Patent ID: 9172312
Filing Date: 2015-10-27
Classification: H01L,H02H,H02M,Y02E

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for harvesting solar power, said apparatus comprising a photovoltaic array for generating a DC voltage, a discharge circuit having an input for receiving said DC voltage from said photovoltaic array, an output on which is present an output DC voltage that decays in response to activity of said discharge circuit from a first value equal to said DC voltage from said photovoltaic array, said first value being in excess of a maximum power point operating voltage of said photovoltaic array and in excess of a safe operating voltage for said inverter circuit to a second value being a safe operating voltage for said inverter circuit and one of greater than the maximum power point operating voltage and less than the maximum power point operating voltage of said photovoltaic array, and a discharge switch for discharging said discharge circuit, an inverter circuit directly connected in parallel with said discharge circuit such that said output DC voltage of said discharge circuit is an input voltage of said inverter circuit, said inverter circuit being configured to resume interaction with said photovoltaic array after a cessation of interaction between said inverter circuit and said photovoltaic array, and following resumption, to resume transforming an output voltage from said discharge circuit into an AC voltage when said output DC voltage of said discharge circuit has completed decaying from said first value to said second value, and a discharge controller for controlling said discharge circuit, said discharge controller being programmed to control decay of said DC voltage by closing said discharge switch until said second value is reached and to re-open said discharge switch after resumption of interaction between said inverter circuit and said photovoltaic array; and said discharge controller being programmed to control said DC voltage present at the input terminal of said inverter to settle from the second value to the maximum power point operating voltage.