IP Library Granted Patent US 12676468
Granted Patent B2
US 12676468 · App. 18/568,821 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Shutdown device control method and apparatus, and shutdown device

Inventors: Dongming Zhou (Jiaxing, CN); Yuhao Luo (Jiaxing, CN); Xiao Lu (Jiaxing, CN); Fei Shen (Jiaxing, CN); Xuan Zhu (Jiaxing, CN)
Assignee: ALTENERGY POWER SYSTEM INC.
H02H3/08G06F1/30H02H1/0007
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12676468
App. No.
18/568,821
Granted
Jul 7, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method and an apparatus for controlling a shutoff device, and a shutoff device. The shutoff device includes N main switching transistors and N bypass switching transistors. The method includes: controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on after receiving a heartbeat signal; determining whether a power supply voltage of a processor is less than a first under-voltage protection voltage; and if so, controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned off, and controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on. Thus, N photovoltaic modules and N main switching transistors corresponding to a shutoff device are separated from multiple photovoltaic module groups, so that the photovoltaic module groups corresponding to other shutoff devices can normally output DC voltage to an inverter, and the inverter can normally output AC power for integration into a power grid, thereby ensuring the normal operation of the photovoltaic system.

Claims (46)

1 . A method for controlling a shutoff device, applied to a processor of the shutoff device,

wherein the shutoff device comprises N main switching transistors corresponding to N photovoltaic modules one by one and N bypass switching transistors corresponding to the N photovoltaic modules one by one;

wherein a positive terminal of a power supply of the processor is connected to an output positive terminal of a first photovoltaic module, a negative terminal of the power supply of the processor is connected to an output negative terminal of an i-th photovoltaic module, a first terminal of a first main switching transistor is an output positive terminal of the shutoff device, a second terminal of an i-th main switching transistor is connected to an output positive terminal of the i-th photovoltaic module, a first terminal of an (i+1)-th main switching transistor is connected to an output negative terminal of the i-th photovoltaic module, an output negative terminal of a N-th photovoltaic module is an output negative terminal of the shutoff device, a first terminal of each bypass switching transistor is connected to a first terminal of a corresponding main switching transistor, a second terminal of said bypass switching transistor is connected to an output negative terminal of the corresponding photovoltaic module, wherein N≥i≥1, and N and i are both integers;

wherein the method comprises:

controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on after receiving a heartbeat signal;

determining whether a power supply voltage of the processor is less than a first under-voltage protection voltage; and

when determining that the power supply voltage of the processor is less than the first under-voltage protection voltage, controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned off, and controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein before the determining whether a power supply voltage of the processor is less than a first under-voltage protection voltage, the method further comprises:

determining whether the power supply voltage of the processor is less than a second under-voltage protection voltage, the second under-voltage protection voltage being less than the first under-voltage protection voltage;

when determining that the power supply voltage is not less than the second under-voltage protection voltage, proceeding to the step of determining whether the power supply voltage of the processor is less than the first under-voltage protection voltage; and

when determining that the power supply voltage is less than the second under-voltage protection voltage, controlling the processor to be powered off, controlling the processor to be powered on after receiving a power on command, and proceeding to the step of determining whether the power supply voltage of the processor is less than the second under-voltage protection voltage.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bypass switching transistor is a Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor, MOSFET, and the MOSFET comprises a body diode;

wherein after the controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned off, the method further comprises:

obtaining a bypass current through said bypass switching transistor;

determining whether the bypass current is greater than a preset current; and

when determining that the bypass current is greater than the preset current, controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the determining whether the bypass current is greater than the preset current comprises:

determining whether the bypass current is continuously greater than the preset current during a first preset period; and

when determining that the bypass current is continuously greater than the preset current during the first preset period, proceeding to the step of controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein after the controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned off and controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on, the method further comprises:

determining whether a turning-on period of the N bypass switching transistors reaches a second preset period;

when determining that the turning-on period of the N bypass switching transistors reaches the second preset period, controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned off, and proceeding to the step of controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on.

6 . The method according to claim 5 ,

wherein the controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on comprises:

controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on by staggering peaks; and

wherein the controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned off comprises:

controlling an order of controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned off to be the same as an order of controlling the corresponding N main switching transistors to be turned on by staggering peaks.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein after the determining whether a power supply voltage of the processor is less than a first under-voltage protection voltage, the method further comprises:

when determining that the power supply voltage of the processor is not less than the first under-voltage protection voltage, obtaining operation information of the N photovoltaic modules;

based on the operation information, determining whether there is a photovoltaic module with abnormal operation in the N photovoltaic modules; and

when determining that there is the photovoltaic module with abnormal operation, controlling a main switching transistor corresponding to the photovoltaic module with abnormal operation to be turned off, and controlling a bypass switching transistor corresponding to the photovoltaic module with abnormal operation to be turned on.

8 . An apparatus for controlling a shutoff device, comprising:

a memory of the apparatus, configured to store a computer program; and

a processor of the apparatus, configured to implement a method for controlling the shutoff device when executes the computer program;

wherein the method for controlling the shutoff device is applied to a processor of the shutoff device;

wherein the shutoff device comprises N main switching transistors corresponding to N photovoltaic modules one by one and N bypass switching transistors corresponding to the N photovoltaic modules one by one;

wherein a positive terminal of a power supply of the processor is connected to an output positive terminal of a first photovoltaic module, a negative terminal of the power supply of the processor is connected to an output negative terminal of an i-th photovoltaic module, a first terminal of a first main switching transistor is an output positive terminal of the shutoff device, a second terminal of an i-th main switching transistor is connected to an output positive terminal of the i-th photovoltaic module, a first terminal of an (i+1)-th main switching transistor is connected to an output negative terminal of the i-th photovoltaic module, an output negative terminal of a N-th photovoltaic module is an output negative terminal of the shutoff device, a first terminal of each bypass switching transistor is connected to a first terminal of a corresponding main switching transistor, a second terminal of said bypass switching transistor is connected to an output negative terminal of the corresponding photovoltaic module, wherein N≥i≥1, and N and i are both integers; and

wherein the method comprises:

controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned on after receiving a heartbeat signal;

determining whether a power supply voltage of the processor is less than a first under-voltage protection voltage; and

when determining that the power supply voltage of the processor is less than the first under-voltage protection voltage, controlling the N main switching transistors to be turned off, and controlling the N bypass switching transistors to be turned on.

9 . A shutoff device, comprising:

the apparatus for controlling the shutoff device according to claim 8 .

10 . The shutoff device according to claim 9 , further comprising: a diode, a first capacitor and a second capacitor;

wherein an anode of the diode is connected to the output positive terminal of the first photovoltaic module, a cathode of the diode is connected to a first terminal of the first capacitor and the positive terminal of the power supply of the processor respectively, a second terminal of the first capacitor is connected to an output negative terminal of the first photovoltaic module and a first terminal of the second capacitor respectively, the first terminal of the second capacitor is respectively connected to the output terminal of the power supply of the processor and a terminal of a power supply of an electrical apparatus in the shutoff device; and

wherein the processor is further configured to convert a voltage of the positive terminal of the power supply of the processor to supply power to the electrical apparatus in the shutoff device.