Reconfigurable photovoltaic module

A photovoltaic system, comprising:

• a plurality of photovoltaic modules;
• and
• at least one controller for controlling the plurality of photovoltaic modules,
• wherein the photovoltaic modules comprise:
• a plurality of photovoltaic cells arranged in a grid having logical rows and columns;
• a plurality of non-reconfigurable interconnects electrically interconnecting subsets of the plurality of photovoltaic cells to form a plurality of cell strings, wherein the plurality of cell strings comprises:
• a first plurality of U-shaped cell strings;
• a second plurality of U-shaped cell strings;
• a first linear edge cell string;
• and
• a second linear edge cell string;
• and
• a plurality of reconfigurable interconnects,
• wherein the plurality of U-shaped cell strings forms a partition of the plurality of photovoltaic cells,
• wherein each U-shaped cell string of the first plurality of U-shaped cell strings interconnects only cells located in a first half of rows of the grid,
• wherein each U-shaped cell string of the second plurality of U-shaped cell strings interconnects only cells located in a second half of rows of the grid,
• wherein the first linear edge cell string interconnects only photovoltaic cells of a first column of the grid,
• wherein the second linear edge cell string interconnects only photovoltaic cells of a last column of the grid,
• wherein the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects are arranged only on edges of the photovoltaic module,
• wherein the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects is adapted for electrically interconnecting the plurality of cell strings such that a global photovoltaic string consisting of an electrical series connecting the plurality of cell strings can be controllably established,
• wherein the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects is adapted for controllably connecting adjacent cell strings electrically in parallel, thereby establishing at least one parallel electrical circuit having parallel circuit legs formed by at least two adjacent cell strings,
• wherein the photovoltaic module is adapted for connecting the plurality of cell strings to at least one DC-DC converter for providing an output electrical power over an output line, and
• wherein the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects is adapted for receiving at least one control signal from the at least one controller for forming, when in operation, parallel, serial, or hybrid connections of the plurality of cell strings to cluster matching photovoltaic cells in response to a non-uniform photonic stimulation.

A method for operating a photovoltaic module, the method comprising:

• obtaining a photovoltaic module comprising:
• a plurality of photovoltaic cells, arranged in a grid having logical rows and columns,
• a plurality of reconfigurable interconnects, wherein the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects are arranged only on edges of the photovoltaic module, and
• a plurality of non-reconfigurable interconnects electrically interconnecting subsets of the plurality of photovoltaic cells to form a plurality of cell strings, wherein the plurality of cell strings comprises:
• a first plurality of U-shaped cell strings,
• a second plurality of U-shaped cell strings,
• a first linear edge cell string, and
• a second linear edge cell string,
• wherein the plurality of U-shaped cell strings forms a partition of the plurality of photovoltaic cells,
• wherein each U-shaped cell string of the first plurality of U-shaped cell strings interconnects only cells located in a first half of rows of the grid,
• wherein each U-shaped cell string of the second plurality of U-shaped cell strings interconnects only cells located in a second half of rows of the grid,
• wherein the first linear edge cell string interconnects only photovoltaic cells of a first column of the grid, and
• wherein the second linear edge cell string interconnects only photovoltaic cells of a last column of the grid,
• determining whether the photovoltaic module is subject to a non-uniform photonic stimulation;
• controlling the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects of the photovoltaic module to electrically interconnect the plurality of cell strings such that a global photovoltaic string comprising an electrical series connecting the plurality of cell strings is established and connected to a DC-DC converter when the photovoltaic module is determined to be subject to a substantially uniform photonic stimulation;
• and
• controlling the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects to establish at least one parallel electrical circuit having parallel circuit legs formed by at least two adjacent cell strings such as to cluster matching photovoltaic cell strings when the photovoltaic module is determined to be subject to substantially non-uniform photonic stimulation,
• wherein controlling the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects comprises sending at least one control signal from at least one controller to the plurality of reconfigurable interconnects.