Control apparatus of inverter and power generation system using such control apparatus

• US 6,031,736 A
• Filed: 07/22/1996
• Issued: 02/29/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Takehara, Nobuyoshi, Fukae, Kimitoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wong, Peter S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Patel, Rajnikant B.
• Application Number:
  US08/685,934
• Time in Patent Office: 1,317 Days
• Field of Search: 363/17, 363/21, 363/132, 363/98, 323/906
• US Class Current: 363/98
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 7/53873 with digital control
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 10/56 Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 323/906 Solar cell systems

Abstract

To provide a cheap inverter which uses a single digital microprocessor and can execute a current control and a maximum power control without changing a design of a hardware even for any switching device or solar cell, there is provided a control apparatus of an inverter for converting a DC electric power into an AC electric power by using a switching device, wherein the control apparatus is constructed by an inversion discrimination circuit for receiving an output current or an output voltage and a reference signal and for discriminating whether a switching state of the switching device should be inverted or not and a gate pulse signal forming unit for changing the switching state of the switching device in response to an inversion request signal which is outputted from the inversion discrimination circuit. The gate pulse signal forming unit has a CPU for forming a gate pulse signal by an interrupting process by using the inversion request signal as an interruption control signal.

Claims

1. An inverter for converting D.C. power outputted from a solar cell into A.C. power, comprising:

a switching circuit connected to the solar cell to turn on and off according to a gate pulse signal;

a digital CPU for executing a processing, in a main routine that is allowed to be interrupted, a control for setting a reference value of an output current from the inverter so that the output from the solar cell reaches a maximum value; and

an inversion discrimination circuit for comparing the reference value set by said digital CPU with the output current from the inverter to obtain a result, and outputting an inversion request signal to an interruption signal line of said digital CPU according to the result of the comparing,

wherein said digital CPU executes processing for outputting to said switching circuit a gate pulse signal according to the inversion request signal in an interruption processing routine.

2. An inverter according to claim 1, wherein said switching circuit comprises a bridge circuit comprising self arc-extinguishing type switching devices.

3. An inverter according to claim 1, further comprising a filter connected between said solar cell and said switching circuit.

4. An inverter according to claim 1, further comprising a filter for filtering an output from said switching circuit.

5. An inverter according to claim 1, further comprising a converter connected to an output side of said inverter and supplying the output current value of said inverter to said inversion discrimination circuit.

6. An inverter according to claim 1, wherein an output side of said inverter is connected to a commercial power system.

7. A solar power generation system comprising:

a solar cell; and

an inverter for converting D.C. power outputted from said solar cell into A.C. power, said inverter comprising;

a switching circuit connected to the solar cell to turn on and off according to a gate pulse signal;

a digital CPU for executing a processing, in a main routine that is allowed to be interrupted, a control for setting a reference value of an output current from the inverter so that the output from the solar cell reaches a maximum value; and

an inversion discrimination circuit for comparing the reference value set by said digital CPU with the output current from the inverter to obtain a result, and outputting an inversion request signal to an interruption signal line of said digital CPU according to the result of the comparing,

wherein said digital CPU executes processing for outputting to said switching circuit a gate pulse signal according to the inversion request signal in an interruption processing routine.