Inverters
First Claim
1. A photovoltaic (PV) power system configured to provide AC power to an AC mains, the PV power system comprising:
- one or more photovoltaic panels having a DC output;
a DC to AC converter having a converter input and an AC output coupled to the AC mains;
a first bank of energy storage capacitors having a first bank input coupled to the DC output, and a first bank output coupled to the DC to AC converter input; and
a second bank of energy storage capacitors having a second bank input coupled to the DC output, and a second bank output coupled to the DC to AC converter input; and
a control circuit configured to alternately disconnect one or more energy storage capacitors of the first bank of energy storage capacitors and one or more energy storage capacitors of the second bank of energy storage capacitors, based on a timer.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
We describe a photovoltaic power conditioning unit for delivering power from multiple photovoltaic panels to an ac mains power supply output, comprising: a dc input for receiving power from multiple photovoltaic panels; an ac output for delivering ac power to the ac supply; a bank of electrolytic energy storage capacitors for storing energy from the dc source for delivery to the ac supply; a dc-to-ac converter coupled to the ac output and having an input coupled to the bank for converting energy stored in the bank to ac power for the ac supply; and further comprising: a plurality of sense and control circuits, one for each capacitor in the bank, wherein each circuit is coupled in series with a capacitor, and is configured to disconnect the associated capacitor from the bank upon detection of a current flow through the associated capacitor of greater than a threshold current value.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A photovoltaic (PV) power system configured to provide AC power to an AC mains, the PV power system comprising:
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one or more photovoltaic panels having a DC output; a DC to AC converter having a converter input and an AC output coupled to the AC mains; a first bank of energy storage capacitors having a first bank input coupled to the DC output, and a first bank output coupled to the DC to AC converter input; and a second bank of energy storage capacitors having a second bank input coupled to the DC output, and a second bank output coupled to the DC to AC converter input; and a control circuit configured to alternately disconnect one or more energy storage capacitors of the first bank of energy storage capacitors and one or more energy storage capacitors of the second bank of energy storage capacitors, based on a timer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A photovoltaic (PV) power conditioning unit for delivering power from one or more photovoltaic panels to an AC mains, the power conditioning unit comprising:
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a DC input for receiving power from the one or more photovoltaic panels; an AC output for delivering AC power to the AC mains; a first bank of energy storage capacitors for storing energy from the DC input for delivery to the AC mains; a second bank of energy storage capacitors for storing energy from the DC input for delivery to the AC mains; a DC-to-AC converter coupled to the AC output and having an input coupled to the first bank of energy storage capacitors for converting energy stored in the first bank of energy storage capacitors to AC power for the AC mains; and a control circuit configured to alternately disconnect one or more energy storage capacitors of the first bank of energy storage capacitors and one or more energy storage capacitors of the second bank of energy storage capacitors, based on a timer. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification