CURRENT COLLECTING BOX FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER GENERATION

• US 20120049627A1
• Filed: 08/24/2010
• Published: 03/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sanyo Electric Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: MATSUO, Takahisa, NISHIKAWA, Shuhei, SEKINE, Tsuyoshi
• Application Number:
  US12/862,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20120049627A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/43
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/52 Testing for short-circuits, leakage current or ground faults
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/02021 for solar cells electrical connection means, e.g. junction boxes, specially adapted for structural association with photovoltaic modules H02S40/34
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/50 Photovoltaic [PV] energy

Abstract

A current collecting box for photovoltaic power generation comprising a ground fault detector detecting a ground fault in photovoltaic strings; a switch disposed for each of the photovoltaic strings and interposed between the photovoltaic string and a connecting cable; a control circuit determining the presence of a ground fault and providing an on/off control of the switch; and a power supply supplying the current to the grand fault detector, and the power supply is supplied from a power supply so that the operation check for the ground fault detector is performed based on an output from the ground fault detector. The current supply is supplied and the operation check for an auxiliary switch operating according to an on/off operation of a main switch is performed so that the operation check for a switch is performed.

Claims

1. A current collecting box for photovoltaic power generation that serves to collect electric power from a plurality of photovoltaic strings, comprising:

a detector that provides with a detection output based on a differential current generated in a forward current cable and a backward current cable to detect a ground fault in each of the photovoltaic strings;

a switch interposed between the photovoltaic string and a connecting cable;

a judgment maker that determines the presence of a ground fault corresponding to an output supplied from the detector;

a control unit that applies an on/off control to the switch according to a detection result supplied from the judgment maker, and

a current supply portion that supplies the current to the detector,

wherein the current is supplied from the current supply portion, and the control unit performs the operation check for the detector based on an output supplied from the judgment maker.

2. A current collecting box for photovoltaic power generation that serves to collect electric power from a plurality of photovoltaic strings, comprising:

a detector that provides with a detection output based on a differential current generated in a forward current cable and a backward current cable to detect a ground fault in each of the photovoltaic strings;

a switch provided in correspondence to each of the photovoltaic strings and interposed between the photovoltaic string and a connecting cable;

a judgment maker that determines the presence of a ground fault corresponding to an output supplied from the detector;

a control unit that applies an on/off control to the switch according to a detection result supplied from the judgment maker or a demand for the operation check;

an auxiliary switch that operates according to an on/off operation with the switch; and

a switch operation check portion that outputs a state of the on/off state according to an on/off operation of the auxiliary switch,

wherein the control unit performs the operation check for the switch based on an output supplied from the switch operation check portion corresponding to a demand for the operation check.