System, method, and aparatus for extracting power from a photovoltaic source of electrical energy

1. A photovoltaic system, comprising:

a photovoltaic source of electrical energy, the photovoltaic source comprising power-generating characteristics defined by a family of source voltage-current curves comprising points of maximum electrical power over a respective range of at least one of the following for the photovoltaic source: distinct illumination intensities and distinct temperatures;

a resistive divider network for sensing voltage from the photovoltaic source;

a gain amplifier for receiving the sensed voltage from the resistive divider network and amplifying the sensed voltage from the resistive divider network;

a switching converter coupled to the photovoltaic source and comprising an input voltage-current curve having a predefined functional relationship between an input voltage and an input current configured to provide a cubic fit approximation with respect to at least some of the points of maximum electrical power for the photovoltaic source, the switching converter further comprising at least one switch and a pulse width modulator for receiving the amplified sensed voltage from the gain amplifier to establish a directly proportional relationship between a duty cycle of the switching converter and the voltage from the photovoltaic source and for supplying gating signals to the at least one switch for operating the switching converter in a discontinuous conduction mode to establish a relationship between the input current of the switching converter, the input voltage of the switching converter, and a square of the duty cycle of the switching converter that is the cubic fit approximation of at least some of the points of maximum electrical power on the source voltage-current curves without having to perform current and voltage calculations corresponding to a maximum power from the photovoltaic source.

2. The photovoltaic system of claim 1 , where the switching converter comprises a type of converter selected from the group consisting of a flyback, and a buck-boost type of converter.

3. The photovoltaic system of claim 1 , wherein a section of the photovoltaic source is masked to avoid a response due to illumination, and wherein an electrical signal from the masked section is used for sensing temperature of the photovoltaic source.

4. The photovoltaic system of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of switching converters each coupled to receive electrical power from a respective photovoltaic source comprising power-generating characteristics defined by a family of voltage-current curves comprising points of maximum electrical power over a respective range of at least one of the following for the photovoltaic source: distinct illumination intensities and distinct temperatures, wherein each individual converter comprises an input voltage-current curve having a predefined functional relationship between an input voltage and an input current configured to provide a cubic fit approximation with respect to at least some of the points of maximum electrical power for the respective photovoltaic source, and further wherein each individual converter output is connected to one another to form a circuit combination so that a desired scaling of output power is reached.

5. The photovoltaic system of claim 4 , wherein the circuit combination is selected from a group consisting of a series circuit, a parallel circuit and a combination of the foregoing circuits.

6. The photovoltaic system of claim 4 , wherein each individual converter comprises a DC-to-DC converter.

7. The photovoltaic system of claim 1 , wherein the photovoltaic source comprises a first face exposed to illumination and a second face opposite the first face not exposed to illumination and wherein the converter is integrated with the photovoltaic source at the second face thereof.

8. Apparatus for harvesting electrical energy from a photovoltaic source of electrical energy, the photovoltaic source comprising power-generating characteristics defined by a family of source voltage-current curves comprising points of maximum electrical power over a respective range of at least one of the following for the photovoltaic source: distinct illumination intensities and distinct temperatures, the apparatus comprising;

a resistive divider network for sensing voltage from the photovoltaic source;

a gain amplifier for receiving the sensed voltage from the resistive divider network and amplifying the sensed voltage from the resistive divider network;

a switching converter coupled to the photovoltaic source and comprising an input voltage-current curve having a predefined functional relationship between an input voltage and an input current configured to provide a cubic fit approximation with respect to at least some of the points of maximum electrical power for the photovoltaic source, the switching converter further comprising at least one switch and a pulse width modulator for receiving the amplified sensed voltage from the gain amplifier to establish a directly proportional relationship between a duty cycle of the switching converter and the voltage from the photovoltaic source, and for supplying gating signals to the at least one switch for operating the switching converter in a discontinuous conduction mode to establish a relationship between the input current of the switching converter, the input voltage of the switching converter, and a square of the duty cycle of the switching converter, that is the cubic fit approximation of at least some of the points of maximum electrical power on the source voltage-current curves without having to perform current and voltage calculations corresponding to a maximum power from the photovoltaic source.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , where the switching converter comprises a type of converter selected from the group consisting of a flyback and a buck-boost type of converter.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising a plurality of switching converters each coupled to receive electrical power from a respective photovoltaic source comprising power-generating characteristics defined by a family of voltage-current curves comprising points of maximum electrical power over a respective range of at least one of the following for the photovoltaic source: distinct illumination intensities and distinct temperatures, wherein each individual converter comprises an input voltage-current curve having a predefined functional relationship between an input voltage and an input current configured to provide a cubic fit approximation with respect to at least some of the points of maximum electrical power for the respective photovoltaic source, and further wherein each individual converter output is connected to one another to form a circuit combination so that a desired scaling of output power is reached.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circuit combination is selected from a group consisting of a series circuit, a parallel circuit and a combination of the foregoing circuits.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each individual converter comprises a DC-to-DC converter.

13. The photovoltaic system of claim 1 , wherein at least one electrical component of the photovoltaic system comprises a thermally-sensitive component.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one electrical component of the apparatus comprises a thermally-sensitive component.