Electric accumulators having self regulated battery with integrated bi-directional power management and protection

1. A power management system comprising:

a generative power source;

a main bus between the generative power source and electrical loads;

an energy accumulator including a plurality of energy storage blocks connected to an accumulator bus; and

a main bidirectional power converter interposed between the main bus and the energy accumulator,

wherein each of the energy storage blocks includes:

an energy storage unit;

a control unit including a dedicated DC/DC bidirectional power converter, a current sensor, and a switch controller;

a switch interposed between the DC/DC bidirectional converter and the energy storage unit; and

an inductor interposed between the DC/DC bidirectional converter and the accumulator bus,

wherein the current sensor is connected across the inductor and connected to the switch controller such that the switch controller opens the switch in the event of current-related overcharge or over-discharge of the energy storage unit.

2. The power management system of claim 1 wherein the storage units store electrical energy at a voltage different from a voltage at which the accumulator supplies voltage to the main bidirectional power converter.

3. The power management system of claim 1 further comprising:

a DC bus;

wherein the main bidirectional power converter is connected to the DC bus; and

wherein the energy accumulator is connected to the DC bus.

4. The power management system of claim 3 , wherein:

the energy storage blocks are connected in parallel to the accumulator bus; and

the accumulator bus is connected to the DC bus.

5. The power management system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the storage units comprises supercapacitors.

6. An accumulator for electrical energy comprising:

an accumulator bus;

a plurality of energy storage blocks connected in parallel to the accumulator bus, each energy storage block including:

an energy storage unit;

a control unit including a DC/DC bidirectional converter, a current sensor, and a switch controller;

a switch interposed between the DC/DC bidirectional converter and the energy storage unit; and

an inductor interposed between the DC/DC bidirectional converter and the accumulator bus,

wherein the current sensor is connected across the inductor and connected to the switch controller such that the switch controller opens the switch in the event of current-related overcharge or over-discharge of the energy storage unit.

7. The accumulator of claim 6 ,

wherein the control unit includes a voltage sensor interposed between the energy storage unit and the switch controller such that the switch controller can open the switch in the event of voltage-related overcharge or over-discharge of the energy storage unit.

8. The accumulator of claim 6 wherein the control unit of each energy storage block includes a voltage sensor interposed between the energy storage unit and the switch controller such that the switch controller opens the switch in the event of voltage-related overcharge or over-discharge of the energy storage unit.

9. The accumulator of claim 6 including a load controller connected to one or more of the switch controllers such that the load controller allocates a desired portion of a load demand to desired ones of the energy storage blocks.

10. The accumulator of claim 9 :

wherein the switch controllers are pulse width modulation (PWM) controllers;

wherein the switches are solid state switches; and

wherein allocation of demand is established by establishing duty cycles of the switches.

11. A method for operating a power management system comprising:

generating electrical power;

supplying the generated power to a energy accumulator;

allocating storage portions of the supplied power to one or more energy storage blocks of the accumulator;

storing the allocated storage portions of supplied power in the energy storage blocks as stored power;

allocating discharging portions of the stored power among one or more of the energy storage blocks; discharging the allocated discharging portions of the stored power to electrical loads;

sensing current passing through dedicated inductors of energy storage units of the energy storage blocks; and

disconnecting one or more of the energy storage units from their respective energy storage blocks to deactivate the energy storage blocks whenever overcharge or over-discharging produces excessive current through the inductor.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of determining operability of one or more of the energy storage blocks prior to storing a portion of the generated power to the energy storage block.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of determining operability of one or more of the energy storage blocks prior to discharging a portion of the stored power from the energy storage block.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

determining operability of one or more of the energy storage blocks prior to storing a portion of the generated power to the energy storage block; and

determining operability of one or more of the energy storage blocks prior to discharging a portion of the stored power from the energy storage block.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

sensing voltage of outputs of energy storage units of the energy storage blocks;

disconnecting any one or more of the energy storage units from their respective energy storage blocks whenever overcharge or over-discharging produces excessive output voltage.

16. The method of claim 11 , including allocating power demand of the energy accumulator to those energy storage blocks that are not deactivated.