WO2013098443A1

WO2013098443A1 - System and method for distributing and managing electrical energy

Info

Publication number: WO2013098443A1
Application number: PCT/ES2012/070744
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rafael Jesús VALDIVIESO SARABIA; Francisco Javier FERRÁNDEZ PASTOR; Juan Manuel GARCÍA CHAMIZO
Original assignee: Universidad De Alicante
Priority date: 2011-12-26
Filing date: 2012-10-24
Publication date: 2013-07-04
Also published as: ES2416256A1; ES2416256B1

Abstract

System and method for distributing and managing electrical energy, which comprises (a) a first decision-making unit for processing the algorithms and strategies based on artificial intelligence techniques in order to determine the actions to be carried out for establishing electrical distribution; (b) a second power unit for controlling the power inputs and outputs, making it possible to open and close circuits and to regulate the power flowing through the latter, wherein said unit also manages the storage media since the latter may be considered to be sources when supplying electricity to the consumption centres and may be considered to be consumption centres when receiving electricity from other sources in order to increase the charge thereof; and finally (c) a third control unit for modifying the behaviour of the consumption centres connected to the corresponding control buses thereof in order to reduce the overall energy consumption when necessary.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE DISTRIBUTION AND MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENERGY

Object of the invention

The present invention relates to a method and a system for the distribution and management of electricity whose purpose is to rationalize the exploitation of the same, using intelligent supply criteria based on the relevance of consumers, supply expectations, and the characteristics of the demand, and of the previous expectations. All this by controlling the supply by selecting the sources and activating, deactivating or modifying the mode of operation of the consumer centers to optimize the balance between supply, consumption and user satisfaction. The application contexts of the invention are diverse, since it can be integrated into high, medium and low power electrical distribution installations, connected to the grid or isolated.

Prior art

Energy sustainability is one of the main challenges facing modern societies to ensure that resources will not be depleted at some point. In order to achieve energy sustainability, advances are being made in related research lines, such as renewable energy sources, storage media, more energy efficient components, energy management and quality of service.

The energy management line is characterized by providing rationality to the generation, transport, distribution and consumption of electricity. It is, therefore, to optimize the exploitation of electrical resources in a rational, intelligent and proactive way according to the needs at all times. Such rational management can be applied in the various contexts in which electricity is used. It is an object of the present invention a distributor and manager of electricity that is capable of supplying the electricity produced by various suppliers to various consumption centers, optimizing according to the needs through intelligent control of the behavior of energy demanding systems.

The closest state of the art can be considered Valdivieso-Sarabia and García-Chamizo's document "Multi-agent system model for distributed power management simulation", INNOV 2010 - Proceedings of the Multi-Conference on Innovative Developments in ICT (29 to 31 July 2010). ISBN: 978-989-8425-15-7. Explanation of the invention.

The purpose of the system and method of the present invention is to rationalize the exploitation of electric energy, using intelligent supply criteria to orchestrate the behavior of each component of the network, depending on the relevance and nature of consumers, of expectations of the supply, of the characteristics of the demand, and of the previous experiences. For this, distributed and scalable artificial intelligence techniques are used that take into account all these aspects to determine the actions that each of the components have to perform, whether they are generators or consumption centers, in order to optimize the distribution of electrical energy . The actions allow controlling the supply by selecting the sources and activating, deactivating or modifying the mode of operation of the consumer centers to optimize the balance between supply, consumption and user satisfaction. The invention is conceived as a system comprising at least one device configured for the distribution of the electric energy supplied by sources of diverse nature, among the power consuming centers connected in the same network. Likewise, the network can be equipped with storage facilities, both short-term and long-term, of electrical energy.

In a first aspect of the invention, the technical problems raised are solved with the system of claim 1 and the various embodiments of dependent claims 2 to 9. In a second aspect of the invention, the method described in claim 10 and 11 is also claimed.

Throughout the description and the claims the word "comprises" and its variants are not intended to exclude other technical characteristics, additives, components or steps. For those skilled in the art, other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be derived partly from the description and partly from the practice of the invention. The following examples and drawings are provided by way of illustration, and are not intended to be limiting of the present invention. In addition, the present invention covers all possible combinations of particular and preferred embodiments indicated herein.

Brief description of the figures FIG 1- Shows a schematic view of the system object of the invention.

F / G 2.- Shows a second implementation scheme of the system object of the invention.

Detailed presentation of the embodiment

As shown in the attached figures, the system for the distribution and management of electricity, object of the present invention comprises, essentially, a distributed, scalable controller, provided with control buses and multiple power inputs and outputs and which , in turn, is governed by an intelligent agent processor capable of communicating using communication networks.

