Recent developments in electrical systems, such as distributed generation, renewable energy adoption or microgrid implementation, have allowed providers to build more efficient systems that can integrate different renewable energy sources into the same power networks. However, a new series of issues related to the quality of the offered services have started to arise, like perturbations or alterations that could cause operative problems and equipment malfunctioning. To solve these, researchers from the University of Huelva (UHU) have developed the following systems based on smartgrid operation:
- A measurement system to identify the harmonic and/or imbalance sources in a microgrid.
- A control system to optimize the electrical consumption of a microgrid quantitatively and qualitatively, useful for a common flat in a residential building, and able to participate in the secondary power reserve.
Both inventions are oriented to be used by energy providers or network administrators to optimize their current and future electrical systems.
Wave quality measurement network
Technology description
The invention describes a monitoring system equipped with smart sensors to measure voltages and intensities on each node of a microgrid. The device sends the data to a central server equipped with several modules to process the signals with an algorithm system for providing the values supplied by commercial analyzers and for identifying the nodes responsible for the distortion and imbalance present in the microgrid.
The system can be installed in buildings, industrial microgrids, or any electrical system based on nodes.
Benefits
- The system is suited to monitor the entire microgrid, measuring issues that affect the entire structure.
- The device is designed to perform a power quality analysis that shows data related to the source of the issues instead of just providing mere value analysis.
- Commercial sensors and elements commonly available in the market are used for this device’s development.
Microgrid control
Technology description
This development allows to quantitatively and qualitatively and optimize the energy consumption or the associated cost of electrical microgrids. It is applicable to simple microgrid with only loads or to complex microgrids with generation and storing systems, as well as loads. In all the cases, the microgrids will contribute to the power system control (power/frequency).
Benefits
- The invention can be applied in different sectors. While other devices are only suited for households, this system is also intended for industrial facilities.
- The control system proposed is applicable to microgrids with configurable loads, renewable installations, energy storage systems or any combination of them.
- The system also optimizes the operation of the microgrid if it works off-grid.
The represented institution is looking for a collaboration that leads to commercial exploitation of the presented invention.
Institution: Universidad de Huelva (UHU)
TRL: 3-4
Protection status: Patent Application
Contact: Pablo Lago / pablo@viromii.com
