Systems and methods to combine strings of solar panels
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- a housing;
a plurality of terminals secured to the housing and configured to receive a direct current input from photovoltaic devices;
a parallel direct current bus disposed inside the housing; and
a plurality of receptacles disposed inside the housing, wherein each respective receptacle of the plurality of receptacles is configured to receive a removable modular unit having a circuitry and at least four connectors and to use the circuitry of the removable modular unit to connect a respective terminal of the plurality of terminals to the parallel direct current bus.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are apparatuses, systems and methods for configuring and managing the combination of strings of photovoltaic energy generators to improve the energy production performance of such generators. The strings of photovoltaic energy generators are connected to terminals in a combiner box having receptacles for receiving removable modular units of various types. Removable modular units with measurement capabilities are used in the combiner boxes to measure the direct current input provided by the strings; and in light of the measurements, the removable modular units can be selectively downgraded to simpler units that do not have measurement capabilities to reduce cost, and/or selectively upgraded to more sophisticated units that can adjust the output of the respective strings, such as upconverting the output voltage of the respective strings, to improve the performance of the strings.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of terminals secured to the housing and configured to receive a direct current input from photovoltaic devices; a parallel direct current bus disposed inside the housing; and a plurality of receptacles disposed inside the housing, wherein each respective receptacle of the plurality of receptacles is configured to receive a removable modular unit having a circuitry and at least four connectors and to use the circuitry of the removable modular unit to connect a respective terminal of the plurality of terminals to the parallel direct current bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 11)
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3. A system, comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of terminals secured to the housing and configured to receive a direct current input from photovoltaic devices; a parallel direct current bus disposed inside the housing; a plurality of receptacles disposed inside the housing, wherein each respective receptacle of the plurality of receptacles is configured to receive a removable modular unit having a circuitry and to use the circuitry of the removable modular unit to connect a respective terminal of the plurality of terminals to the parallel direct current bus, and the plurality of receptacles are configured to receive a plurality of different types of removable modular units, all types of which are capable of operably connecting the respective terminal to the parallel direct current bus when received in the respective receptacle; and a controller disposed inside the housing and configured to communicate with the removable modular units received in the plurality of receptacles. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A system, comprising:
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a housing; a plurality of terminals secured to the housing and configured to receive a direct current input from photovoltaic devices; a parallel direct current bus disposed inside the housing; a plurality of receptacles disposed inside the housing, wherein each respective receptacle of the plurality of receptacles is configured to receive a removable modular unit having a circuitry and to use the circuitry of the removable modular unit to connect a respective terminal of the plurality of terminals to the parallel direct current bus, and the removable modular unit and the respective receptacle are configured to be operably coupled by inserting the removable modular unit into the respective receptacle, and are configured to be safely de-coupled by pulling away the removable modular unit from the respective receptacle; and a controller disposed inside the housing and configured to communicate with the removable modular units received in the plurality of receptacles. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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12. A system comprising:
a removable modular unit comprising; a printed circuit board having a set of connectors configured to provide electronic connections with connectors of a receptacle when the removable modular unit is inserted into the receptacle disposed inside a housing having a plurality of receptacles, the removable modular unit operable in each of the plurality of receptacles, wherein the plurality of receptacles are connected to a parallel direct current bus disposed inside the housing and configured to electrically separate the parallel direct current bus from a plurality of terminals secured to the housing in an absence of removable modular units in the plurality of receptacles, each of the plurality of terminals configured to receive a direct current input from a photovoltaic device; and a circuitry connected to the connectors of the receptacle when the removable modular unit is inserted into the receptacle, the circuitry configured to connect a respective terminal of the plurality of terminals to the parallel direct current bus. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method comprising:
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connecting a plurality of strings of a photovoltaic device to a plurality of input terminals secured to a housing having receptacles capable of receiving removable modular units that when received in the respective receptacles, are connected between the respective input terminal and an output bus; inserting into the receptacles a first set of removable modular units configured to measure direct current input at the respective input terminals; measuring direct current at each of the plurality of input terminals using the first set of removable modular units; analyzing the measurements made by the first set of removable modular units to identify a receptacle that is currently installed with a first removable modular unit without a direct current converter, and which receptacle, when installed with a second removable modular unit having a direct current converter, can use the direct current converter to improve energy production provided to the output bus; and replacing, in the receptacle, the first removable modular unit with the second removable modular unit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification