Station building auxiliary power unit for efficient use of regenerative power

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10730405-B2
Application number	US-201515752769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 27, 2015
Priority date	Aug 27, 2015
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A station building auxiliary power unit includes a start-of-operation determination unit that determines, based on a first signal that represents information on a power flow direction indicating a direction of flow of electrical power between an AC distribution line electrically connecting to an electric vehicle and a substation for supplying AC power to the AC distribution line, whether first AC power on an AC distribution line side is to be transformed into second AC power usable by a load, and if it is determined that transformation is to be performed, generates and outputs a second signal, a voltage instruction value calculator that calculates and outputs a voltage instruction value corresponding to the second signal, and a PWM signal generator that generates a control signal for a power converter circuit operated upon transformation of the first AC power into the second AC power, and outputs the control signal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A station building auxiliary power unit comprising:
a start-of-operation determiner to determine, on the basis of a first signal that represents information on a power flow direction indicating a direction of flow of electrical power between an AC (alternating current) distribution line electrically connecting to an electric railway vehicle and a substation for supplying AC power to an AC distribution line, whether a first AC power on an AC distribution line side is to be transformed into a second AC power usable by a load;
a voltage instruction value calculator to calculate a voltage instruction value that corresponds to a determination by the start-of-operation determiner; and
a control signal generator to generate, on the basis of the voltage instruction value, a control signal for a power converter circuit to transform the first AC power into the second AC power, and to output the control signal.

2. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 1 , wherein, if the information on the power flow direction indicates that an AC power is flowing from the AC distribution line to the substation, the start-of-operation determiner determines that the first AC power is to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal.

3. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 1 , wherein, if the information on the power flow direction indicates that AC power is flowing from the substation to the AC distribution line, the start-of-operation determiner determines that the first AC power is not to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal.

4. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 2 , wherein, if the information on the power flow direction indicates that the AC power is flowing from the substation to the AC distribution line, the start-of-operation determiner determines that the first AC power is not to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal, and if the first AC power is being transformed into the second AC power, stops transforming the first AC power into the second AC power.

5. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 1 , wherein the voltage instruction value calculator calculates the voltage instruction value on the basis of a voltage value of a load side AC power.

6. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 1 , comprising:
a power flow direction detector to detect the power flow direction indicating the direction of flow of electrical power between the AC distribution line and the substation, and to output the information on the power flow direction.

7. A station building auxiliary power unit comprising a processing circuitry:
to calculate a voltage instruction value that corresponds to a second signal input from a power flow direction detection device, wherein the power flow direction detection device detects a power flow direction indicating a direction of flow of electrical power between an AC distribution line electrically connecting to an electric vehicle and a substation for supplying AC power to the AC distribution line, converts information on the power flow direction into a first signal being a digital signal, determines, on the basis of the first signal, whether first AC power on an AC distribution line side is to be transformed into second AC power usable by a load, and if it is determined that transformation is to be performed, generates and outputs the second signal; and
to generate, on the basis of the voltage instruction value, a control signal for a power converter circuit to transform the first AC power into the second AC power, and to output the control signal.

8. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 7 , comprising the processing circuitry:
to detect the power flow direction indicating the direction of flow of electrical power between the AC distribution line and the substation, and to output the information on the power flow direction,
to convert the information on the power flow direction into the first signal being a digital signal, and
to determine, on the basis of the first signal, whether the first AC power is to be transformed into the second AC power, and if it is determined that transformation is to be performed, to generate and output the second signal.

9. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 8 , wherein, if the information on the power flow direction indicates that AC power is flowing from the AC distribution line to the substation, the processing circuitry determines that the first AC power is to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal, and generates and outputs the second signal.

10. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 8 , wherein, if the information on the power flow direction indicates that AC power is flowing from the substation to the AC distribution line, the processing circuitry determines that the first AC power is not to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal, and does not generate the second signal.

11. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 8 , wherein if the information on the power flow direction indicates that AC power is flowing from the substation to the AC distribution line, the processing circuitry determines that the first AC power is not to be transformed into the second AC power on the basis of the first signal, and if the first AC power is being transformed into the second AC power, stops generating and outputting the second signal.

12. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry calculates the voltage instruction value on the basis of a voltage value of the second AC power.

13. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 5 , wherein, if the start-of-operation determiner determines that the first AC power is to be transformed into the second AC power, the voltage instruction value calculator adds a voltage value that corresponds to a voltage drop value due to consumption of power in the station building auxiliary power unit to the voltage value of the load side AC power as the voltage instruction value.

14. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 5 , wherein, if the start-of-operation determiner determines that the first AC power is not to be transformed into the second AC power, the voltage instruction value calculator makes the voltage value of the load side AC power as the voltage instruction value.

15. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 12 , wherein, if the second signal is input, the voltage instruction value calculator adds a voltage value that corresponds to a voltage drop value due to consumption of power in the station building auxiliary power unit to the voltage value of the load side AC power as the voltage instruction value.

16. The station building auxiliary power unit according to claim 12 , wherein, if the second signal is not input, the voltage instruction value calculator adds a voltage value that corresponds to a voltage drop value due to consumption of power in the station building auxiliary power unit to the voltage value of the load side AC power as the voltage instruction value.

17. A station building auxiliary power unit comprising a processing circuitry:
to determine, on the basis of a first signal that represents information on a power flow direction indicating a direction of flow of electrical power between an AC (alternating current) dist

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Electric Corp

Inventors

• Takeoka Toshiaki
• Matsumoto Shinichi
• Ishikura Shuji

Classifications

• H02J3/06

  Controlling the transfer of power between connected networks; Controlling load sharing between connected networks · CPC title

• Y04S20/222

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title

• Y02B70/3225

  Demand response systems, e.g. load shedding, peak shaving · CPC title

• 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 · CPC title

• B60L7/14

  for vehicles propelled by AC motors · CPC title