PORTABLE SOLAR POWER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20150230306A1
• Filed: 02/11/2014
• Published: 08/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: We Care Solar
• Original Assignee: We Care Solar
• Inventors: Moellenberg, Brent, Aronson, Hal Robin, Miller, David M., Stachel, Laura Ethel
• Granted Patent: US 9,948,123 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0068 Battery or charger load switching, e.g. concurrent charging and load supply H02J7/0013 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/0071 with a programmable schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/35 with light sensitive cells
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/37 Converter circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/395 Linear regulators
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/00 Circuit arrangements for operating light sources in general, i.e. where the type of light source is not relevant
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/10 Controlling the light source
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A portable solar power management system includes (i) a solar panel interface to one or more solar panels, (ii) an energy storage interface to one or more energy storage devices, (iii) a charging circuit which routes the electrical currents from the solar panels to the energy storage devices; (iv) a load interface to one or more load devices, the load devices being powered independently on primary and secondary load circuits; and (v) a controller for controlling the operations of solar panel interface, the energy storage interface, the charging circuit, and the load interface. In addition, a secondary load control circuit and a programmable controller may be provided which route the electrical currents from the energy storage devices to the load interface, wherein the programmable controller, based on the sensing signals, also activates and deactivates the secondary load circuit.

Claims

1. A power management system, comprising:

a solar panel interface to one or more solar panels, the solar panel interface comprising wiring for;

(a) receiving solar panel sensing signal representative of a voltage in the solar panels and (b) conducting one or more electrical currents received from the solar panels;

an energy storage interface to one or more energy storage devices, the energy storage interface comprising wiring for;

(a) receiving an energy storage sensing signal representative of a voltage in the energy storage devices and (b) conducting one or more electrical currents received from or provided to the energy storage devices;

a charging circuit which routes the electrical currents from the solar panels to the wiring for conducting electrical currents received from or provided to the energy storage devices;

a load interface to one or more load devices, the load interface comprising wiring for;

(a) receiving a load sensing signal representative of a voltage in the load devices and (b) conducting one or more electrical currents in each of a primary load circuit and a secondary load circuit;

a controller for operating the solar panel interface, the energy storage interface, the charging circuit and the load interface, and

a secondary load control circuit which routes the electrical currents from the energy storage devices to the wiring for conducting electrical signals in the load interface, the secondary load control circuit being capable of activating or deactivating the secondary load circuit independently of the primary load circuit.

2. The power management system of claim 1, further comprising a programmable controller receiving the solar panel sensing signal, the energy storage sensing signal and the load sensing signal, the programmable controller controlling operation of the secondary load control circuit, based on the solar panel sensing signal, the energy storage sensing signal and the load sensing signal, activating and deactivating the secondary load circuit.

3. The power management system of claim 1, further comprising a lithium ion battery wake-up circuit.

4. The power management system of claim 1, further comprising a housing for enclosing the solar panel interface, the energy storage interface, the charging circuit, the load interface, the secondary load control circuit, the programmable controller, at least one of the solar panels and at least one of the energy storage devices.

5. The power management system of claim 4, wherein the secondary load control circuit and the programmable controller are provided as an optional plug-in module.

6. The power management system of claim 2, wherein the power management system is portable.

7. The power management system of claim 1, wherein the energy storage devices include one or more lead acid batteries.

8. The power management system of claim 1, wherein the energy storage devices comprises a battery based on lithium ions.

9. The power management system of claim 8, wherein the programmable controller executes a method for waking up the battery.

10. The power management system of claim 9, wherein the method performs a wake-up operation on the battery when the solar panel sensing signal and battery sensing signals indicate voltages suitable for performing a charging operation on the battery.

11. The power management system of claim 9, wherein the method performs a wake-up operation on the battery when previous wake-up operations have not exceed a predetermined maximum number.

12. The power management system of claim 9, wherein the method performs a wake-up operation on the battery when an elapsed time between the wake-up operation and an immediately preceding wake-up operation exceeds a predetermined time period.

13. The power management system of claim 1, wherein the load control circuit comprises a low-dropout voltage regulator for supplying a regulated voltage to control circuitry.

14. The power management system of claim 1, wherein the programmable controller maintains a score relevant to determining whether to activate or to deactivate the secondary load circuit.

15. The power management system of claim 14, wherein the programmable controller increases the score when the solar panel sensing signal and the load sensing signal both indicate a favorable power condition.

16. The power management system of claim 14, wherein the programmable controller decreases the score when the solar panel sensing signal and the energy storage sensing signal together indicate an unfavorable condition for charging the energy storage devices.

17. The power management system of claim 16, wherein the programmable controller further decreases the score when the energy storage sensing signal indicates that the energy stored in the energy storage devices is less than a predetermined value.

18. The power management system of claim 14, wherein the secondary load circuit is activated when the score exceeds a predetermined value.

19. The power management system of claim 18, wherein the secondary load circuit is activated for a predetermined time period.

20. The power management system of claim 18, wherein the secondary load circuit is deactivated when the energy storage sensing signal indicates that the energy stored in the energy storage devices is less than a predetermined value.

21. The power management system of claim 20, wherein the score is set to zero upon deactivating the secondary load circuit.

22. The power management system of claim 1, further comprising one or more light emitting diode-based (LED) lights operating on the primary load circuit.

23. The power management system of claim 22, wherein each of the LED lights is capable of being dimmed in response to a control signal from the programmable controller.

24. The power management system of claim 22, wherein each of the LED lights is capable of being programmed to be dimmed to a predetermined minimum brightness.

25. The power management system of claim 22, wherein each LED light is dimmed by an amount related to a duty cycle of the control signal.

26. The power management system of claim 25, wherein the programmable controller determines the duty cycle of the control signal in response to the solar panel sensing signal, the energy storage sensing signal and the load sensing signal.

27. A light assembly, comprising:

a hanger including substantially parallel first and second arms each terminating at an elbow; and

a housing for enclosing a light emitting device, the housing having openings on two opposite sides provided to allow insertion by the elbows of the first and second arms of the hanger, wherein the housing further includes a plurality of grooves radiating from each opening, each groove having a cross section matching a cross section of the first and second arms of the hanger, such that, when the elbows of the hanger are inserted into the openings, a spring action in the first and second arms of the hanger provides a compressive force against the housing so as to securely lock the housing into a fixed position for providing illumination from a desired direction.

28. The light assembly of claim 27, wherein the plurality of groves are provided a predetermined radial angle apart.

29. The light assembly of claim 28, wherein the predetermined angle is 45 degrees.

30. The light assembly of claim 28, wherein the cross section of each groove is semi-circular.

31. The light assembly of claim 27, wherein the housing further includes one or more through holes to allow the housing to be mounted on a flat surface.

32. The light assembly of claim 27, wherein the housing further includes a threaded hole to allow the housing to be secured to a fixture with a matching thread.

33. The light assembly of claim 27, wherein the hanger further comprises a curved portion shaped to allow the light assembly to be hung on a hanger bar.