The system 100, as shown in Figure 1, comprises (a) a first decision-making unit 101 configured to process algorithms and strategies based on artificial intelligence techniques to determine the actions to be taken to establish the electrical distribution; (b) a second power unit 102 configured to control the power inputs and outputs, allowing to open and close circuits and regulate the power circulating through them, and where it also manages the storage media, since they can be considered as sources when they supply electricity to the centers of consumption, and as centers of consumption when it is they who require electricity from other sources to increase their load; and finally (c) a third control unit 103 that is configured to modify the behavior of the consumption centers connected to their corresponding control buses in order to reduce the overall energy consumption when necessary.

From a purely physical point of view, each of the units (101, 102,103) defined at the functional level can be instantiated into two families of physical devices, called modules and agents. Thus, the modules must be installed grouped with at least one decision-making module 1. Instead, the agents are autonomous in their operation, so they can be deployed throughout the installation. The use of modules or agents will depend on the type of installation to be managed since, in each case, it will be more convenient to use one or the other or both, without thereby detracting from the object of the invention.

The power unit 102 gives rise to two types of physical devices depending on the type of organization to be implemented. Thus, the power unit 102 comprises at least one regulation module 2 that is always coupled to a single decision making module 1.

The regulation module 2 is responsible for monitoring and interconnecting the electrical inputs and outputs, regulating the power flowing through each interconnection. This regulation module 2 in turn comprises a plurality of inputs and a plurality of electrical power outputs. The number of inputs and outputs is increased by coupling different regulation modules 2 with each other.

In turn, each of these inputs and outputs is composed respectively of a power connection lock and a component for the measurement of electric current, voltage and power factor. The electrical connection between each of the inputs and outputs is carried out through a reconfiguration unit of the electrical interconnection, located in the regulation module 2 itself. The reconfiguration of said connections is made from the commands received from the module of decision making 1.

The device that functions as a power unit 102 in its autonomous version is called a regulating agent 17 which, unlike the power module regulation 2 is autonomous since it is equipped with an embedded decision-making unit, which is capable of making decisions and communicating with other regulatory agents 17 and decision-making units 1. In turn, the decision-making unit Embedded decisions are able to communicate using wired communication networks of the IEEE 802.3 and wireless Ethernet family defined in the IEEE 802.1 1 standards (b, g, n).

Each of the regulating agents 17 is associated with a single electrical component, either source or consumption center, in charge of monitoring the power that flows through it, and if necessary, regulating the power that It flows between your entrance and your exit.

The control unit 103 has the purpose of modifying the behavior of one or more control centers in order to reduce energy consumption. The control unit 103 is particularized in control modules 3 which are inserted on the connector to the right of the decision making module 1, which is the physical element defined for the decision making unit 101.

In turn, successive control modules 3 can be inserted after the last control module 3 added on the decision making unit 101. The control module 3 is provided with a communications bus at the appropriate voltage and current levels for its corresponding control bus connected by the lock, which varies depending on the control bus. The control unit 103 is physically implemented as an autonomous control agent 15 consisting of a control module provided with an embedded computer and an element for monitoring power, current and power factor. In this way, the control module 3 acquires the intelligence necessary to be autonomous, make decisions, be able to communicate with the other agents of the decision-making units 1 and modify the behavior of the consumption center associated with said control agent 15 Like regulating agents 17, it is able to communicate using wired communication networks of the IEEE 802.3 and wireless Ethernet family defined in the IEEE 802.1 1 standards (b, g, n). As indicated, the decision-making unit 101 has its physical implementation in the decision-making module 1. This module is governed by a computer capable of communicating using wired communication networks of the Ethernet I EEE 802.3 and wireless family defined in the I EEE 802.1 1 standards (b, g, n), so it can communicate with other socket modules of decisions 1 and with the various agents (15, 17) achieving the following objectives:

Scale the electrical and computer interconnection capabilities, reconfigure and reprogram the electrical interconnection and device control strategies,

- monitor the status of each module and electrical measurements remotely,

Manually manage electrical interconnection and device control strategies, and

Perform maintenance and update tasks remotely.

The computer is equipped with a control module connection latch on the left that contains the bus that allows sending the actions to be performed by said modules and a control module connector, on the right, which sends the actions to be performed by each One of the modules inserted.

The decision-making units 101 are able to communicate with each other and with the different types of agents, in order to distribute the available power of the sources among the consumption centers through distributed and scalable negotiation protocols. The actions to be carried out by each of the modules and agents are agreed between all of them using negotiation protocols, strategies, algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques that take as parameters the optimization criteria, the power readings that reach each of the inputs and readings of the energy requirements of each of the outputs of the modules and regulating agents.

