US 12,218,510 B2
Load-sharing with interconnected power generation
Carolina Ledesma, Querétaro (MX); Rene Graziano Torres, Querétaro (MX); Cesar Ulises Ortiz Gutierrez, Querétaro (MX); and Mario Alfonso Trejo Chavez, Querétaro (MX)
Assigned to GE INFRASTRUCTURE TECHNOLOGY LLC, Greenville, SC (US)
Filed by General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US)
Filed on Sep. 2, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/010,310.
Prior Publication US 2022/0069587 A1, Mar. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H02J 3/46 (2006.01); F01D 15/10 (2006.01); H02J 3/38 (2006.01)
CPC H02J 3/466 (2020.01) [F01D 15/10 (2013.01); H02J 3/381 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a plurality of generators each connected in parallel to a power generator grid by a respective switch and each having a respective controller, each of the respective controllers connected to one another in a decentralized manner over an interconnect bus, each controller of the respective controllers having a load sharing module, wherein the method comprises:
monitoring shared operational data from all other generators of the plurality of generators with the load sharing module of each respective controller;
analyzing the shared operational data with the load sharing module of each respective controller;
selecting a control mode and an output set point for each of the plurality of generators with the respective controller based on the monitoring and the analyzing of the respective controller, the control mode being selected as one of a droop mode and an isochronous mode that is determined by the respective controller to contribute to stable operation of an entire grid system including the power generator grid, a local grid and a main utility grid;
changing the control mode of a first generator of the plurality of generators from the isochronous mode to the droop mode with the respective controller in response to detecting a switch between the local grid and main utility grid has closed, the plurality of generators further including a second generator, third generator and fourth generator;
instructing the fourth generator to increase power output with the respective controller in response to the third generator going offline;
receiving an indication with the respective controller of the first generator that the power output of the fourth generator is within a threshold of maximum power and will therefore go offline after an amount of time;
determining to increase power output by the first generator and the second generator with the respective controller of the first generator in response to receiving a command that the first generator will also shut down when the fourth generator goes offline after the amount of time due to total capacity of the first generator and the second generator being exceeded by a load on the local grid;
increasing power output of the first generator and the second generator; and
decreasing the power output of the fourth generator with the respective controller so that the fourth generator is no longer within the threshold of maximum power such that the fourth generator does not go offline after the amount of time and the first generator does not go offline.