Mitigation of arc flash hazard in photovoltaic power plants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10211625-B2
Application number	US-201514958699-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2015
Priority date	Sep 18, 2012
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

Arc flash mitigation devices are employed to protect personnel during maintenance of photovoltaic inverters. During normal operation, an alternating current (AC) output of a photovoltaic inverter is coupled to a low voltage winding of a step up transformer through a bus-bar (e.g., an electrically conductive interconnect), which has higher current rating than a fuse. During maintenance, the bus-bar is replaced with the fuse. The fuse may be employed in conjunction with a switch. The switch may be a disconnect switch that places the bus-bar in parallel with the fuse during normal operation, and decouples the bus-bar from the fuse during maintenance. The switch may also be a transfer switch that places either the bus-bar or the fuse in series with the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter and the low voltage winding of the step up transformer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a photovoltaic inverter that converts direct current (DC) generated by solar cells to alternating current (AC) that is provided at an AC output of the photovoltaic inverter;
a step up transformer having a low voltage winding on a low voltage side and a high voltage winding on a high voltage side, the high voltage winding being coupled to a utility grid; and
a switch-fuse link comprising a fuse and a switch, the switch comprising a first terminal and a second terminal, the second terminal being coupled to the low voltage winding, the switch further comprising a contact that connects the first terminal to the second terminal in a normal operation mode such that the AC generated by the photovoltaic inverter flows to the low voltage winding through the contact in the normal operation mode, the contact disconnects the first terminal from the second terminal in a maintenance mode such that the AC generated by the photovoltaic inverter flows to the low voltage winding through the fuse in the maintenance mode.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the switch comprises a single-throw disconnect switch.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first terminal is coupled to the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter and the fuse is connected across the first terminal and the second terminal in both the normal operation and maintenance modes.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the contact forms an electrical short across the fuse in the normal operation mode.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the switch comprises a double-throw transfer switch.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the fuse is connected to a third terminal of the switch.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the fuse couples the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter to the third terminal in both the normal operation and maintenance modes.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter is coupled to the first terminal in both the normal operation and maintenance modes.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the switch-fuse link is installed within a protective enclosure that houses the step up transformer.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the fuse is rated to carry less than a full rated current of the photovoltaic inverter.

11. A system comprising:
a photovoltaic inverter that converts direct current (DC) generated by solar cells to alternating current (AC) that is provided at an AC output of the photovoltaic inverter;
a step up transformer having a low voltage winding on a low voltage side and a high voltage winding on a high voltage side, the high voltage winding being coupled to a utility grid; and
a fuse that couples the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter to the low voltage winding of the step up transformer in a maintenance mode of the system, the fuse being rated to carry less than a full rated current of the photovoltaic inverter.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fuse is a fast acting fuse.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein a bus-bar, instead of the fuse, couples the AC output of the photovoltaic inverter to the low voltage winding of the step up transformer in a normal operation mode of the system.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising an interconnect holder comprising a first contact and a second contact, wherein the fuse is across the first and second contacts in the maintenance mode and the bus-bar instead of the fuse is across the first and second contacts in the normal operation mode.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the fuse and the bus-bar have a common physical spacing layout and termination footprint.

16. A method of performing maintenance on a photovoltaic system comprising:
powering OFF a photovoltaic inverter;
replacing a bus-bar that couples an alternating current (AC) output of the photovoltaic inverter to a low voltage winding of a step up transformer with a fuse that is rated to carry less than a full rated current of the photovoltaic inverter;
powering ON the photovoltaic inverter; and
performing maintenance on the photovoltaic inverter while the photovoltaic inverter is powered ON and the fuse is in place instead of the bus-bar.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
powering OFF the photovoltaic inverter after performing maintenance on the photovoltaic inverter;
replacing the fuse with the bus-bar; and
powering ON the photovoltaic inverter for normal operation with the bus-bar in place instead of the fuse.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
disconnecting a high voltage side of the step up transformer prior to replacing the bus-bar with the fuse.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the fuse comprises a fast acting fuse.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the method of claim 16 is performed on another photovoltaic inverter in a same inverter station as the photovoltaic inverter.

Assignees

• Sunpower Corp

Inventors

• Sivakumar Seshadri
• Lian Jiyong
• Konala Venkat Reddy
• Barr David
• Sirisooriya Priyantha
• Ahmad Jacqueline
• Spokes Jason

Classifications

• H02S40/36

  characterised by special electrical interconnection means between two or more PV modules, e.g. electrical module-to-module connection · CPC title

• H02M7/00

  Conversion of AC power input into DC power output; Conversion of DC power input into AC power output · CPC title

• Y02E10/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] energy · CPC title

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J3/381 Primary

  Dispersed generators · CPC title