The optimization criteria determine the power inputs to be used to power the components connected to each of the outputs and reconfigurable over time. The criteria allow prioritizing less polluting energy sources, those with a lower economic cost or those that minimize both parameters. Decision-making strategies can determine that electricity consumption should be reduced, so that two types of actions can be carried out. If the installation is equipped with control units 103, whether they are control modules connected to the decision-making module or control agents, they are requested to disable functionalities that are not critical of their respective consumption centers. In the event that this is not enough or there are no modules or control agents, then the power unit 102, whether modules or agents, is requested to stop supplying power to those outputs that supply electrical appliances that can be turned off without prejudice to users. This capacity makes it feasible for companies that supply electricity and / or responsible for the proper functioning of the electricity network to request such reductions in consumption, such as preventive energy savings in the event of situations of electrical congestion, demand peaks, voltage control, or any technical requirement or economic that goes for the collective benefit.

The system 100 is not to be seen as an isolated element, but is integrated into an electrical network, so that depending on the generation capacity of the sources associated with it, it is capable of either exporting excess power generated, or otherwise, import power from 100 neighboring systems.

Once the planning of the electrical power for a certain period of time has been agreed upon, the regulation and interconnection between power inputs and outputs and the possible behavior modifications of the various centers of consumption of the installation are carried out.

The contexts of the application are diverse, since they can be integrated into electrical energy distribution facilities (high, low and medium), buildings, industries and housing; transport, electrical appliances and machines, as well as electrical networks in general. The system can be used in a wide variety of existing application contexts, three structures or forms of organization of the different modules and agents are defined in an installation of the requirements, as shown in Figure 2. First, a semi-distributed organization is defined where communication occurs between sets of regulation and control modules grouped with a single decision-making module, the set of modules is called MRCT allowing the exchange of information and, therefore, the negotiation processes between the various MRCTs, which are distributed in the installation. This architecture allows the system to be scaled by inserting new MRCTs, since each one of them is capable of managing and performing computational tasks according to a set of connected sources and consumption centers. In turn, each of these MRCTs can increase the number of sources and consumption centers to manage, adding new regulation and control modules, respectively.

The fully distributed organization is based on an HW device governed by a specific SW, called an agent, which is responsible for monitoring and managing a single electrical component, be it source, storage medium or consumption center. Depending on the type of electrical component to be managed, the agents are called a regulating agent, for sources and storage media and control agents for energy demanding centers. Communication occurs at the agent level, so there will be an agent for each of the electrical components to be managed. The scalability of the system is achieved by inserting a new agent for each of the new electrical components to be managed. By inserting the new agent properly configured, it is able to interact with the other agents in the system in a transparent way.

The hybrid organization is in facilities equipped with MRCT and agents. In this case, communication takes place between MRCT and agents, allowing negotiations between the sources and consumption centers that manage each MRCT with the agents that are responsible for managing each individual electrical component.

Finally, it should be noted that the most innovative aspects of the present invention are that: Distributes the electrical power between a certain number of inputs and outputs. The inputs can come from various energy sources and the outputs are distributed to different circuits according to the strategy established for consumption management.

It uses distributed artificial intelligence techniques to obtain an agreed electrical distribution according to the criteria defined for each installation to be managed. Artificial intelligence based techniques allow you to configure each installation adapting to the established needs.

It allows to use the criteria that most interest in each moment, such as: the greater use of renewable energy sources, minimizing the economic cost, greater power generation, combination of the previous criteria. The criteria are reconfigurable for each consumption center.

It is able to obtain information from the outside environment. This allows proactive energy management strategies to be used, with the objective of knowing in advance the possible situations or phenomena that may occur, to then establish the corresponding preventive actions. For example: use weather forecasts to calculate energy production and air conditioning requirements. Another example is to obtain information on security alerts, alarms and robberies in nearby neighborhoods, to trigger preventive actions such as simulating that the house is inhabited and / or configuring the security and surveillance system in an extreme detection mode.

The behavior is dynamic and progressive, since it is able to learn from the corrective actions that the user can perform.

When planning, take into account the available energy storage means or batteries.

It is applicable to various installations or application contexts (see application contexts), since through the appropriate use of modules and / or agents, systems such as that of the invention 100 can be created based on semi-distributed, fully distributed or hybrid organizations that can integrate and be interoperable. It allows to reduce the general electrical consumption of the installation by means of the selective shutdown of devices that demand power and / or modifying the behavior of said devices so that they require less power. It allows to control the behavior of the devices that demand power, as long as they are equipped with a control bus.

It is distributed, to a greater or lesser degree depending on the architecture used.

It is scalable, adding new modules or agents.

