

The server may comprise a digital computer, micro-processor and/or similar device. The server may comprise a cloud server.

The server may comprise a server memory. 'the server memory may comprise a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory. 'the server memory may hold data such as the predetermined voltage drawn by the electrical water heater, or a predetermined power consumption of the electrical water heater such that the power consumption may be determined in real-time from combining the Yes/No reading with the predetermined power consumption.

The server may comprise a receiver. The receiver may comprise a transceiver.

The receiver may he configured to receive data over the communication network.

The instructions to the controller may he sent over the communication network.

The controller may comprise a switch, for interrupting electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater. The switch may be electrically operated, and may comprise a relay, such as a solid-state relay and/or a mechanically operate a switch activated by an electromagnet. The controllers may be configured to enable resumption of electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater upon expiry of a controller predefined time period (for example, at most 2 minutes, at most 5 minutes, at most 10 minutes, at most 15 minutes and/or at most 30 minutes), and/or upon receipt of a further resumption instructions from the controller. 'the server may be configured to send such a resumption instruction upon expiry of a predefined time period (for example, at most 2 minutes, at most 5 minutes, at most 10 minutes, at most 15 minutes and/or at most 30 minutes).

Determine the balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network may comprise taking data from third party sources. Third party sources may comprise a network operator (e.g. transmission network operator and/or distribution network operator) and/or an energy supplier.

The data may comprise a balancing request, for example a request to deliver turn-up and/or turn-down services. The balancing request may further comprise an indication of a magnitude of turn-up and or turn-down.

The data may comprise tariff information, such as time-of-day tariff information.

For instance, the server may preferentially interrupt power consumption electrical water heaters operating on a relatively high time of day tariff, and may preferentially prevent interruption of power consumption by electrical water heaters operating on a relatively low time of day tariff.

The system may comprise a plurality of electrical water heaters, each with a respective controller. For example, the system may comprise a first electrical water heater with an associated first controller, a second electrical water heater with an associated second controller, a third electrical water heater with an associated third controller, a fourth electrical water heater with an associated fourth controller and/or a fifth electrical water heater with an associated fifth controller. For instance, the system may comprise at least 100, at least 1,000, at least 10,000, at least 100,000 and/or at least 1,000,000 electrical water heater and associated controller pairs.

The system may comprise a plurality of electrical water heaters, and a plurality of respective controllers, wherein each controller may he associated with at least one respective ones of the plurality of electrical water heaters. Each controller may be associated with only one, more than one and/or a plurality of electrical water heaters. The server may be configured to collate power consumption data from a plurality of electrical water heater and associated controller pairs. The server may be configured to calculate a total switchablc load in real time.

Determine the balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network may comprise determining an AC frequency of the network. The AC frequency may be a proxy for the power balance of the network: when there is too much power frequency rises, and/or when there is too little power frequency decreases. The AC frequency of the network may be compared to a predefined and"/or predetermined AC Frequency, which may be an average AC frequency. A magnitude of balancing required on the network may be determined based on a degree to which the AC frequency differs from the predefined and/or predetermined AC frequency.

In response to determining a turn-down balancing requirement, the server may be configured to select a first subset of the available electrical water heaters currently consuming power that correspond to an amount of power by which the network operator requires consumption to be turned down, and may send an interrupt instruction to the corresponding controllers.

If, after a server predefined time period, which may he the same as the controller predefined rime period mentioned above, balancing is still required, the server may be configured to select a second subset of the available electrical water heaters currently consuming power. The second subset may not overlap with the first subset.

If the server determines that balancing is not required (or at least not required to the same extent) then the server may send a resumption instruction to some or all of the controllers in the first subset.

In the absence of any balancing request, the server may be configured to keep power consumption to a rolling tranche of electrical water heaters interrupted. The individual water heaters in that tranche may vary, swap and/or exchange with one another, so that the power consumption of no single water heater is interrupted for more than the controller/server predefined time period.

In response to determining a turn-up balancing requirement, the server may he configured to select a third subset of the available electrical water heaters currently in the rolling tranche of electrical water heaters that correspond to an amount of power by which the network operator requires consumption to be turned up, and may send a resumption instruction to the corresponding controllers.

Any or all selections made by the server may be random, pseudorandom, and/or may be determined on the basis of an algorithm intended to take account of operating history, for example an amount of time since an interrupt instruction was sent to an individual controller, an amount of time that an interrupt instruction has been active on an individual controller, an amount of time that a time that an individual electrical water heater has been consuming power and/or an amount of time since an individual electrical water heater consumed power. In this way, interruption of electrical water heaters that are more necessary heating water at a cooler respective temperature) is minimized.

