Power supply system, controller of power supply system, method of operating power supply system, and method of controlling power supply system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9246345-B2
Application number	US-201113695753-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2011
Priority date	Jul 28, 2010
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

A power supply system of the present invention includes: a power generation system ( 101 ); a power storage unit ( 107 ) configured to supply electric power to the power generation system ( 101 ) and an external electric power load ( 105 ); and a controller ( 110 ) configured to, in a case where it is predicted that at least one of the sum of activation electric power of the power generation system ( 101 ) and power consumption of the external electric power load ( 105 ) when activating the power generation system ( 101 ) and the sum of stop electric power of the power generation system ( 101 ) and the power consumption of the external electric power load ( 105 ) when stopping the power generation of the power generation system ( 101 ) exceeds the upper limit electric power receivable from an electric power system ( 104 ), supply the electric power of the power storage unit ( 107 ) to at least one of the power generation system ( 101 ) and the external electric power load ( 105 ) such that the electric power amount supplied from the electric power system ( 104 ) does not exceed the upper limit electric power.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a power supply system by executing a control operation, the control operation comprising steps of:
predicting whether or not a sum of activation electric power to activate a power generation system and power consumption of an external electric power load exceeds upper limit electric power receivable from an outside electric power system when activating the power generation system, the upper limit electric power being electric power receivable from the outside electric power system when the outside electric power system is connected to the power supply system; and
when it is predicted that the sum exceeds the upper limit electric power, supplying electric power of a power storage unit, while electric power of the outside electric power system is supplied to at least one of the power generation system and the external electric power load, to at least one of the power generation system and the external electric power load such that the electric power supplied from the electric power system does not exceed the upper limit electric power.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the control operation, whether to permit or deny activation of the power generation system is determined based on a power storage amount of the power storage unit.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control operation includes a step of switching, based on a power storage amount of the power storage unit, an activation mode of the power generation system between a first activation mode which requires first activation electric power and a second activation mode which requires second activation electric power lower than the first activation electric power.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the electric power system is caused to charge the power storage unit in the second activation mode.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein an activation mode of the power generation system is switched to the first activation mode when the power storage amount of the power storage unit increases by the charging.

6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the activation mode of the power generation system is switched to the first activation mode when the power consumption of the external electric power load decreases.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in the control operation, whether to permit or deny activation of the power generation system is determined based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control operation includes a step of determining, based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit, whether to permit or deny continuation of an activation process of the power generation system.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control operation includes a step of switching, based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit, an activation mode of the power generation system between a first activation mode which requires first activation electric power and a second activation mode which requires second activation electric power lower than the first activation electric power.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control operation includes a step of causing the electric power system to charge the power storage unit before a scheduled activation time of the power generation system.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein when executing the control operation, the electric power of the power storage unit is supplied to the external electric power load such that the electric power supplied from the electric power system does not exceed the upper limit electric power.

12. A method of controlling a power supply system by executing a control operation, the control operation comprising steps of:
predicting whether or not a sum of stop electric power to stop a power generation system and power consumption of an external electric power load exceeds an upper limit electric power receivable from an outside electric power system when stopping power generation of the power generation system, the upper limit electric power being electric power receivable from the outside electric power system when the outside electric power system is connected to the power supply system; and
when it is predicted that the sum exceeds the upper limit electric power, supplying electric power of a power storage unit, while electric power of the outside electric power system is supplied to at least one of the power generation system and the external electric power load, to at least one of the power generation system and the external electric power load such that the electric power supplied from the electric power system does not exceed the upper limit electric power.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein in the control operation, whether to permit or deny power generation stop of the power generation system is determined based on a power storage amount of the power storage unit.

14. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the control operation includes a step of switching, based on a power storage amount of the power storage unit, a stop mode of the power generation system between a first stop mode which requires first stop electric power and a second stop mode which requires second stop electric power lower than the first stop electric power.

15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the electric power system is caused to charge the power storage unit in the second stop mode.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the stop mode of the power generation system is switched to the first stop mode when the power storage amount of the power storage unit increases by the charging.

17. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the stop mode of the power generation system is switched to the first stop mode when the power consumption of the external electric power load decreases.

18. The method according to claim 12 , wherein in the control operation, whether to permit or deny power generation stop of the power generation system is determined based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit.

19. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the control operation includes a step of determining, based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit, whether to permit or deny continuation of a processing operation executed after power generation stop of the power generation system.

20. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the control operation includes a step of switching, based on the electric power which is able to be supplied from the power storage unit, a stop mode of the power generation system between a first stop mode which requires first stop electric power and a second stop mode which requires second stop electric power lower than the first stop electric power.

21. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the control operation includes a step of causing at least one of the electric power system and the power generation system to charge the power storage unit before a scheduled stop time of the power generation of the power generation system.

22. The method according to claim 12 , wherein when executing the control operation, the electric power of the power storage unit is supplied to the external electric power load such that the electric power supplied from the electric power system does not exce

Assignees

• Ukai Kunihiro
• Kaneko Hiroaki
• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ukai Kunihiro
• Kaneko Hiroaki

Classifications

• Y10T307/527

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H02J3/32 Primary

  using batteries or super capacitors with converting means · CPC title

• H02J7/0063 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J3/46

  Controlling the sharing of generated power between the generators, sources or networks · CPC title