Claims

1. System for the distribution and management of electrical energy (100) characterized in that it comprises (a) a first decision-making unit

(101) configured to process algorithms and strategies based on artificial intelligence techniques to determine the actions to be taken to establish the electrical distribution; (b) a second power unit (102) configured to control the power inputs and outputs, allowing to open and close circuits and regulate the power that circulates through them, and where it also manages the storage media, since they can be considered as sources when they supply electricity to consumption centers, and as consumption centers when it is they who require electricity from other sources to increase their load; and finally (c) a third control unit (103) that is configured to modify the behavior of the consumption centers connected to their corresponding control buses in order to reduce the overall energy consumption when necessary.

2. System (100) according to claim 1 wherein each of the units (101, 102, 103) are instantiated into two families of physical devices, called modules and agents; and where the modules have to be installed grouped with at least one decision-making module (1) while the agents are autonomous in their operation, so they can be deployed throughout the installation.

3. System (100) according to claims 1 to 2 wherein the power unit (102) comprises at least one regulation module (2) that is always coupled to a single decision-making module (1) , wherein said regulation module (2) is responsible for monitoring and interconnecting the electrical inputs and outputs, regulating the power flowing through each interconnection; and where this regulation module (2) in turn comprises a plurality of inputs and a plurality of electrical power outputs.

4. System (100) according to claim 3 wherein the number of inputs and outputs is increased by coupling different regulation modules (2) with each other, since each of these inputs and outputs is respectively composed of a power connection lock and a component for measuring the electric current, voltage and power factor; and the electrical connection between each of the inputs and outputs is carried out through a reconfiguration unit of the electrical interconnection, located in the regulation module itself (2), where the reconfiguration of said connections is made from the orders which you receive from the decision making module (1).

5. System (100) according to claims 1 to 4 wherein the power unit (102) in its autonomous version is called a regulating agent (17) which, unlike the regulation module (2), is already autonomous that it is equipped with an embedded decision-making unit, which is capable of making decisions and communicating with other regulatory agents (17) and decision-making units (1); and where, in turn, the embedded decision-making unit is able to communicate using wired communication networks of the IEEE 802.3 and wireless Ethernet family defined in the IEEE 802.1 1 standards (b, g, n).

6. System (100) according to claim 5 wherein each of the regulating agents (17) is associated with a single electrical component, either source or consumption center, in charge of monitoring the power flowing through he, and if necessary, to regulate the power that flows between its input and its output.

7. System (100) wherein the control unit (103) comprises at least one control module (3) that is inserted over the connector to the right of the decision-making module (1), which is the physical element defined for the decision making unit (101); and where, in turn, successive control modules (3) can be inserted after the last control module (3) added on the decision-making unit (101), the control module (3) being also provided with a communications bus at the appropriate voltage and current levels for its corresponding control bus connected by the lock, which varies depending on the control bus.

8. System (100) according to claims 1 to 7 wherein the control unit (103) is physically implemented as a stand-alone control agent (15) consisting of a control module provided with an embedded computer and of an element for the monitoring of power, current and power factor, in such a way that the control module (3) acquires the necessary intelligence to be autonomous, to make decisions, to be able to communicate with the rest of the agents of the taking units decisions (1) and modify the behavior of the consumption center associated with said control agent (15); and where it is also able to communicate using wired communication networks of the IEEE 802.3 and wireless Ethernet family defined in the IEEE 802.11 standards (b, g, n).

9. System (100) according to claims 1 to 8 wherein the decision-making unit (101) has its physical implementation in the decision-making module (1) governed by a computer capable of communicating using communication networks Wired Ethernet IEEE 802.3 and wireless family defined in IEEE 802.11 standards (b, g, n), so it can communicate with other decision-making modules (1) and with the various agents (15, 17).

10. Method for the distribution and management of electrical energy, implemented in the system of claims 1 to 9 and comprising the steps of (a) decision making where algorithms and strategies based on artificial intelligence techniques are processed for determine the actions to be carried out to establish the electricity distribution; (b) a stage of control of the power inputs and outputs, allowing to open and close circuits and regulate the power that circulates through them, and where it also manages the storage media, since they can be considered as sources when they supply electricity to consumption centers, and as consumption centers when it is they who require electricity from other sources to increase their load; and finally (c) a control stage configured to modify the behavior of the consumption centers connected to their corresponding control buses in order to reduce global energy consumption when necessary.

1 1. Method according to claim 10 wherein the artificial intelligence strategies, algorithms and techniques are implemented by a multi-agent system composed of multiple intelligent, autonomous and proactive agents that use interaction protocols to carry out collective bargaining processes. that determine the actions to be performed.