Integrated electrical management system and architecture
An integrated electrical management system includes an electrical panel, at least one busbar mounted to the electrical panel, at least one controllable breaker electrically coupled to the at least one busbar, and processing equipment configured to process electrical signals. The processing equipment includes control circuitry configured to control the at least one controllable breaker, and one or more current sensing modules configured to sense a respective current for each of the at least one controllable breakers. The system senses currents or otherwise electrical load in branch circuit, and is configured to control the breakers on or off to control electrical load in each branch circuit. The system may receive user input, input from devices, input from other systems or network entities, or inputs from sensors, and in response determines operating parameters. Operating parameters may include on-off schedules for breakers, temporal information, fault information, or other suitable operating parameters.
1. An integrated electrical panel comprising:
an enclosure comprising at least one busbar, each of the at least one busbar comprising at least one current measurement shunt;
a plurality of transducers, each configured to measure a voltage through a respective one of the plurality of current measurement shunts, wherein each of the voltages is indicative of a current through the respective one of the plurality of current measurement shunts;
a plurality of branch circuits, each comprising a respective controllable relay and a respective breaker that is configured to be independently tripped, arranged in the enclosure, wherein each respective controllable relay and breaker is electrically coupled to the at least one busbar, wherein each of the plurality of branch circuits is coupled to a respective one of the at least one current measurement shunt; and
control circuitry arranged in the enclosure, wherein the control circuitry is coupled to the plurality of controllable relays, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to:
control the plurality of controllable relays by transmitting a respective control signal to each controllable relay based on all of the respective currents, and
communicate with one or more devices communicatively coupled to the control circuitry and electrically coupled to at least one of the plurality of controllable relays.
2. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising a main disconnect arranged in the enclosure and configured to couple the at least one busbar to a power grid.
3. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to communicate with a network or a mobile device.
4. The integrated electrical panel of claim 3 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to transmit energy information.
5. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to monitor usage of each respective branch circuit of the plurality of branch circuits.
6. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein the at least one busbar is coupled to an external AC-DC inverter configured to manage a DC bus.
7. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising an AC-DC inverter coupled to the at least one busbar, wherein the AC-DC inverter is configured to manage a DC bus.
8. The integrated electrical panel of claim 7 , further comprising a DC-DC converter configured to manage a second DC bus.
9. The integrated electrical panel of claim 7 , wherein the DC bus is configured to be coupled to a solar photovoltaic (PV) system.
10. The integrated electrical panel of claim 7 , wherein the DC bus is configured to be coupled to an energy storage device.
11. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising an electrical vehicle charging station coupled to the at least one controllable relay.
12. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising:
an AC-DC inverter coupled to the at least one busbar, wherein the AC-DC inverter is configured to manage a DC bus; and
a solar PV system coupled to the DC bus.
13. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising a touchscreen coupled to the control circuitry, the touchscreen configured to provide a display and receive haptic input.
14. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , further comprising a main disconnect configured to couple the at least one busbar to a power grid, wherein the main disconnect is coupled to the control circuitry, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to control the main disconnect.
15. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of controllable relays and breakers is configured to be coupled to an electric load, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine energy information about the electric load.
16. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one current measurement shunt is integrated with a respective one of the at least one busbar.
17. The integrated electrical panel of claim 1 , wherein each of the at least one current measurement shunt is attached in direct contact with a respective one of the at least one busbar.
18. A method for managing electrical loads using an integrated electrical panel comprising:
at least one busbar, each of the at least one busbar comprising at least one current measurement shunt, and
a plurality of branch circuits, each of which is coupled to a respective one of the at least one current measurement shunt, the method comprising:
sensing, using the at least one current measurement shunt, a plurality of currents, wherein each current of the plurality of currents corresponds to a respective branch circuit of a plurality of branch circuits coupled to the at least one busbar of the electrical panel, wherein each respective branch circuit comprises a respective controllable relay and a respective breaker that is configured to be independently tripped;
determining, using control circuitry, one or more operating parameters;
communicating, using an interface, with one or more devices electrically coupled to at least one of the plurality of controllable relays and breakers, wherein the interface is configured to receive an input signal from, and provide an output signal to, the one or more devices, and
controlling, using the control circuitry, each respective controllable relay based on the current corresponding to the respective branch circuit and based on the one or more operating parameters.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the one or more operating parameters comprises a plurality of current limits each corresponding to a respective current of the plurality of currents; and
if the respective current is greater than the corresponding current limit, controlling the respective controllable relay comprises opening the respective controllable relay.
20. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the one or more operating parameters comprises a load profile comprising a schedule for limiting a total electrical load; and
controlling each respective controllable relay is further based on the load profile.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the schedule comprises priority information for the plurality of controllable circuit relays.
22. The method of claim 18 wherein:
the one or more operating parameters comprises temporal information; and
controlling each respective controllable relay is further based on the temporal information.
23. The method of claim 18 further comprising:
detecting a fault condition using the control circuitry, wherein determining the one or more operating parameters is based on the fault condition.
24. The method of claim 18 wherein:
the one or more operating parameters comprise one or more safety limits corresponding to a voltage, a current, or a temperature; and
if the voltage, the current, or the temperature is greater than a corresponding safety limit, controlling each controllable relay comprises opening the corresponding controllable relays.