IP Library Granted Patent US 12671361
Granted Patent B2
US 12671361 · App. 17/761,375 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Solar module

Inventor: Hiroyuki Kamata (Tokyo, JP)
Assignees: CLEAN ENERGY FACTORY CO., LTD.; MERS FORS CO., LTD.
H02S40/36H02S50/00
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12671361
App. No.
17/761,375
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

To provide a solar module enabling prevention of a large decrease in power generation efficiency by decoupling only a cell group where an in-module failure has occurred. A solar module in which a plurality of solar cell groups, each including a plurality of solar cells, is arranged and connected via an in-module parallel connection line, wherein the solar cell groups each include a cell group controller that monitors a power generation state of the solar cells in the solar cell group and that has a switch for decoupling the solar cell group from the in-module parallel connection line upon detection of a power generation amount falling below a preset value.

Claims (9)

1 . A solar module comprising:

a plurality of solar cell groups, each comprising a plurality of solar cells,

an in-module parallel connection line connecting the plurality of solar cell groups,

cell group controllers, each being connected to each of the solar cell groups and monitoring a power generation state of the solar cells in one solar cell group, each cell group controller having a switch for decoupling the one cell group from the in-module parallel connection line upon detection of a power generation amount falling below a preset value,

an optimizer connected to the cell group controllers through the in-module parallel connection line and including a boost circuit that boosts generated voltage being input from the solar cell groups via the in-module parallel connection line and outputs to an inter-solar module parallel connection line, wherein the optimizer monitors the power generation state of the cell group controllers and has a switch for decoupling outputs of the cell group controllers from the in-module parallel connection line to the inter-solar module parallel connection line upon detection of a power generation amount of the solar cell groups falling below a preset value, and

a junction box to which monitoring, measurement and control signals of each module transmitted from the optimizer together with power are transmitted, wherein the power is output to a grid line and the signals are output to a relay terminal, wherein

the optimizer is configured to, in response to decoupling the outputs of the cell group controllers, transmit the monitoring, measurement and control signals to the relay terminal with positional data from Global Position System (GPS) to identify a position of the optimizer where the outputs of cell group controllers were decoupled.

2 . The solar module according to claim 1 , wherein

the solar module further comprises, in addition to a GPS antenna configured to receive the positional data from the GPS, a direct solar radiation reception amount sensor, a calendar data table, a latitude table, a direction sensor, and a tilt sensor, an environmental sensor including a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a wind direction/wind force sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor, and a vibration sensor, and carries out transmission and reception of information of monitoring and control by the cell group controller of a status of a power generation site on the basis of the various sensors and obtained data, to and from a monitoring center via the inter-module parallel connection line and a grid line.