Method and system for power management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9496754-B2
Application number	US-201213414258-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2012
Priority date	Sep 7, 2009
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

A method and a system for power management for a plant electrical network are provided. The power management system over a plant-wide communication network includes both concepts of hierarchical level and distributed level power management using multiple controllers. At least one controller in the power management system is configured for power management in a first local process area within the plant electrical network and is capable to communicate with at least a second controller configured for power management in a second local process area within the plant electrical network over the communication network.

First claim

We claim:

1. A power management system for a plant electrical network including power distribution equipment, power actuators, local generators and loads of an industrial plant, the system comprising:
a plant-wide communication network; and
a plurality of controllers for power management in the plant electrical network,
wherein the plurality of controllers are communicatively interconnected via the plant-wide communication network,
wherein a first controller from the plurality of controllers is configured for power management in a first local process area within the plant electrical network by controlling power distribution equipment in the first local process area,
wherein at least a second controller from the plurality of controllers is configured for power management in a second local process area within the plant electrical network by controlling power distribution equipment in the second local process area,
wherein at least one controller of the first controller and the second controller is configured to operate according to an operation mode determined based on at least one of (i) collected electrical connectivity status between the first local process area and the second local process area in the plant electrical network, and (ii) communication connectivity status information between the first controller and the second controller on the plant wide communication network,
wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform power balance computations for the respective local process area in accordance with the operation mode of the at least one controller,
wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform the power management in the respective local process area based on the results of the power balance computations by providing commands for load shedding of the power distribution equipment in the respective local process area to maintain a power balance condition in the respective local process area, and
wherein the at least one controller is configured to perform the power management based on priority definitions associated with loads in the respective local process area.

2. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller from the plurality of controllers is configured as a central controller for the plant electrical network, communicatively connected to any controllers from the plurality of controllers that are configured for power management in respective local process areas within the plant electrical network.

3. The power management system of claim 2 , wherein the central controller is configured to perform power management based on priorities assigned with local process areas.

4. The power management system of claim 2 , wherein the central controller is configured to communicate one or more power management commands to the second controller from the plurality of controllers.

5. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured as a local controller in a local process area for a power management function in the respective local process area, and is configured to operate in an operation mode which is determined to be one of a remote control mode, a partial autonomous mode, and a complete autonomous operation mode.

6. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured for a local process area that includes an electrical network existing as an islanded or as an isolated network.

7. The power management system of claim 1 wherein the power management comprises:
one or more power management functionalities for load shedding including at least one of slow load shedding, manual load shedding, power balance computations, issuance of priorities, and consolidating load power consumption per priority to carry out a power management function.

8. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured to perform power management functionalities based on priority communication in the plant-wide communication network.

9. The power management system of claim 1 , comprising:
at least one process visualizing interface associated with the first and/or second controller for providing priority configuration and manual functions for power management in the plant electrical network.

10. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller from the plurality of controllers and the second controller are distributed in two different hierarchical levels in the plant electrical network.

11. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein the first controller from the plurality of controllers and the second controller are distributed in the same hierarchical level in the plant electrical network.

12. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein a scope of a local process area for at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is defined in or inferred from device configuration files of the at least one controller.

13. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein a scope of a local process area for at least one controller from the plurality of controllers dynamically changes based on contingency conditions in the plant electrical network.

14. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein local process areas of at least two controllers from the plurality of controllers are disjoint to each other.

15. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein the first local process area controlled by the first controller includes at least one other local process area controlled by a controller from the plurality of controllers in the plant electrical network.

16. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured to perform slow load shedding for at least one load in the respective local process area of the at least one controller.

17. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured to perform manual load shedding for at least one load in the respective local process area of the at least one controller.

18. The power management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one controller from the plurality of controllers is configured to perform at least one power management function in the respective local process area of the at least one controller based on a communication received in the plant-wide communication network.

19. A method for power management in a plant electrical network including power distribution equipment, power actuators, local generators and loads of an industrial plant, using at least two controllers communicatively interconnected via a plant-wide communication network, each of the at least two controllers being respectively configured for power management in a corresponding local process area within the plant electrical network, the method comprising:
(a) deciding an operation mode for at least one controller from the at least two controllers as (a) a remote control mode or (b) a complete autonomous mode or (c) a partial autonomous mode for power management in the corresponding local process area of the at least one controller, wherein the operation mode is decided based on at least one of (i) collected electrical connectivity status between the corresponding local process areas of the at least two controllers in the plant electrical network, and (ii) communication connectivity status information between the at least two controllers

Assignees

• Kulathu Ganesh
• Gupta Arinjai
• Papaevangelou Diogenis
• Otto Van Der Wal Willem
• Wimmer Wolfgang
• Nykvist Martin
• Abb Schweiz Ag

Inventors

• Kulathu Ganesh
• Gupta Arinjai
• Papaevangelou Diogenis
• Otto Van Der Wal Willem
• Wimmer Wolfgang
• Nykvist Martin

Classifications

• H02J13/333

  the equipment forming part of substations · CPC title

• H02J13/1337 Primary

  involving the use of Internet protocols · CPC title

• H02J2105/52

  for limitation of the power consumption in the networks or in one section of the networks, e.g. load shedding or peak shaving · CPC title

• H02J13/0079 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H02J3/14

  by switching loads on to, or off from, the networks, e.g. progressively balanced loading · CPC title