IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,387,778
Granted Patent B2
US 11,387,778 · App. 16/655,648 · Granted Jul 12, 2022

Photovoltaic system failure and alerting

Inventors: Yury Kosharovsky (Givat Ze'ev, IL); Sharon Haver (Ramat HaSharon, IL); Yaron Binder (Shoham, IL); Lior Handelsman (Givatayim, IL)
Assignee: Solaredge Technologies Ltd.
H02S50/10G01R19/16528G01R19/16538G06F11/327H02S50/00Y02E10/50Y04S10/52
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,387,778
App. No.
16/655,648
Granted
Jul 12, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A fault identification may be triggered by a component of a power generation system (PGS), such as a hardware component, a controller of a hardware component, a device of the PGS, a computer connected to the PGS, a computer configured to monitor the PGS, and/or the like. The fault identification may be the result of a failure of a component of the PGS, a future failure of a component of the PGS, a routine maintenance of the PGS, and/or the like. The fault is converted to a notification on a user interface using a mapping of faults, root-causes, notification rules, and/or the like. The conversion may use one or more lookup tables and/or formulas for determining the impact of the fault on the PGS, and/or the like.

Claims (285)

1. A method comprising:

receiving a fault identification associated with a power generation system, wherein the fault identification comprises a timestamp and a fault type;

retrieving a mapping of faults;

retrieving a set of fault processing rules;

calculating an impact value based on the fault identification and the mapping;

determining, using the set of fault processing rules, a notification based on the fault identification and the impact value; and

presenting, using a user interface, the notification,

wherein the fault identification further comprises an electrical parameter value,

wherein the mapping comprises a formula,

wherein the formula comprises an electrical parameter term, a temporal term, and a root cause term,

wherein the electrical parameter term and the temporal term are based on the fault identification, and

wherein the root cause term is based on one or more root cause impact values calculated according to at least one root cause fault identification determined from:

the mapping, or

the fault identification.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the formula is:

L=e (power,voltage,current)· t (timestamp)− L (root cause fault),

wherein the function e(power, voltage, current) takes as input electrical parameters of power, voltage, or current each associated with the fault identification, wherein the function t(timestamp) takes as input the timestamp indicating when a fault associated with the fault identification was active or will be active at a future time, and wherein the function L(root cause fault) outputs the root cause impact values based on the at least one root cause fault identification.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the impact value is an output of a formula:

L

=

(

α

·

#

⁢

p

+

C

)

·

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

-

L

⁢

⁢

(

all

⁢

⁢

root

⁢

⁢

cause

⁢

⁢

faults

)

wherein α and C denote coefficients based on the fault identification and the set of fault processing rules, wherein #p denotes a number of panels affected, wherein (α·#p+C) denotes a power lost term, wherein

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

denotes the temporal term based on the fault identification, and wherein L(all root cause faults) is the root cause term denoting the root cause impact values.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping comprises at least one hierarchy of fault identifications, and wherein the at least one hierarchy determines at least one root cause identification for at least some of the fault identifications within the at least one hierarchy of fault identifications.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping comprises at least one of: a root cause identification, a plurality of formula coefficients, a lookup table, a fault type policy, or a time dependency.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving metadata associated with the fault identification or the mapping, wherein the notification is based on the metadata.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving additional data from a database or repository, wherein the additional data is associated with the fault identification or the mapping, and wherein the notification is based on the additional data.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the retrieving the additional data is performed using a structured query language or an application programming interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power generation system is a first photovoltaic system in a first geographical region, and wherein the set of fault processing rules comprises a rule for retrieving system fault data from a second photovoltaic system in a second geographical region, and comparing the fault identification or the mappings across the first and second photovoltaic systems for the presenting of the notification.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fault identification is generated by one of: a component of the power generation system, a device associated with the power generation system, a device associated with a manufacturer of at least part of the power generation system, a utility grid, or a third party device associated with the power generation system.