Tn some alternatives, the controller may be able to monitor temperature within a hot water tank into which the electrical water heater is placed, and may operate based on that detected temperature.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring electrical power consumption by an electrical water heater; determining a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and interrupting electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving the instruction from the server.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a controller for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the controller associated with an electrical water heater, the controller configured to: monitor electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater; send data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over a communication network; and interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving an instruction from a server over the communication network.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the server configured to: receive data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of an electrical water heater over the communication network; determine a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and send an instruction to interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater to a controller in response to determining the balancing requirement.

The above and other characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. This description is given for the sake of example only, without limiting the scope of the invention. The reference figures quoted below refer to the attached drawings.

Figure 1 is schematic representation of a system for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network.

The present invention will be described with respect to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are only schematic and are non-limiting. Each drawing may not include all of the features of the invention and therefore should not necessarily be considered to be an embodiment of the invention. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes. The dimensions and the relative dimensions do not correspond to actual reductions to practice of the invention.

Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that operation is capable in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

Moreover, the terms top, bottom, over, under and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that operation is capable in other orientations than described or illustrated herein.

It is to be noticed that the term "comprising", used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. It is thus to he interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. it means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device are A and B. Reference throughout this specification to "an embodiment" or "an aspect" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or aspect is included in at least one embodiment or aspect of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment", "in an embodiment", or "in an aspect" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or aspect, but may refer to different embodiments or aspects. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics of any embodiment or aspect of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments or aspects.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the description various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Moreover, the description of any individual drawing or aspect should not necessarily he considered to be an embodiment of the invention. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in fewer than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention. Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form yet further embodiments, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may he practised without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this

description.

Tn the discussion of the invention, unless stated to the contrary, the disclosure of alternative values for the upper or lower limit of the permitted range of a parameter, coupled with an indication that one of said values is snore highly preferred than the other, is to be construed as an implied statement that each intermediate value of said parameter, lying between the more preferred and the less preferred of said alternatives, is itself preferred to said less preferred value and also to each value lying between said less preferred value and said intermediate value.

The use of the term "at least one" may mean only one in certain circumstances.

The principles of the invention will now be described by a detailed description of at least one drawing relating to exemplary features of the invention. It is clear that other arrangements can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the underlying concept or technical teaching of the invention, the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Figure 1 shows a system for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network 1 supplied by electricity generators 3. Typical domestic dwellings 5 each include an insulated hot water storage tank 7 heated by an electrical water heater 9 connected to, and consuming power from, the electricity distribution network 1 via line 11.

The system comprises a controller 13 within each domestic dwelling 5 connected to the line 11 via current clamp 15. The controller is configured to monitor power consumption in line 11 and interrupt said consumption in response to an instruction from a server 17.

Each controller collates and sends data regarding the power consumption of the electrical water heater 9 and sends this to the server 17 over communication network 19.

The server 17 also receives time-of-day tariff information from the energy supplier 21, and balance requirements of the electricity distribution network 1 from the network operator 23.

The server 17 may send instructions to the controllers 13 to interrupt power consumption by the electrical water heaters 9 if the server 17 detetmines that balancing of the electricity distribution network 1 is required. Selection of which of the electrical water heaters 9 to interrupt may be based at least in part on the time-of-day tariff information.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A system for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the system comprising: an electrical water heater; a controller, the controller configured to: monitor electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater; and send data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over a communication network; and a server, the server configured to: receive the data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over the communication network; determine a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and send an instruction to the controller in response to determining the balancing requirement; wherein the controller is further configured to interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving the instruction from the server.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the balancing requirement comprises receiving a balancing request from a third party.
3. The system of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein detet lining the balancing requirement comprises determining an AC frequency of the network.
4. The system of any preceding claim, comprising a plurality of electrical water heaters, each with a respective controller.
5. The system of claim 4, wherein the server is further configured to, in response to determining a turn-down balancing requirement, select a first subset of the available electrical water heaters currently consuming power that correspond to an amount of power by which the network operator requires consumption to be turned down, and may send an interrupt instruction to the corresponding controllers.
6. The system of claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the server is further configured to, in the absence of any balancing request, keep power consumption to a rolling tranche of electrical water heaters interrupted.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the server is configured to, in response to determining a turn-up balancing requirement, select a third subset of the available electrical water heaters currently in the rolling tranche of electrical water heaters that correspond to an amount of power by which the network operator requires consumption to he turned up, and may send a resumption instruction to the corresponding controllers.
8. yl method of balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the method comprising the steps of: monitoring electrical power consumption by an electrical water heater; determining a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and interrupting electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving the instruction from the server.
9. A controller for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the controller associated with an electrical water heater, the controller configured to: monitor electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater; send data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of the electrical water heater over a communication network; and interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater in response to receiving an instruction from a server over the communication network.
10. A server for balancing electrical power consumption on an electricity distribution network, the server configured to: receive data indicative of the monitored electrical power consumption of an electrical water heater over the communication network; determine a balancing requirement of an electricity distribution network; and send an instruction to interrupt electrical power consumption by the electrical water heater to a controller in response to determining the balancing requirement.