Power management apparatus, power management system, and method for power management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10698433-B2
Application number	US-201414907637-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2014
Priority date	Jul 26, 2013
Publication date	Jun 30, 2020
Grant date	Jun 30, 2020

Abstract

Remaining power information regarding remaining power generation capability of a power generation apparatus is reported. A power management apparatus ( 2 ) includes a communication interface ( 22 ) that receives remaining power information regarding remaining power generation capability of a power generation apparatus ( 10 ) from a power conversion apparatus ( 1 ) and an output interface ( 23 ) that outputs the remaining power information.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A power management apparatus for communicating with a power conversion apparatus configured to detect a power outage and perform an independent operation in response to the power outage, the power management apparatus comprising:
a communication interface configured to acquire remaining power information regarding a remaining power generation capability of a power generation apparatus from the power conversion apparatus during the independent operation, wherein the remaining power generation capability is a difference between a maximum power generation and a present power generation; and
an output interface configured to cause the remaining power generation capability of the power generation apparatus in a load following mode to be output graphically, power generation being controlled to follow load power in the load following mode.

2. The power management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the output interface causes power generation of the power generation apparatus in the load following mode to be output graphically in a different form from the remaining power generation capability.

3. The power management apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the output interface causes the power generation and the remaining power generation capability of the power generation apparatus in the load following mode to be output graphically as a bar chart or a pie chart representing a composition ratio of the power generation and the remaining power generation capability with respect to maximum power generation.

4. The power management apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the output interface causes power generation of a power generation apparatus in MPPT mode to be output graphically as a bar chart or a pie chart in which a composition ratio of the power generation with respect to the maximum power generation is 100%, the power generation being controlled to follow a maximum power point in the MPPT mode.

5. The power management apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the output interface causes an area of the bar chart or the pie chart to be proportional to a magnitude of the maximum power generation.

6. The power management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication interface receives the remaining power information from a power conversion apparatus in communication with the power management apparatus when the power conversion apparatus performs independent operation that is disconnected from a power grid.

7. The power management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of power generation apparatuses are connected in parallel to a power conversion apparatus in communication with the power management apparatus, and the output interface causes remaining power generation capability of the plurality of power generation apparatuses in the load following mode to be output graphically.

8. The power management apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the output interface causes power generation and remaining power generation capability of one of the plurality of power generation apparatuses in the load following mode to be output graphically in different forms.

9. The power management apparatus of claim 8 , wherein when graphically outputting the remaining power generation capability of the plurality of power generation apparatuses as a bar chart, the output interface sets a length of each bar chart to be equivalent and varies a width of each bar chart according to output.

10. The power management apparatus of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of power generation apparatuses connected to the power conversion apparatus is a solar cell string in which a plurality of solar cell modules are connected in series.

11. The power management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the power management apparatus is capable of communicating with a power conversion apparatus for converting power of the power generation apparatus.

12. The power management apparatus of claim 10 , wherein all of the plurality of solar cell modules have equivalent characteristics.

13. A power management system comprising:
a power conversion apparatus for converting power of a power generation apparatus and supplying the power to a load of a consumer's facility; and
a power management apparatus capable of communicating with the power conversion apparatus,
wherein
the power conversion apparatus is configured to detect a power outage and perform an independent operation in response to the power outage, and
the power conversion apparatus comprises:
a controller configured to acquire remaining power information regarding a remaining power generation capability of the power generation apparatus during the independent operation, wherein the remaining power generation capability is a difference between a maximum power generation and a present power generation; and
a first communication interface configured to transmit remaining power information to the power management apparatus, and

the power management apparatus comprises:
a second communication interface configured to receive remaining power information from the power conversion apparatus during the independent operation; and
an output interface configured to cause the remaining power generation capability of the power generation apparatus in a load following mode to be output graphically, power generation being controlled to follow load power in the load following mode.

14. A method for managing power by communicating with a power conversion apparatus configured to detect a power outage and performing an independent operation in response to the power outage, the method comprising:
acquiring remaining power information regarding a remaining power generation capability of a power generation apparatus from the power conversion apparatus during the independent operation, wherein the remaining power generation capability is a difference between a maximum power generation and a present power generation; and
causing the remaining power generation capability of the power generation apparatus in a load following mode to be output graphically, power generation being controlled to follow load power in the load following mode.

Assignees

• Kyocera Corp

Inventors

• Baba Masahiro

Classifications

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• Y02E10/56

  Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers · CPC title

• H02J3/381

  Dispersed generators · CPC title

• Y04S10/50

  Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications · CPC title

• Y02E40/70

  Smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the energy generation sector · CPC title