Granted Patent B2

US 7,796,412 · App. 11/725,763 · Granted Sep 14, 2010

Abstract

Claims (29)

1. Apparatus for converting Direct Current (DC) to Alternating Current (AC), comprising:

a conversion circuit for receiving the DC and converting the DC to the AC using at least one flyback mode of a plurality of flyback modes of operation of a flyback converter, wherein the plurality of flyback modes comprises at least two of regular flyback, interleaved flyback, and quasi-resonant flyback; and

a controller, coupled to the conversion circuit, for generating control signals to select the at least one flyback mode from the plurality of flyback modes of operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the controller comprises:

a memory for storing data representing the control signals; and

a sequencer for sequentially selecting the data from the memory to produce the control signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the conversion circuit comprises a sampling circuit for sampling at least one of a DC current, a DC voltage, and an AC line voltage and coupling at least one sample to the controller.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the controller selects the at least one flyback mode in response to the at least one sample.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller selects the at least one flyback mode to produce effective maximum power point tracking.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller selects the interleaved flyback mode as a result of a power requirement exceeding a power threshold.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein flyback mode selection dynamically occurs during an AC line voltage cycle.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the conversion circuit is phase locked to an AC power grid voltage.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the conversion circuit comprises an input circuit, at least one power stage and an output circuit.

10. A method for converting direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC), comprising:

monitoring at least one of an input signal and output signal of a conversion circuit;

selecting, in response to monitored signals from the monitoring step, at least one flyback mode from a plurality of flyback modes for operation of a flyback converter, wherein the plurality of flyback modes comprises at least two of regular flyback, interleaved flyback and quasi-resonant flyback; and

converting the DC to the AC utilizing the conversion circuit operating in the at least one flyback mode.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the monitored signals comprise at least one of a DC voltage, a DC current, and an AC voltage.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the selecting is based upon a state of the DC voltage and the DC current.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the interleaved flyback is selected when a power requirement for the conversion circuit exceeds a predefined power threshold.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the monitored signals form an address for accessing data representing control signals for selecting the at least one flyback mode.

15. Apparatus for generating solar power comprising:

at least one solar panel for producing direct current (DC) from sunlight;

a micro-inverter coupled to each of the at least one solar panels for converting the DC into alternating current (AC) using at least one selected flyback mode that is selected from a plurality of flyback modes of operation of a flyback converter;

an electric panel, coupled to the micro-inverter, for controlling distribution of the AC;

an electric meter, coupled to the electric panel, for measuring an amount of the AC that is coupled to a power grid.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the plurality of flyback modes comprises at least two of a regular flyback mode, an interleaved flyback mode, and quasi-resonant flyback mode.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the interleaved flyback mode utilizes at least two power stages within the micro-inverter.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the micro-inverter comprises a conversion circuit and a controller, where the controller controls a mode of operation of the conversion circuit.

Assignments (9)