IP Library Granted Patent US 8,996,191
Granted Patent B2
US 8,996,191 · App. 13/553,639 · Granted Mar 31, 2015

Techniques for provisioning energy generation and storage systems

Inventors: Eric Daniel Carlson (San Mateo, CA); Karthikeyan Varadarajan (Mountain View, CA)
Assignee: SolarCity Corporation
H01L31/02021H02J3/14H02J3/32H02J2003/143Y02B70/3225Y02B70/3266Y02E10/50Y04S20/222Y04S20/242Y10T29/49117
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,996,191
App. No.
13/553,639
Granted
Mar 31, 2015
Kind
B2
Abstract

Techniques for provisioning energy generation and/or storage systems. In one embodiment, a method is provided that can comprise automatically determining, by a site gateway, information pertaining to one or more components of an energy storage system, where the site gateway and the one or more components are located at a customer site. The method can further comprise configuring, by the site gateway, the energy storage system based on the automatically determined information.

Claims (15)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program code executable by a site gateway, the program code comprising:

code that causes the site gateway to automatically determine information pertaining to one or more components of an energy storage system installed at a customer site, the site gateway and the one or more components being located at the customer site, wherein the code that causes the site gateway to automatically determine the information comprises:

code that causes the site gateway to receive, from a remote server, a component database for the energy storage system;

code that causes the site gateway to receive, from each component in the one or more components, a component identifier that uniquely identifies the component; and

code that causes the site gateway to retrieve, from the component database, the information for the one or more components by querying the component database using the component identifiers; and

code that causes the site gateway to program, based on the automatically determined information, each of the one or more components for operation at the customer site without manual on-site programming.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the energy storage system comprises an energy generation component configured to generate energy via photovoltaic (PV) modules and an energy storage component configured to store energy in a battery device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the information pertaining to the one or more components includes a number of PV modules and inverters and specifications of each PV module and inverter.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the information pertaining to the one or more components includes a number of battery inverter/chargers and specifications of each battery inverter/charger.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the information pertaining to the one or more components includes specifications of the battery device.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein the specifications of the battery device include chemistry, capacity, peak power output, charge limits, or nominal voltage.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the program code further comprises:

code that causes the site gateway to program itself based on the automatically determined information in order to interoperate with the one or more components.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the component identifier received from each component is a model number, a serial number, or a MAC address of the component.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein the component identifier is received from each component via a wireless link.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 6, 2021
From: SOLARCITY CORPORATION
To: TESLA, INC.
Reel/Frame 056172/0062 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 19, 2012
From: CARLSON, ERIC DANIEL; VARADARAJAN, KARTHIKEYAN
To: SOLARCITY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 028592/0471 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20140020244A1 · Jan 23, 2014