Software abstraction layer for energy generation and storage systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9831677-B2
Application number	US-201213553653-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 19, 2012
Priority date	Jul 19, 2012
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A software abstraction layer for energy generation and/or storage systems. In one embodiment, a method is provided that can comprise receiving, by a site gateway, one or more standardized operating parameters for a physical component of an energy storage system, and translating, by the site gateway, the one or more standardized operating parameters into one or more vendor specific parameters, where the one or more vendor specific parameters are specific to a vendor-defined communication protocol supported by the physical component. The physical component can then be controlled using the one or more vendor specific parameters.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
grouping, by a site gateway, first and second discrete physical components of an energy storage system into a logical device;
providing, by the site gateway to a remote server, an interface for controlling the logical device;
receiving, by the site gateway from the remote server, one or more standardized operating parameters for the logical device via the interface;
translating, by the site gateway, the one or more standardized operating parameters into a first set of parameters that are compatible with the first physical component and a second set of parameters that are compatible with the second physical component; and
transmitting, by the site gateway, the first set of parameters to the first physical component and the second set of parameters to the second physical component,
wherein the first physical component is a battery inverter/charger,
wherein the second physical component is a battery device, and
wherein the logical device is a logical storage appliance.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more standardized operating parameters are derived from a control command received by the site gateway from the remote server.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the control command comprises a schedule for charging and discharging a battery device coupled with the battery inverter/charger.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second physical components are heterogeneous components of the energy storage system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the interface is configured to expose operating parameters of the logical storage appliance that are derived from operating parameters of the battery inverter/charger and the battery device, the operating parameters of the logical storage appliance including temperature, state of charge, state of health, energy capacity, peak power output, and peak power input.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the interface is configured to hide operating parameters of the battery inverter/charger and the battery device that are not needed for control of the logical storage appliance, the operating parameters of the battery inverter/charger and the battery device including DC voltage, minimum and maximum voltage, and maximum current.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
grouping, by the site gateway, the logical device and one or more other logical devices into an aggregated logical device; and
providing, by the site gateway, an interface to the aggregated logical device for controlling the logical devices.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the logical devices in the aggregated logical device each correspond to a logical storage appliance comprising a battery inverter/charger and a battery device, the logical storage appliance having a peak power output value defining a maximum amount of power it can provide.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:
receiving, by the site gateway, a request for power from the aggregated logical device; and
distributing, by the site gateway, the request among the logical devices in the aggregated logical device based on their respective peak power output values.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising:
determining, by the site gateway, when a logical device in the aggregated logical device has failed; and
dynamically redistributing the request among the remaining, active logical devices in the aggregated logical device.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:
determining, by the site gateway, a likelihood of failure for each logical device in the aggregated logical device; and
adjusting, by the site gateway, one or more parameters of the aggregated logical device based on the likelihood of failure determined for each logical device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein adjusting one or more parameters of the aggregated logical device comprises adjusting published peak power output of the aggregated logical device.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the energy storage system is configured to generate energy via photovoltaic (PV) modules and to store energy in a battery device.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a computer system, the program code comprising:
code that causes the computer system to group first and second discrete physical components of an energy storage system into a logical device;
code that causes the computer system to provide, to a remote server, an interface for controlling the logical device;
code that causes the computer system to receive, from the remote server, one or more standardized operating parameters for the logical device via the interface;
code that causes the computer system to translate the one or more standardized operating parameters into a first set of parameters that are compatible with the first physical component and a second set of parameters that are compatible with the second physical component; and
code that causes the computer system to transmit the first set of parameters to the first physical component and the second set of parameters to the second physical component,
wherein the first physical component is a battery inverter/charger,
wherein the second physical component is a battery device, and
wherein the logical device is a logical storage appliance.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
receiving, by the site gateway from the remote server, one or more schedules for the logical device via the interface;
translating, by the site gateway, the one or more schedules into a third set of parameters that are compatible with the first physical component and a fourth set of parameters that is suitable for the second physical component; and
transmitting, by the site gateway, the third set of parameters to the first physical component and the fourth set of parameters to the second physical component,
wherein the third or fourth set of parameters include at least one of a grid voltage, or grid frequency.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the one or more schedules are associated with a priority, and wherein a regulation of a charge or discharge of the first or second physical component is based, in part, on the associated priority of the one or more schedules.

17. A computer system comprising:
a processor configured to:
group first and second discrete physical components of an energy storage system into a logical device;
provide, to a remote server, an interface for controlling the logical device;
receive, from the remote server, one or more standardized operating parameters the logical device via the interface;
translate the one or more standardized operating parameters into a first set of parameters that are compatible with the first physical component and a second set of parameters that are compatible with the second physical component; and

transmit the first set of parameters to the first physical component and the second set of parameters to the second physical component,
wherein the first physical component is a battery inverter/charger,
wherein the second physical component is a battery device, and
wherein the logical device is a logical storage appliance.

18. The computer system of claim 17 wherein the computer system is a site gateway installed at a site of the energy storage system.

Assignees

• Carlson Eric Daniel
• Varadarajan Karthikeyan
• Solarcity Corp

Inventors

• Carlson Eric Daniel
• Varadarajan Karthikeyan

Classifications

• Y02P90/50

  Energy storage in industry with an added climate change mitigation effect · CPC title

• Y02B10/30

  Wind power · CPC title

• H02J3/381

  Dispersed generators · CPC title

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J2101/22

  Solar energy · CPC title