Systems and methods for facilitating medium voltage microgrid operation to manage critical loads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12062916-B2
Application number	US-202318509069-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2023
Priority date	Nov 15, 2022
Publication date	Aug 13, 2024
Grant date	Aug 13, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods for facilitating a medium voltage microgrid operation to manage critical loads are disclosed. The system includes at least two fuel cell systems that operate in one of at least two operating modes including a grid-forming mode and a grid-following mode, based on an operation of at least two utility feeders of a grid. The system includes a controller that receives values corresponding to electrical parameter(s) from at least two utility circuit breakers and a load circuit breaker, detects availability status of the utility circuit breakers to supply power to corresponding at least two portions of the critical load, and a connection status of the load circuit breaker, based on the values, and facilitates the at least two fuel cell systems to operate in one of the at least two operating modes. Further, the system is scalable, redundant, and reliable, and reliability and redundancy are customizable.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
at least two fuel cell systems comprising a first fuel cell system and a second fuel cell system, each of the at least two fuel cell systems configured to operate in one of at least two operating modes based on an operation of each of at least two utility feeders of a grid connected to the corresponding at least two fuel cell systems, the at least two operating modes comprising a grid-forming mode and a grid-following mode,
wherein each of the at least two utility feeders is configured to supply power to a corresponding portion of at least two portions of a critical load through at least two utility circuit breakers, the at least two utility feeders comprising a first utility feeder and a second utility feeder, the at least two portions of the critical load comprising a first portion and a second portion,
wherein the at least two portions of the critical load are connected through a load circuit breaker configured to control a flow of power through the at least two portions of the critical load; and

a controller electronically coupled to each of the at least two fuel cell systems, the controller configured to:
receive a plurality of values corresponding to one or more electrical parameters from the at least two utility circuit breakers and the load circuit breaker;
detect at least one of:
an availability status of each of the first utility feeder and the second utility feeder to supply power to the first portion and the second portion of the critical load respectively, based at least on the plurality of values; and
a connection status associated with the load circuit breaker positioned between the first portion and the second portion of the critical load, based at least on the plurality of values; and

facilitate each of the first fuel cell system and the second fuel cell system to operate in one of the at least two operating modes in response to at least one of the availability status of each of the first utility feeder and the second utility feeder, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least two fuel cell systems are configured to black start when transitioning from the grid-following mode to the grid-forming mode, wherein the black start is energized in a predefined sequence, the predefined sequence comprising a grid-forming phase and a load walk-in phase.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system and the second fuel cell system to operate in the grid-following mode, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder and the second utility feeder is ‘available to supply power’.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system and the second fuel cell system to operate in the grid-forming mode independently, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder and the second utility feeder is ‘unavailable to supply power’, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker is ‘disconnected’.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system and the second fuel system to operate in the grid-following mode, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder is ‘unavailable to supply’, the availability status of the second utility feeder is ‘available to supply power’, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker is ‘connected’.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system to operate in the grid-forming mode, and the second fuel system in the grid-following mode, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder is ‘unavailable to supply’, the availability status of the second utility feeder is ‘available to supply power’, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker is ‘disconnected’.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system and the second fuel system to operate in the grid-following mode, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder is ‘available to supply’, the availability status of the second utility feeder is ‘unavailable to supply power’, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker is ‘connected’.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to facilitate the first fuel cell system to operate in the grid-following mode, and the second fuel system in the grid-forming mode, upon detecting that the availability status of the first utility feeder is ‘available to supply’, the availability status of the second utility feeder is ‘unavailable to supply power’, and the connection status associated with the load circuit breaker is ‘disconnected’.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive a plurality of operating details corresponding to the critical load and a plurality of fuel cell-related details via a user device associated with a user;
generate a control signal based, at least in part, on a comparison of the plurality of operating details with the plurality of fuel cell-related details, the control signal comprising information instructing the load circuit breaker to open or close based on the comparison; and
facilitate the critical load to partition into the at least two portions by transmitting the control signal to the load circuit breaker when the control signal comprises information instructing the load circuit breaker to open.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the plurality of operating details corresponding to the critical load comprises at least one of a type, operating power limits, operating voltage limits, operating current limits, and operating frequency limits.

11. The system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the plurality of fuel cell-related details comprises at least one of a storage capacity of each fuel cell system, a count of one or more fuel cell systems, a count of one or more inverters, and one or more electrical parameters corresponding to the one or more fuel cell systems.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
receive one or more operational parameters associated with the critical load as the critical load operates when each of the at least two fuel cell systems operates in one of the at least two operating modes;
identify one or more risks associated with the operation of the critical load based at least on the one or more operational parameters; and
generate one or more recommendations for optimizing the operation of the at least two fuel cell systems, based at least on historical data, the one or more recommendations corresponding to one or more countermeasures for addressing the one or more risks associated with the operation of the critical load.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
control an operation of an electrical interlocking device based, at least in part, on the availability status of each of the at least two utility feeders, wherein the electrical interlocking device is positioned between the at least fuel cell systems, wherein the at least fuel cell systems are configured to operate as a connected unit based, at least in part, on an operating status of the electrical interlocking device controlled by the control

Assignees

• Bloom Energy Corp

Inventors

• Majd Afshin
• Pmsvvsv Prasad
• Cottuli Carlton
• Pearson Chad
• Baynes Daniel

Classifications

• H02J2101/30

  Fuel cells · CPC title

• H01M8/04302

  applied during start-up · CPC title

• H01M2250/10

  Fuel cells in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title

• H02J3/0075

  for providing alternative feeding paths between load and source according to economic or energy efficiency considerations, e.g. economic dispatch · CPC title

• H01M8/04694

  characterised by variables to be controlled · CPC title