The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 25, 2011
Filed:
Jan. 09, 2009
Domenico Ragonese, San Gregorio, IT;
Francesco Pulvirenti, Acireale, IT;
Natale Aiello, Trecastagni, IT;
Nicola Nigido, Aci Catena, IT;
Santo Ilardo, Leonforte, IT;
Salvatore Di Fazio, Leonforte, IT;
Domenico Ragonese, San Gregorio, IT;
Francesco Pulvirenti, Acireale, IT;
Natale Aiello, Trecastagni, IT;
Nicola Nigido, Aci Catena, IT;
Santo Ilardo, Leonforte, IT;
Salvatore Di Fazio, Leonforte, IT;
STMicroelectronics S.r.l., Agrate Brianza, IT;
Abstract
A photovoltaic energy conversion system includes a distributed control structure for groups of cells of each multi-cellular panel, the components of which are entirely physically integrated in the photovoltaic panel. Each multi-cellular photovoltaic panel has a DC bus, supplied in parallel by a plurality of DC-DC converters, each provided with a controller that controls the working point of the photovoltaic cells coupled to the input of the DC-DC converter for a maximum yield of electric power by implementing a relatively simple MPPT algorithm. The controller includes a logic circuit and A/D converters of analog signals representing the input voltage and the input current generated by the group of cells that is coupled to the input of the DC-DC converter and optionally also of the output voltage of the converter, and a relatively simple D/A converter of the drive control signal of the power switch of the DC-DC converter.