11. A device comprising:

at least one hardware processor;

a user interface; and

a storage medium comprising instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the device to:

receive a fault identification associated with a power generation system, wherein the fault identification comprises a timestamp and a fault type;

retrieve a mapping of faults and retrieve a set of fault processing rules;

calculate an impact value based on the fault identification and the mapping;

determine, using the set of fault processing rules, a notification based on the fault identification and the impact value; and

present, using the user interface, the notification,

wherein the fault identification further comprises an electrical parameter value,

wherein the mapping comprises a formula,

wherein the formula comprises an electrical parameter term, a temporal term, and a root cause term,

wherein the electrical parameter term and the temporal term are based on the fault identification, and

wherein the root cause term is based on one or more root cause impact values calculated according to at least one root cause fault identifications determined from:

the mapping, or

the fault identification.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the formula is:

L=e (power,voltage,current)· t (timestamp)− L (root cause fault),

wherein the function e(power, voltage, current) takes as input electrical parameters of power, voltage, or current each associated with the fault identification, wherein the function t(timestamp) takes as input the timestamp indicating when a fault associated with the fault identification was active or is computed to be active in a future, and wherein the function L(root cause fault) outputs the root cause impact values based on the at least one root cause fault identification.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the impact value is an output of a formula:

L

=

(

α

·

#

⁢

p

+

C

)

·

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

-

L

⁢

⁢

(

all

⁢

⁢

root

⁢

⁢

cause

⁢

⁢

faults

)

wherein α and C denote coefficients based on the fault identification and the set of fault processing rules, wherein #p denotes a number of panels affected, wherein (α·#p+C) denotes a power lost term, wherein

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

denotes the temporal term based on the fault identification, and wherein L(all root cause faults) is the root cause term denoting the root cause impact values.

14. A power device comprising a controller circuit configured to:

receive a fault identification associated with a power generation system, wherein the fault identification comprises a timestamp and a fault type;

retrieve a mapping of faults and retrieve a set of fault processing rules;

calculate an impact value based on the fault identification and the mapping;

determine, using the set of fault processing rules, a notification based on the fault identification and the impact value; and

present, using a user interface, the notification,

wherein the fault identification further comprises an electrical parameter value,

wherein the mapping comprises a formula,

wherein the formula comprises an electrical parameter term, a temporal term, and a root cause term,

wherein the electrical parameter term and the temporal term are based on the fault identification, and

wherein the root cause term is based on one or more root cause impact values calculated according to at least one root cause fault identification determined from:

the mapping, or

the fault identification.

15. The power device of claim 14 , wherein the formula is:

L=e (power,voltage,current)· t (time)− L (root cause faults)

L=e (power,voltage,current)· t (timestamp)− L (root cause fault),

wherein the function e(power, voltage, current) takes as input electrical parameters of power, voltage, or current each associated with the fault identification, wherein the function t(timestamp) takes as input the timestamp indicating when a fault associated with the fault identification was active or will be active at a future time, and wherein the function L(root cause fault) outputs the root cause impact values based on the at least one root cause fault identification.

16. The power device of claim 14 , wherein the impact value is an output of a formula:

L

=

(

α

·

#

⁢

p

+

C

)

·

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

-

L

⁢

⁢

(

all

⁢

⁢

root

⁢

⁢

cause

⁢

⁢

faults

)

wherein α and C denote coefficients based on the fault identification and the set of fault processing rules, wherein #p denotes a number of panels affected, wherein (α·#p+C) denotes a power lost term, wherein

max

days

⁢

(

fault

⁢

⁢

time

⁢

⁢

during

⁢

⁢

each

⁢

⁢

day

12

⁢

⁢

hours

)

denotes the temporal term based on the fault identification, and wherein L(all root cause faults) is the root cause term denoting the root cause impact values.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 16, 2020
From: KOSHAROVSKY, YURY; HAVER, SHARON; BINDER, YARON; HANDELSMAN, LIOR
To: SOLAREDGE TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
Reel/Frame 052121/0361 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62746698 · Oct 17, 2018
Related Publication 20200127604A1 · Apr 23, 2020