System, method, and apparatus for extracting power from a photovoltaic source of electrical energy

Abstract

System, method, and apparatus are provided for harvesting electrical energy from a photovoltaic source of electrical energy. The photovoltaic source has power-generating characteristics defined by a family of voltage-current curves comprising points of maximum electrical power over a respective range of at least one of the following for the photovoltaic source: distinct illumination intensities and distinct temperatures. The apparatus is made up of a switching converter coupled to the photovoltaic source. The converter has an input voltage-current curve having a predefined functional relationship between the input voltage and the input current. The predefined functional relationship of the input voltage-current curve of the converter is configured to provide during operation of the converter an approximation with respect to at least some of the points of maximum electrical power for the photovoltaic source without having to perform current and voltage calculations corresponding to a maximum power from the photovoltaic source.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.