Power supply circuits

1. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit for providing power from a photovoltaic device to an alternating current mains power supply line, the circuit comprising:

a DC input to receive DC power from said photovoltaic device;

an AC output configured for direct connection to said AC mains power supply line;

a DC-to-AC converter coupled to said DC input and to said AC output to convert DC power from said photovoltaic device to AC power for output onto said power supply line;

an electronic controller directly coupled to said power supply line to measure a voltage of said power supply line and a current in said power supply line and to control said DC-to-AC converter responsive to said measuring, and

wherein said controller is configured to determine first and second frequencies of said voltage in said power supply line and of said current in said power supply line respectively, and to control said DC-to-AC converter responsive to a difference between said first and second frequencies, and

wherein said controller is further configured to control said DC-to-AC converter to change an operating frequency of said converter, to monitor said first and second frequencies of said voltage in said power supply line and of said current in said power supply line, respectively, to determine whether said first frequency substantially follows said second frequency during said change, and upon determining that said first frequency substantially follows said second frequency during said change, inhibiting power output from said photovoltaic device to said mains power supply line.

2. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 comprising a plurality of power semiconductor devices, a said power semiconductor device comprising a device conducing power from said photovoltaic device to said mains power supply line; and further comprising a plurality of drivers for said driving power semiconductor devices, and wherein said power devices and said drivers are integrated on a common semiconductor substrate.

3. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 2 wherein said power devices comprise lateral devices and employ silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.

4. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a DC-to-DC converter having an input coupled to said DC input and having an output coupled to an input of said DC-to-AC converter.

5. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a rechargeable battery interface.

6. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) unit coupled to said DC input; and wherein said battery interface has an input coupled to an output of said MPPT circuit.

7. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein said controller comprises a processor coupled to non-volatile program memory storing processor control code to control said processor to measure said voltage and said current and to output a control signal to control said DC-to-AC converter.

8. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said DC-to-AC converter comprises two stages, a first DC stage and a second AC stage linked by a coupling element, the second stage operating at a higher voltage than the first, the first stage comprising a plurality of MOSFETs, the second stage comprising a plurality of IGBTs.

9. A photovoltaic power conditioning circuit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to control a magnitude, a phase, and a frequency of the current in the power supply line.

10. A method of conditioning power from a photovoltaic device for provision to an AC mains power supply line, the method comprising:

reading data for a voltage of said supply line and a current in said supply line into an electronic controller;

determining a first frequency for said voltage in said supply line and a second frequency in said supply line for said current using said electronic controller;

conditioning said power using said electronic controller responsive to a difference between said first and second frequencies by converting DC power from said photovoltaic device to AC power for said AC supply line;

controlling said converting to change said second frequency;

monitoring said first and second frequencies; and

ceasing to supply power to said AC supply line when said controlling results in said first frequency substantially following said second frequency during said change of said second frequency.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein conditioning the power comprises controlling the second frequency.