Patent ID: 7608937

Claim:
A power generation system, comprising: a power converter having a housing, a rectifier, a DC voltage bus, an inverter, and a power converter controller, the rectifier, the DC voltage bus, the inverter and the power converter controller being disposed in the housing, the DC voltage bus being electrically coupled to both the rectifier and the inverter, the controller operably communicating with the inverter, the rectifier configured to receive a first AC voltage and to convert the first AC voltage to a first DC voltage, the DC voltage bus configured to route the first DC voltage to the inverter, the inverter configured to convert the first DC voltage to a second AC voltage and to output the second AC voltage to an electrical grid in response to a first control signal from the power converter controller; a DC-DC converter operably coupled to the DC voltage bus, the DC-DC converter configured to receive the first DC voltage from the DC voltage bus and to store electrical energy from the first DC voltage in a battery storage unit in response to a second control signal, the DC-DC converter further configured to output a second DC voltage that is routed through the DC voltage bus to the inverter in response to a third control signal; and the inverter of the power converter further configured to convert the second DC voltage to a third AC voltage and to output the third AC voltage on the electrical grid in response to a fourth control signal from the power converter controller.