Solar power conditioning unit

• US 8,811,047 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2011
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tesla Inc.
• Original Assignee: Enecsys Limited
• Inventors: Rodriguez, Cuauhtemoc
• Primary Examiner(s): Berhane, Adolf
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mehari, Yemane
• Application Number:
  US13/276,885
• Publication Number:
  US 20120033463A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 363/16, 363/35, 363/37, 363/95, 363/98, 363/131, 323/205, 323/207, 323/906
• US Class Current: 363/35
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 5/458 using semiconductor devices only
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/4807 having a high frequency intermediate AC stage
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/53871 with automatic control of output voltage or current
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/76 Power conversion electric or electronic aspects
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 323/906 Solar cell systems

Abstract

The present invention relates to a power conditioning unit for delivering power from a dc power source to an ac output, particularly ac voltages greater than 50 volts, either for connecting directly to a grid utility supply, or for powering mains devices independent from the mains utility supply. We describe a power conditioning unit for delivering power from a dc power source to an ac mains output, the power conditioning unit comprising an input for receiving power from said dc power source, an output for delivering ac power, an energy storage capacitor, a dc-to-dc converter having an input connection coupled to said input and an output connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor, and a dc-to-ac converter having an input connection coupled to said energy storage capacitor and an output connection coupled to said output, wherein said energy storage capacitor has a capacitance of less than twenty microfarads.

Claims

1. A solar power conditioning unit for delivering power from a solar or photovoltaic panel dc power source to an ac mains power supply, the power conditioning unit comprising:

a power conditioning unit input for receiving power from said dc power source;

a power conditioning unit output for delivering ac power to said ac mains power supply;

a film-type energy storage capacitor;

a dc-to-dc converter having an input connection coupled to said dc power source at said power conditioning unit input and an output connection coupled to the energy storage capacitor;

a dc-to-ac converter having an input connection coupled to said energy storage capacitor and an output connection coupled to said ac mains power supply at said power conditioning unit output;

a power extraction first control block to control said dc-to-dc converter to control power extracted from said dc power source and provided to said energy storage capacitor; and

a power injection second control block to control said dc-to-ac converter to control power injected into said ac mains power supply from said energy storage capacitor,

wherein said power extraction first control block has an input coupled to said dc power source at said power conditioning unit input for receiving power from said dc power source and has an output to control said dc-to-dc converter and is configured to regulate a voltage of said dc power source to control power extracted from said dc power source to said energy storage capacitor,

wherein the power injection second control block regulates a voltage from across said energy storage capacitor such that the voltage remains higher than a peak amplitude voltage of said ac mains power supply during operation of the solar power conditioning unit.

2. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said first and second control blocks operate independently.

3. The power conditioning unit of claim 2, wherein said first and second control blocks share a common microcontroller.

4. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said power injection first control block has an input coupled to said energy storage capacitor and an output to control said dc-to-ac converter and is configured to control an amplitude of an ac current provided to said ac mains power supply.

5. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said power injected into said ac mains power supply has a sinusoidal shape, and wherein said first control block is configured to extract a substantially constant power from said dc power source over a period of said sinusoidal shape.

6. The power conditioning unit of claim 5, wherein an instantaneous ac power output of said power conditioning unit has a sinusoidal shape, wherein said power extracted from said dc power source is substantially constant over a cycle of said instantaneous ac power output, and wherein a difference between said power extracted from said dc power source and said instantaneous ac power output defines an energy mismatch which appears as a fluctuating sinusoidal component of a dc voltage on said energy storage capacitor.

7. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said dc-to-dc converter comprises at least one power transistor for transferring power from the input connection of the dc-to-dc converter to the output connection of the dc-to-dc converter;

and

wherein said power extraction first control block comprises;

a sensing circuit for sensing a voltage on said input connection; and

a driver circuit for driving said power transistor responsive to the sensed voltage to control said power transfer.

8. The power conditioning unit of claim 7, wherein the power extraction first control block further comprises a reference voltage generator, and wherein the driver circuit is configured to substantially minimize a difference between a reference voltage from said reference voltage generator and the sensed voltage.

9. The power conditioning unit of claim 7 further comprising a system to perform maximum power point tracking of said dc power source by maintaining a voltage or current from the dc power source substantially at a reference voltage or current, wherein said system to perform maximum power point tracking is configured to control said power transistor responsive both to a voltage or current of said dc power source and to a voltage or current of said energy storage capacitor.

10. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein a fluctuating sinusoidal component of a dc voltage on said energy storage capacitor has a frequency of twice that of said delivered ac power.

11. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said energy storage capacitor has a capacitance of less than twenty microfarads.

12. The power conditioning unit of claim 11, wherein said energy storage capacitor is a non-electrolytic capacitor.

13. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said dc-to-dc converter includes a transformer coupled between said input connection and said output connection.

14. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein said power injection second control block comprises (i) a low pass filter to receive said voltage from across said energy storage capacitor and to produce a dc constant voltage and (ii) a proportional-derivative compensator for setting an amplitude of a current injected into said ac mains power supply.

15. The power conditioning unit of claim 14, the power injection second control block further comprising:

a comparator that receives the constant voltage from said low pass filter and a reference voltage for providing an error measure; and

a sample and hold circuit to sample the error measure and to provide said error measure to the proportional-derivative compensator.

16. The power conditioning unit of claim 14, wherein the voltage across the energy storage capacitor comprises a constant voltage component and a fluctuating sinusoidal component.

17. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein the power injection second control block computes a constant voltage by scaling and filtering a fluctuating voltage across said energy storage capacitor.

18. The power conditioning unit of claim 17, wherein the power injection second control block regulates the voltage across the said energy storage capacitor by comparing said computed constant voltage with a reference.

19. The power conditioning unit of claim 1, wherein the power injection second control block regulates an average of a sum of a constant voltage component and a fluctuating sinusoidal component across the energy storage capacitor.