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:
May. 06, 2014
Filed:
May. 11, 2011
Matthias Victor, Niestetal, DE;
Frank Greizer, Kaufungen, DE;
Matthias Victor, Niestetal, DE;
Frank Greizer, Kaufungen, DE;
SMA Solar Technology AG, Niestetal, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates an inverter that may be set up as part of a power generation system for the connection of a number of substrings, which, using DC switches, can be connected to each other in series into a string and with the inverter. The inverter includes a bridge circuit to transform the power generated by the string comprising series-connected substrings into a grid-compatible AC voltage and to feed the power into a grid. The inverter also includes a ground fault detector arranged on the AC side of the bridge circuit for ground fault monitoring of the string. A controller connected to the ground fault detector controls the DC switches so that in case of a ground fault, a complete decoupling of the connection of the string from the bridge circuit and a separation of the string into potential-free substrings is performed. A method of operating such a power generation system is also described.