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US 2011/0079263 A1Published application
Systems and Methods to Provide Enhanced Diode Bypass Paths
AssigneeTigo Energy, Inc.
InventorMordechay AVRUTSKY
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods are herein disclosed for efficiently allowing current to bypass a group of solar cells having one or more malfunctioning or shaded solar cells without overwhelming a bypass diode. This can be done using a switch (e.g., a MOSFET) connected in parallel with the bypass diode. By turning the switch on and off, a majority of the bypass current can be routed through the switch, which is configured to handle larger currents than the bypass diode is designed for, leaving only a minority of the current to pass through the bypass diode.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a group of series-connected solar cells;
- a bypass diode connected in parallel to the group of series-connected solar cells;
- and
- a bypass switch connected in parallel to the group of solar cells and the bypass diode, and
- configured to allow a bypass current to bypass:
- the group of solar cells;
- and
- the bypass diode.
5 more elements
A system comprising:
- one or more bypass diodes connected in series with one another and connected in parallel with a group of series-connected solar cells;
- one or more bypass transistors connected in parallel with the one or more bypass diodes and configured to turn on for a predetermined time period, in response to a bypass current passing through the one or more bypass diodes, and to reroute the bypass current from the one or more bypass diodes to the one or more bypass transistors.
A method comprising:
- charging a capacitor of a controller in response to a bypass current passing through a bypass diode;
- opening a latch circuit of the controller when a voltage across a capacitor of the controller exceeds a first voltage threshold;
- applying a portion of the voltage to gates of a pair of bi-directional MOSFETs to turn on bi-directional MOSFETs via the opening of the latch circuit, wherein the bi-directional MOSFETs are connected to the diode to reduce the current passing through the diode when the bi-directional MOSFETs are turned on;
- closing the latch circuit when the voltage across the capacitor falls below a second voltage threshold to turn off the bi-directional MOSFETs, wherein the second voltage threshold is lower than the first voltage threshold.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.