Smart main electrical panel for energy generation systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11050260-B2
Application number	US-201615281041-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2016
Priority date	Aug 17, 2016
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

Embodiments disclose solar energy generation systems with automatic smart transfer switches. An energy generation system, including an energy generation device, an energy generation inverter coupled to the energy generation device and configured to convert direct current (DC) power from the energy generation device to alternating current (AC) power, a battery pack, a storage inverter coupled to the battery pack, where the storage inverter is configured to convert DC power from the battery pack to AC power and to convert AC power into DC power for storing energy into the battery pack, and a smart main electrical panel coupled to receive AC power from at least one of the energy generation inverter, the storage inverter, and a utility grid, where the smart main electrical panel includes one or more motorized circuit breakers configured to be remotely controlled to manage the power flow to one or more loads.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An energy generation system, comprising:
an energy generation device;
an energy generation inverter coupled to the energy generation device and configured to convert direct current (DC) power from the energy generation device to alternating current (AC) power;
a battery pack;
a storage inverter coupled to the battery pack, wherein the storage inverter is configured to convert DC power from the battery pack to AC power and to convert AC power into DC power for storing energy into the battery pack;
a smart main electrical panel coupled to receive AC power from at least one of the energy generation inverter, the storage inverter, and a utility grid, wherein the smart main electrical panel comprises a plurality of motorized circuit breakers configured to be remotely controlled to manage the power flow to a plurality of loads, each of the plurality of motorized circuit breakers including a sensor configured to measure an amount of power flowing to a respective load of the plurality of loads; and
a panel controller configured to receive and record the measured amount of power that is received from the sensors of the plurality of motorized circuit breakers and in response to a reduced amount of power being available to the smart electrical panel, remotely control which of the plurality of motorized circuit breakers are open based on the recorded power usage data.

2. The energy generation system of claim 1 , wherein each motorized circuit breaker is configured to be remotely switched to enable or interrupt power flow between the storage inverter and the one or more loads.

3. The energy generation system of claim 1 , wherein the panel controller is positioned within the storage inverter.

4. The energy generation system of claim 1 , wherein each sensor is a current sensor or a voltage sensor.

5. The energy generation system of claim 1 , wherein the panel controller is configured to record the amount of power flowing to each load of the plurality of loads.

6. The energy generation system of claim 5 , wherein the panel controller is further configured to manage the operation of the plurality of motorized circuit breakers based upon the feedback information.

7. The energy generation system of claim 1 , further comprising an automatic smart transfer switch coupled between the storage inverter and the smart main electrical panel.

8. The energy generation system of claim 7 , wherein the automatic smart transfer switch is configured to switch between a first position and a second position, wherein the automatic smart transfer switch couples the utility grid to the smart main electrical panel in the first position, and couples the storage inverter to the smart main electrical panel in the second position.

9. An electrical panel for an energy generation system, comprising:
a plurality of motorized switches disposed in the electrical panel and configured to be remotely opened and closed based on a control signal from a panel controller, each motorized switch of the plurality of motorized switches comprising:
a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is configured to receive power from an inverter and the second end is configured to output power to a load circuit through an output line;
a sensor configured to measure an amount of current or power flow through the output line to the load circuit; and

a feedback line coupled between the panel controller and the sensor, wherein the feedback line provides an avenue through which the measured amount of current or power flow transmitted to each load circuit may be received and recorded by the panel controller, wherein in response to a reduced amount of power being available to the electrical panel the control signal generated by the panel controller is based on the measured amount of power that is received through the feedback line from the sensors of the plurality of motorized switches and upon power usage data recorded by the panel controller.

10. The circuit breaker of claim 9 , wherein a first motorized switch of the plurality of motorized switches controls the flow of energy to a first load circuit and a second motorized switch of the plurality of motorized controls the flow of energy to a second load circuit different than the first load circuit.

11. The electrical panel of claim 9 , wherein when the reduced amount of power is available, the control signal is configured using one or more different circuit breaker profiles that are based on the power usage data recorded by the panel controller.

Assignees

• Tesla Inc

Inventors

• Narla Sandeep
• Lutkus Andrew Russell

Classifications

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J3/388

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• H02J3/381

  Dispersed generators · CPC title

• H02J9/061 Primary

  for DC powered loads · CPC title

• Y02E10/56

  Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers · CPC title