Charging and discharging of DC microgrid energy storage

1. A power distribution system for a building comprising:

a direct-current (DC) bus;

at least one power consuming device connected to the DC bus and configured to receive DC power from the DC bus;

a DC power supply connected to the DC bus, the DC power supply being configured to provide DC power to the DC bus by converting alternating-current (AC) power from an electrical grid;

a plurality of energy storage devices connected to the DC bus via a plurality of switching devices, each energy storage device in the plurality of energy storage devices having minimal degradation when operated with a state of charge between an respective upper threshold and a respective lower threshold, each switching device in the plurality of switching devices being configured to charge a respective one energy storage device in the plurality of energy storage devices by drawing DC power from the DC bus and to provide power to the DC bus by discharging the respective energy storage device; and

a control system operatively connected to the plurality of switching devices and configured to:

generate a schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices, the schedule including a plurality of time periods during which the plurality of energy storage devices are to be one of charged and discharged;

in response to the generated schedule indicating that the plurality of energy storage devices are to be discharged, operating the plurality of switching devices to discharge energy storage devices in the plurality of energy storage devices that have states of charge greater than their respective upper thresholds before discharging energy storage devices in the plurality of energy storage devices that have states of charge less than their respective upper thresholds; and

in response to the generated schedule indicating that the plurality of energy storage devices are to be charged, operating the plurality of switching devices to charge energy storage devices in the plurality of energy storage devices that have states of charge less than their respective lower thresholds before charging energy storage devices in the plurality of energy storage devices that have states of charge greater than their respective lower thresholds.

2. The power distribution system of claim 1 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on (i) a power demand level of the at least one power consuming device, and (ii) a state of charge of the plurality energy storage devices.

3. The power distribution system of claim 1 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on (i) a power demand level of the electrical grid, and (ii) a state of charge of the plurality energy storage devices.

4. The power distribution system of claim 1 , wherein:

the control system is operatively connected to the DC power supply; and

the control system is further configured to:

determine an amount of power to be provided from the electrical grid to the DC bus with based on (i) a power demand level of the at least one power consuming device, and (ii) one of an amount of power being provided by the plurality energy storage devices and an amount of power being drawn by the plurality energy storage devices; and

operate the DC power supply to adjust an amount of power provided from the electrical grid to the DC bus based on the determined amount of power to be provided from the electrical grid to the DC bus.

5. The power distribution system of claim 1 , wherein:

the at least one power consuming device includes at least one emergency load, the at least one emergency load being a power consuming device that is to be operated under emergency conditions; and

the control system is configured to:

operate the plurality of switching device to maintain at least a minimum state of charge for the plurality energy storage devices, the minimum state of charge corresponding to a state of charge that enables the plurality energy storage devices to provide power to the at least one emergency load for at least a predetermined time period; and

in response to an outage of the electrical grid, operate the plurality of switching device to discharge at least one of the plurality energy storage devices.

6. The power distribution system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one emergency load includes an emergency lighting system.

7. The power distribution systems of claim 5 , wherein the predetermined time period is 90 minutes.

8. The power distribution system of claim 1 , the control system being further configured to:

operate the plurality switching devices to at least one of charge and discharge a first energy storage device of the plurality of energy storage devices;

measure at least one of a rate of charge and a rate of discharge of the first energy storage device of the plurality of energy storage devices; and

evaluate a state of health of the first energy storage device of the plurality of energy storage devices based on to the measured at least one of rate of charge and rate of discharge.

9. The power distribution system of claim 1 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on a predicted future power demand level of the at least one power consuming device.

10. The power distribution system of claim 1 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on a predicted future power demand level of the electrical grid.

11. The power distribution system of claim 1 , further comprising:

an energy source configured to generate DC power, the energy source being operatively connected to the DC bus to provide the generated DC power to the DC bus.

12. The power distribution system of claim 11 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on an amount of DC power generated by the energy source.

13. The power distribution system of claim 11 , wherein the energy source is a generator.

14. The power distribution system of claim 11 , wherein the energy source is a photo-voltaic array.

15. The power distribution system of claim 14 , the control system being further configured to:

generate the schedule for charging and discharging the plurality energy storage devices based on a predicted future amount of DC power generated by the photo-voltaic array.

16. The power distribution system of claim 15 , the control system being further configured to:

predict the future amount of DC power generated by the photo-voltaic array based on weather forecast information.

17. The power distribution system of claim 14 , the control system being further configured to:

in response to an outage of the electrical grid, operate the plurality switching devices to charge at least one of the plurality energy storage devices if an amount of DC power generated by the photo-voltaic array exceeds a first threshold.