PV monitoring system with combiner switching and charge controller switching
OwnerDavid E. Critesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A photovoltaic (PV) monitoring system uses combiner switches and charge controller switches to test the health of a PV installation. Combiner switches are used to direct test current through PV strings and substrings as health measurements are collected by a centralized sensor. Charge controller switches are used to supply test current at night.
Claims17
A device for controlling the topology of a PV installation, the device comprising:
- a common terminal, a numbered terminal zero, a numbered terminal one, a switch one having a position one and position two, and a means for actuating said switch one:
- wherein current flows between the common terminal and both said terminal zero and said terminal one when said switch one is in said position two, and current flows between the common terminal and substantially only said terminal zero when said switch one is in said position one.
The method of testing a PV installation, the installation comprising n parallel PV strings wherein each said string is identified by a single unique digital digit in an ordered sequence of n digits wherein n is any practical number greater than one, and the method is comprised of the following steps:
- applying an substantially open circuit on zero or more of said parallel PV strings wherein each said open circuit is represented in said digital sequence as a 0 and each closed circuit is represented in said digital sequence as a 1;
- impressing current through the PV installation;
- measuring a passive electrical characteristic of the PV installation;
- creating a substantially open circuit on zero or more of said parallel PV strings in which said digital sequence is unique from the digital sequence of any preceding step;
- impressing current through the PV installation;
- measuring a passive electrical characteristic the PV installation;
- repeating steps d, e, and f at least (n−2) times.
A battery charge regulator comprising a positive charge source terminal one;
- a negative charge source terminal two;
- a positive battery terminal three;
- a negative battery terminal four;
- and a first operating mode, wherein:
- in said first mode, terminal one is connected to terminal three and terminal two is connected to terminal four when the voltage between terminal one and terminal two is exceeded by the voltage between terminal three and terminal four, so that charge is applied from the battery terminals to the charge source terminals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.