Solarcity Corporation

Sunpower Corporation

Tesla, Inc.

Sandeep Narla

Andrew Russell Lutkus

Brian T Kuhn

Udo Uebel

Kevin C Fischer

Alex Christopher Mayer

Eric Daniel Carlson

Daidipya J Patwa

Marc A Robinson

Brett Alten

William J Morris

Brian Risi

Soren Jensen

Gaurang Kavaiya

Jonathan Tucker Thompson

Fernando Cervantes

Alberto Fonts Zaragoz

Troy Yang

Rex Liu

Richard E Mellor, Jr

Joseph Griffin

Rasoul Ghadami

Alvin Cheung

The present disclosure provides curtailing photovoltaic (PV) power output and autonomous load breaking in a backup mode of an electrical system. The electrical system includes a PV system, an energy storage system having a storage converter, and an energy control system. The energy control system is electrically coupled to the PV system, the energy storage system, and a plurality of backup loads. The electrical system includes an autonomous load breaker electrically coupled to a first backup load. When the energy control system switches from an on-grid mode to the backup mode, the storage converter adjusts the frequency of the power supplied to the backup side of the energy control system to a setpoint frequency that curtails PV power output, and the autonomous load breaker electrically disconnects the first backup load from the energy control system.

Systems and methods for photovoltaic production curtailment and autonomous load breaking

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for integrating an energy control system with an electrical system having a utility meter connected to a utility grid, a photovoltaic (PV) system, an energy storage system, and a plurality of electrical loads. The systems and methods include determining a site condition of the electrical system, determining a type of backup configuration for the electrical system based on the determined site condition, and determining a location of at least one of a main circuit breaker, the PV system, a subpanel, and a site current transformer with respect to the energy control system based on the determined site condition and the determined type of backup configuration.

Methods and systems for integrating energy control systems with electrical systems

The present disclosure provides energy control systems for whole home and partial home backup with integrated breaker spaces and metering. The energy control system includes a grid interconnection electrically coupled to a utility grid, a backup power interconnection electrically coupled to a backup power source, a backup load interconnection electrically coupled to at least one backup load, and a non-backup load interconnection electrically coupled to at least one non-backup load. The energy control system includes a microgrid interconnection device that switches between an on-grid mode to electrically connect the grid interconnection and the backup power interconnection with the backup and non-backup load interconnections and a backup mode to electrically disconnect the grid interconnection and the non-backup load interconnection from the backup power interconnection.

Energy control system

The present disclosure provides a method for controlling an energy control system. The energy control system includes a grid interconnection, a backup load interconnection, a non-backup load interconnection, and a backup power interconnection. The method includes receiving electronic data from a plurality of backup loads. The method includes detecting a power outage at the grid interconnection electrically coupled to a utility grid. The method includes disconnecting the grid interconnection from the backup power interconnection, in which the backup power interconnection is electrically coupled to a backup power source. The method includes connecting a first set of the plurality of backup loads to the backup load interconnection, in which the backup load interconnection is electrically coupled to the backup power interconnection such that power is supplied from the backup power source to the first set of backup loads.

Backup load energy control system

The present disclosure provides an electrical system that includes an energy control system, a photovoltaic (PV) power generation system electrically coupled to the energy control system, an energy storage system electrically coupled to the energy control system, and a smart load panel electrically coupled to the energy control system and to a plurality of backup loads. The energy control system operates in an on-grid mode electrically connecting the PV power generation system to a utility grid and a backup mode electrically disconnecting the PV power generation system from the utility grid. The smart load panel selectively disconnects one or more of the plurality of backup loads from the energy control system when the energy control system is in the on-grid mode and when the energy control system is in the backup mode.

