KR-20260066467-A - Power management device and method for supporting various energy harvesting

Abstract

A power management device and method supporting various types of energy harvesting are disclosed. The power management device includes an interface unit comprising a plurality of input ports each connected to a plurality of energy harvesting devices performing different types of energy harvesting, and a control unit that converts generated energy delivered from a connected energy harvesting device into electrical energy usable by a load when at least one energy harvesting device is connected to a plurality of input ports.

Inventors

• 장인철
• 배석모
• 봉이선
• 김범수
• 전성열

Assignees

• 주식회사 위지트에너지

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20241104

Claims (9)

1. An interface unit comprising a plurality of input ports each connected to a plurality of energy harvesting devices performing different types of energy harvesting; and A control unit that converts the generated energy delivered from the connected energy harvesting device into electrical energy usable by a load when at least one energy harvesting device is connected to the plurality of input ports; A power management device including
2. In Article 1, The above interface unit is, A power management device characterized by further including a first output port connected to an energy storage device that stores surplus energy among the converted electrical energy, and a second output port connected to the load.
3. In Article 1, Each of the above plurality of input ports is, A power management device characterized by having a unique energy harvesting device configured for each port, and a collection module for collecting production energy generated from the configured energy harvesting device, each equipped according to the characteristics of the energy harvesting device.
4. In Article 1, The above energy harvesting is, A power management device characterized by generating production energy related to at least one of solar energy, vibration, heat, RF (Radio Frequency), magnetism, pressure, resonance, and biofuel.
5. In Article 1, The above interface unit is, A plurality of sensors for detecting whether there is a connection with the energy harvesting device for each of the plurality of input ports; and A plurality of relays provided in each wiring connecting the plurality of input ports and the control unit, and controlling the connection state of the wiring; A power management device characterized by including
6. In Paragraph 5, The above control unit is, When at least one energy harvesting device is connected to the plurality of input ports, the corresponding wiring is connected by controlling a relay provided between the connected energy harvesting device and the input port. A power management device characterized by controlling a relay provided between the remaining energy harvesting device to cut off the connection to the remaining wiring.
7. In Paragraph 5, The above control unit is, A power management device characterized by generating monitoring information based on at least one of the following: whether there is a connection with the energy harvesting device, the connection status of the wiring, the amount of energy collected per input port, the amount of electrical energy used, the amount of electrical energy stored, and whether an abnormality occurs, and transmitting the generated monitoring information to a user terminal.
8. In Article 1, The above control unit is, A power management device characterized by connecting a plurality of the above-mentioned energy harvesting devices, and simultaneously receiving produced energy from each of the connected plurality of energy harvesting devices, combining the delivered produced energy into one, and then converting it into electrical energy.
9. A power management method performed by a power management device comprising a plurality of input ports each connected to a plurality of energy harvesting devices that perform different types of energy harvesting, wherein A step of determining whether at least one energy harvesting device is connected to the plurality of input ports; and When at least one energy harvesting device is connected, the step of converting the produced energy delivered from the connected energy harvesting device into electrical energy that can be used by the load; A power management method including

Description

Power management device and method for supporting various energy harvesting The present invention relates to power management technology, and more specifically, to a power management device and method that support various energy harvesting by providing hardware assistance to enable the use of energy harvesting technology suitable for the environment in which the system is built. Energy harvesting technology refers to the technology of converting and storing energy that is routinely present in nature—such as solar power, vibrations, heat, and wind—but is otherwise wasted into electrical energy, and then utilizing it efficiently. In other words, energy harvesting technology is attracting global attention due to issues of energy resource depletion and environmental pollution. Meanwhile, while energy harvesting technology encompasses a diverse range of product families, the device configurations required for each family differ, resulting in a lack of compatibility between the devices used to convert the various collected energies into electrical energy. Consequently, building a system incurs high costs, and once established, it is difficult to switch to a different product family. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining a power management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a power management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a drawing for explaining the structure of a power management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a power management method according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a computing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement them. However, the present invention may be embodied in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. Furthermore, in order to clearly explain the present invention in the drawings, parts unrelated to the explanation have been omitted, and similar parts throughout the specification are denoted by similar reference numerals. In this specification and drawings (hereinafter referred to as the 'this specification'), redundant descriptions of identical components are omitted. Furthermore, when a component is described in this specification as being 'connected' or 'connected' to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly connected to or connected to the other component, or that there may be other components in between. On the other hand, when a component is described in this specification as being 'directly connected' or 'directly connected' to another component, it should be understood that there are no other components in between. Furthermore, the terms used in this specification are used merely to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention. Additionally, in this specification, singular expressions may include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Furthermore, in this specification, terms such as 'comprising' or 'having' are intended merely to indicate the existence of the features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and should be understood as not excluding in advance the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof. Additionally, in this specification, the term "and/or" includes a combination of the plurality of described items or any of the plurality of described items. In this specification, "A or B" may include "A," "B," or "both A and B." In addition, detailed descriptions of known functions and configurations that may obscure the essence of the invention will be omitted in this specification. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram for explaining a power management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the power management system (700) provides hardware assistance to enable the use of an energy harvesting technology suitable for the environment in which the system is built, among various types of energy harvesting technologies. The power management system (700) includes a power management device (100), at least one energy harvesting device (200), an energy storage device (300), a meter (400), a load (500), and a user terminal (600). The power management device (100) converts the energy produced by energy harvesting into electrical energy that can be used by the load (500). At this time, the power management device (100) is implemented as integrated hardware to convert the energy produced by various types of energy harvesting into electrical energy. Here, integrated hardware means that the specificatio