Invention Grant
US08648497B2 Photovoltaic power plant with distributed DC-to-DC power converters
有权
具有分布式DC-DC电源转换器的光伏发电厂
- Patent Title: Photovoltaic power plant with distributed DC-to-DC power converters
- Patent Title (中): 具有分布式DC-DC电源转换器的光伏发电厂
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Application No.: US12656378Application Date: 2010-01-28
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Publication No.: US08648497B2Publication Date: 2014-02-11
- Inventor: Michael Joseph Stern
- Applicant: Michael Joseph Stern
- Applicant Address: US CA San Luis Obispo
- Assignee: Renewable Power Conversion, Inc.
- Current Assignee: Renewable Power Conversion, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA San Luis Obispo
- Main IPC: H02J1/00
- IPC: H02J1/00 ; G05F1/00

Abstract:
A solar photovoltaic plant is disclosed where a number of distributed DC-to-DC converters are used in conjunction with a central DC-to-AC converter. Each DC-to-DC converter is dedicated to a portion of the photovoltaic array and tracks the maximum power point voltage thereof. The DC-to-DC converters also boost the photovoltaic voltage and regulate a DC output current for transmission to the central DC-to-AC converter. Five distinct advantages are had over the prior art. First, efficiencies in intra-field power collection are greatly improved by transferring power at higher DC voltages. Second, the number of independent photovoltaic maximum power point trackers in the power plant can be increased, in a cost effective manner, to optimize the overall photovoltaic array energy harvest. Third, each DC-to-DC converter output “looks” like a current source at the input of the DC-to-AC converter and therefore can be easily paralleled. Fourth, the current source nature of the DC-to-DC converter outputs enables the DC-to-AC converter to operate with a minimum, fixed DC bus voltage to provide maximum DC-to-AC power conversion efficiencies. And fifth, each distributed DC-to-DC converter can isolate a faulted portion of the photovoltaic array while the remainder of the array continues producing power.
Public/Granted literature
- US20100195361A1 Photovoltaic power plant with distributed DC-to-DC power converters Public/Granted day:2010-08-05
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