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US 11,641,110 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for reactive power control
AssigneeEnphase Energy, Inc.
InventorMichael J. Harrison
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Apparatus and method for controlling reactive power. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a bidirectional power converter comprising a switched mode cycloconverter for generating AC power having a desired amount of a reactive power component.
Claims20
A bidirectional power converter comprising:
- a storage device for storing energy;
- a DC bridge, coupled to the storage device, for producing a high-frequency AC signal;
- a resonant circuit, coupled to the DC bridge, having a resonant frequency proximate a frequency of the high-frequency AC signal;
- a transformer coupled to the resonant circuit;
- a switched mode cycloconverter, coupled to the transformer, for converting the high-frequency AC signal to a low-frequency AC signal;
- and
- a controller, coupled to the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter, for controlling the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter to convert DC power from a DC power source coupled to the storage device into AC power at an output of the switched mode cycloconverter, wherein the AC power has a desired amount of reactive power component as determined by a reactive power control schedule comprising a schedule of reactive power to be generated as a function of one or more of AC grid voltage, bidirectional power converter output power, or change in AC grid voltage.
4 more elements
A method of controlling reactive power comprising:
- storing energy using a storage device;
- producing a high-frequency AC signal using a DC bridge coupled to the storage device;
- converting the high-frequency AC signal to a low-frequency AC signal using a switched mode cycloconverter coupled to a transformer;
- and
- controlling, using a controller coupled to the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter, the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter to convert DC power from a DC power source coupled to the storage device into AC power at an output of the switched mode cycloconverter, wherein the AC power has a desired amount of reactive power component as determined by a reactive power control schedule comprising a schedule of reactive power to be generated as a function of one or more of AC grid voltage, bidirectional power converter output power, or change in AC grid voltage.
2 more elements
A system for controlling reactive power, comprising:
- a DC power source for generating DC power;
- and
- a bidirectional power converter coupled to the DC power source for receiving the DC power and comprising:
- a storage device for storing energy;
- a DC bridge, coupled to the storage device, for producing a high-frequency AC signal;
- a resonant circuit, coupled to the DC bridge, having a resonant frequency proximate a frequency of the high-frequency AC signal;
- a transformer coupled to the resonant circuit;
- a switched mode cycloconverter, coupled to the transformer, for converting the high-frequency AC signal to a low-frequency AC signal;
- and
- a controller, coupled to the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter, for controlling the DC bridge and the switched mode cycloconverter to convert DC power from the DC power source coupled to the storage device into AC power at an output of the switched mode cycloconverter, wherein the AC power has a desired amount of reactive power component as determined by a reactive power control schedule comprising a schedule of reactive power to be generated as a function of one or more of AC grid voltage, bidirectional power converter output power, or change in AC grid voltage.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.