Patent ID: 11967930
Assignee: TIGO ENERGY, INC.
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  Y | IPC H

Claim 6:
7. A photovoltaic module, comprising:
a plurality of photovoltaic cells;
a local controller; and
at least one switch coupled between the photovoltaic module and an output of the photovoltaic module,
wherein the output of the photovoltaic module is configured to be serially connected to a power bus,
wherein the power bus includes a diode coupled in series with the power bus,

wherein the local controller controlling a duty cycle of the least one switch to adjust a voltage of the output of the photovoltaic module, the local controller verifying communication with a central controller by determining whether the communication with the central controller has been interrupted for a time period longer than a threshold number of allowed skips,
wherein the communication is a power line communication, and the power line communication is a signal whose modulation represents coded information;

the at least one switch reducing the voltage of the output of the photovoltaic module independently of the power bus in response to the local controller failing to verify the communication with the central controller for the time period longer than the threshold number of allowed skips,
wherein reducing the output voltage from the photovoltaic module to the power bus comprises opening and closing the at least one switch at a particular duty cycle such that a portion of the output voltage from the photovoltaic module is provided to the power bus,
wherein the local controller is configured to connect the photovoltaic module to the power bus when a restart signal is received,

wherein the local controller includes a bypass path for a current to go through the local controller without passing through the diode when the photovoltaic module is disconnected from the power bus.