Granted Patent B2

US 12,323,100 · App. 18/394,942 · Granted Jun 3, 2025

Inventors: Ron Hadar (Capitola, CA); Shmuel Arditi (Discovery Bay, CA); James Bickford (Tacoma, WA)

Assignee: Tigo Energy, Inc.

H02S50/00G01R31/00H02J3/38H02J3/388H02S50/10H10F77/955H02J3/001H02J2300/24H04B2203/5458Y02E10/50

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. A watch dog unit comprising:

connectors to couple the watch dog unit between a solar module and a power bus, the power bus configured to connect a plurality of solar modules to an inverter;

a first controller configured to:

monitor a power line communication sent on the power bus from a second controller remote from the first controller,

wherein the power line communication is a signal whose modulation represents coded information, and

determine whether the power line communication has been interrupted; and

shut down the solar module from the power bus in response to the determination that the power line communication has been interrupted;

wherein the watch dog unit is configured to connect the solar module to the power bus when the power line communication is not interrupted;

wherein the watch dog unit includes a bypass path for a current to go through the watch dog unit when the solar module is disconnected from the power bus.

2. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein to shut down the solar module comprises disconnecting the solar module from the power bus.

3. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein the watch dog unit is configured to shut down the solar module from the power bus in response to the determination that the power line communication from the second controller does not match the coded signal.

4. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein the watch dog unit is further configured to wait for a restart signal.

5. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , further configured to draw energy from a backup energy source when a primary energy source is not available.

6. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , further comprising a junction box housing the watch dog unit, the junction box to provide connectivity between the solar module and the power bus.

7. The watch dog unit of claim 6 , wherein the first controller is configured to control at least one component to control an output voltage from the junction box.

8. The watch dog unit of claim 7 , wherein the first controller is configured to operate using power from the solar module.

9. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , further comprising a bypass circuit configured to enable current in the power bus to bypass the solar module in response to shutting down the solar module from the power bus.

10. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein the watch dog unit is configured to determine irregularity in periodicity of the power line communication to determine whether the communication is interrupted.

11. The watch dog unit of claim 10 , wherein the communication is interrupted when a threshold of irregularity is surpassed.

12. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein the communication is interrupted when the second controller fails to send the communication.

13. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , further comprising the solar module; and

a junction box coupled with the solar module to provide connectivity to the power bus, wherein the watch dog unit resides in the junction box.

14. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , further configured to disconnect the solar module from the power bus when the watch dog unit receives a shut down signal.

15. The watch dog unit of claim 1 , wherein the watch dog unit wirelessly communicates with the second controller.

Assignments (3)

Continuity (17)

References Cited (205)