Load control architecture of an energy control system

The present disclosure provides a photovoltaic (PV) disconnect device used in an electrical system. The electrical system includes an energy control system electrically coupled to a utility grid. The electrical system includes a PV power generation system electrically coupled to the energy control system. The electrical system includes an energy storage system electrically coupled to the energy control system. The PV disconnect device is electrically coupled to the PV power generation system and the energy control system. The PV disconnect device electrically disconnects the PV power generation system from the energy control system.

Photovoltaic disconnect device for storage integration

Enclosure

Commissioning a solar power monitoring system includes imaging a plurality of labels, wherein each label of the plurality of labels is associated with an electronic component. Further, commissioning the solar power monitoring system includes discovering each electronic component at the same time based on the imaging of the plurality of labels, displaying a list of the discovered electronic components, and commissioning a solar power monitoring system including the discovered electronic components for use.

Solar power system commissioning

A manually controlled coupling mechanism for onsite energy generation and storage systems includes a first contact portion having a first electrical contact for coupling to an utility grid and a second electrical contact for coupling to an on-grid AC terminal of an inverter, a second contact portion having a third electrical contact for coupling to an off-grid output terminal of the inverter, and a manually activated multi-position switch, wherein in a first position, only the first contact portion is activated to allow power transfer between the utility grid, the on-grid AC terminal of the inverter and a main electrical panel, and in the second position, only the second contact portion is activated to allow power transfer from the off-grid output terminal of the inverter to the main electrical panel.

Manual transfer switch for onsite energy generation and storage systems

Embodiments disclose an energy generation system including a photovoltaic (PV) array including a plurality of PV modules for generating direct current (DC) power, a plurality of power converter pairs coupled to the plurality of PV modules and configured to convert the generated DC power to alternating current (AC) power, and a plurality of battery packs coupled to the plurality of power converter pairs. Each power converter pair of the plurality of power converter pairs includes a DC-to-DC converter coupled to a DC-to-AC inverter, where the DC-to-DC converter is directly coupled to a respective PV module. Furthermore, each battery pack is directly coupled to a respective DC-to-DC converter and configured to store DC power from the respective PV module and output stored DC power to the respective power converter pair.

Micro-batteries for energy generation systems

A battery pack for an energy generation system includes a cell array of conductively interconnected power cells configured to store and discharge energy, a direct current (DC)-to-DC converter coupled to the cell array and configured to receive power from the cell array during discharging of the cell array or to output power to the cell array during charging of the cell array, a pair of output terminals coupled to the DC-to-DC converter for coupling with an external device; and an are fault detection system coupled between the DC-to-DC converter and the pair of output terminals. The are fault detection system includes a first sensor for measuring power transmitted between the DC-to-DC converter and the pair of output terminals and a controller coupled to the first sensor and configured to disable the battery pack based on a measurement of the power transmitted between the DC-to-DC converter and the output terminals.

Arc fault detection for battery packs in energy generation systems

Embodiments disclose solar energy generation systems with automatic smart transfer switches. An energy generation system, including an energy generation device, an energy generation inverter coupled to the energy generation device and configured to convert direct current (DC) power from the energy generation device to alternating current (AC) power, a battery pack, a storage inverter coupled to the battery pack, where the storage inverter is configured to convert DC power from the battery pack to AC power and to convert AC power into DC power for storing energy into the battery pack, and a smart main electrical panel coupled to receive AC power from at least one of the energy generation inverter, the storage inverter, and a utility grid, where the smart main electrical panel includes one or more motorized circuit breakers configured to be remotely controlled to manage the power flow to one or more loads.

Smart main electrical panel for energy generation systems

A method of monitoring state of health for an energy generation system includes receiving a measurement of a parameter of an electrical component in the PV energy generation system at an instance in time, referencing a look-up table containing several values of the parameter representing an expected degradation trend across a progression of time for the electrical component, comparing the measurement to an expected value of the expected degradation trend for a period of time corresponding to the instance in time, and initiating a preventative measure based upon the comparison between the measurement and the expected value of the expected degradation trend.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Sandeep Narla