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. 05, 2015
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2012
Yu Liu, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Charles John Luebke, Hartland, WI (US);
Christopher Scott Thompson, Kingston, RI (US);
Yu Liu, Milwaukee, WI (US);
Charles John Luebke, Hartland, WI (US);
Christopher Scott Thompson, Kingston, RI (US);
Eaton Corporation, Cleveland, OH (US);
Abstract
A PV system includes a plurality of PV strings configured to generate a string output power responsive to received solar irradiation, with a source conductor and a return conductor being provided from the PV strings. One or more DC voltage regulators are electrically connected to the PV strings on at least one of the source or return conductors, with the DC voltage regulator being configured to regulate the voltage of a respective PV string or group of strings. A controller selectively controls a voltage output by the DC voltage regulator and is programmed to periodically cause the DC voltage regulator to alter the voltage of a PV string or group of strings, detect a change in current in the respective PV string(s) responsive to the altering of the voltage, and perform at least one of a PV string degradation detection and causal diagnosis and a grounded conductor fault detection.