Power system integrated with dual power electrical load

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11128147-B2
Application number	US-201815945194-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2018
Priority date	Apr 4, 2018
Publication date	Sep 21, 2021
Grant date	Sep 21, 2021

Abstract

A system and method of provided power to one or more electrical loads of an electrical load module is provided. The electrical load module includes an alternating current (AC) power input port, a direct current (DC) power input port, a power distribution device, a first power supply device, a second power supply device, and a first electrical load component. The power distribution device is electrically coupled to the AC power input port via a first connector and the DC power input port via a second connection. The first electrical load component is coupled to the first power supply device and the second power supply device. The first power supply device and the second power supply device are configured to provide power to the first electrical load component and a feed from an alternative power source system is directly connected to the DC power input port of the electrical load module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical power system comprising:
a fuel cell power generating system comprising:
fuel cells configured to generate direct current (DC); and
a direct current/alternating current (DC/AC) inverter configured to convert a portion of the generated DC power into AC power; and

an electrical load module comprising:
an alternating current (AC) power input port;
a direct current (DC) power input port configured to receive the DC power from the fuel cell power generating system;
a power distribution device electrically coupled to the AC power input port via a first connector and the DC power input port via a second connector, the power distribution device having an AC power output and a DC power output;
a first power supply device configured to receive AC power from the AC power output of the power distribution device;
a second power supply device configured to receive DC power from the DC power output of the power distribution device; and
a first electrical load component electrically coupled to the first power supply device and the second power supply device,

wherein the first power supply device and the second power supply device are configured to provide power to the first electrical load component, and
wherein a DC power feed from the fuel cell power generating system is directly connected to the DC power input port of the electrical load module without passing through an inverter or transformer, such that DC power generated by the fuel cell system is provided to the first electrical load component without being inverted or transformed,
wherein an AC power feed from the fuel cell power generating system is connected to the AC power input port of the electrical load module,
wherein the electrical load module is an information technology (IT) pod,
wherein the first electrical load component is a server of the IT pod,
wherein the IT pod further comprises:
a motor;
a fan coupled to the motor;
a switch electrically coupled with the motor, the first connector, and the second connector; and
an inverter electrically coupled between the second connector and the switch,

wherein the motor is powered using AC power provided at the AC power input port or DC power provided at the DC power input port,
wherein the motor is electrically coupled with the first connector and the second connector;
wherein the switch is configured to selectively couple the motor with the AC power provided at the AC power input port via the first connector and the DC power provided at the DC power input port via the second connector,
wherein the switch comprises a first input and a second input, and
wherein the first input of the switch is electrically coupled with the inverter and the second input of the switch is electrically coupled with the first connector.

2. The electrical load module of claim 1 , wherein the feed from the fuel cell power generating system includes a positive bus, a negative bus, and a neutral bus.

3. The electrical load module of claim 2 , further comprising:
a third power supply device coupled to the DC power output of the power distribution device; and
a third electrical load component coupled to the first power supply device and the third power supply device,
wherein the second power supply device receives power provided over the positive bus, and
wherein the third power supply device receives power provided over the negative bus.

4. The electrical load module of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sectionalizer breaker of the power distribution device, the sectionalizer breaker being coupled in parallel to the first power supply device and the second power supply device,
wherein the sectionalizer breaker is configured to operate in a normal operation mode, a maintenance mode, a load balancing mode, or a load prioritization mode.

Assignees

• Bloom Energy Corp

Inventors

• Ballantine Arne
• Gurunathan Ranganathan
• Gopinath Rajesh
• Cottuli Carl

Classifications

• H02J2101/30

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H02J2101/28

  Wind energy · CPC title

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J2101/20

  Dispersed power generation using renewable energy sources · CPC title

• H02J2105/12

  supplying households or buildings · CPC title