Granted Patent B2

US 12,424,853 · App. 18/666,571 · Granted Sep 23, 2025

Inventors: Kyle Breuning Evans (Auburn, CA); Sebastian Wolf (London, GB); Mark Holveck (Sunnyvale, CA); Hai-Yue Han (San Jose, CA); Craig Patrick Timms (San Francisco, CA); Paul Chapman (Orinda, CA); Christopher Wright (Haslemere, GB); Ryan Pflaum (Boston, MA); Manuel Alejandro Valenzuela Acosta (London, GB); César Pecharromán Arribas (Winchester, GB); James Alexander Stewart Carragher (London, GB); Jesús Prieto Colomina (Haslemere, GB)

Assignee: Lunar Energy, Inc.

H02J3/38G06K7/1413G06K7/1417H02J3/32H04B3/548H02J2300/24

Abstract

Claims (65)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a controller, hardware identifiers of a plurality of power electronics modules to be configured, wherein:

each of the plurality of power electronics modules of at least a portion of the plurality of power electronics modules is associated with a corresponding photovoltaic panel;

a hub is configured to wirelessly communicate with the plurality of power electronics modules; and

the controller is physically connected to the hub and communicates with the hub via wiring that also carries power from photovoltaic panels to an inverter; and

configuring, by the controller, the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers including by:

obtaining a whitelist of power electronics modules, wherein the whitelist includes the received hardware identifiers to the whitelist;

removing a device from the whitelist in response to a determination that the device failed to connect; and

permitting communications with those power electronics modules of the plurality of power electronics modules that are on the whitelist.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules includes commissioning the plurality of power electronics modules.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hub is configured to wirelessly communicate with the plurality of power electronics modules via a mesh network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hub is configured to communicate with the controller over power line communications (PLC).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of power electronics modules and the hub are co-located.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller is at least one of: included in the inverter and co-located with the inverter.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of power electronics modules includes at least one power optimizer.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hub includes a power combiner box.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hardware identifiers are received based at least in part on scanning of barcodes corresponding to the plurality of power electronics modules.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hardware identifiers are received based at least in part on scanning of QR codes corresponding to the plurality of power electronics modules.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hardware identifiers include MAC addresses of the plurality of power electronics modules.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes:

determining that the device on the whitelist failed to connect; and

in response to the determination that the device failed to connect, determining that the device does not belong on the whitelist.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes:

creating the whitelist of power electronics modules including by adding the received hardware identifiers to the whitelist;

determining, by the controller, that a device failed to connect;

in response to the determination that the device failed to connect, determining that the device does not belong on the whitelist; and

in response to the determination that the device belongs on the whitelist, outputting information for resolving a connection issue with the device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes:

creating the whitelist of power electronics modules including by adding the received hardware identifiers to the whitelist; and

for each power electronics module on the whitelist:

establishing a communications channel with the power electronics module;

updating firmware of the power electronics module in response to a determination that the firmware of the power electronics module is not an approved version;

performing at least one safety test on the power electronics module; and

improving safety of the power electronics module in response to a determination that the power electronics module failed the at least one safety test.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes:

updating firmware of at least one of the plurality of power electronics modules in response to a determination that the firmware of the at least one of the plurality of power electronics modules is not an approved version;

performing safety tests on the at least one of the plurality of power electronics modules; and

improving safety of the at least one of the plurality of power electronics modules in response to a determination that the at least one of the plurality of power electronics modules failed a safety test.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes updating firmware of the plurality of power electronics modules at least in part by transmitting a firmware update command to the hub via communications over the wiring that delivers power from the photovoltaic panels; and

the hub is configured to translate the firmware update command into a wireless communication to the plurality of power electronics modules.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules includes testing safety of the plurality of power electronics modules.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein configuring the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers includes displaying a graphical user interface for:

obtaining the hardware identifiers of the plurality of power electronics modules to be configured; and

displaying a whitelist created using the obtained hardware identifiers.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the graphical user interface is configured to display information for resolving a connection issue with a device on the whitelist.

20. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a backup test by instructing a bridge to disconnect a microgrid from a main grid.

21. A system, comprising:

a hub configured to wirelessly communicate with a plurality of power electronics modules, wherein each of the plurality of power electronics modules of at least a portion of the plurality of power electronics modules is associated with a corresponding photovoltaic panel; and

a controller configured to:

receive hardware identifiers of the plurality of power electronics modules to be configured via the hub; and

configure the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers including by:

obtaining a whitelist of power electronics modules, wherein the whitelist includes the received hardware identifiers to the whitelist;

removing a device from the whitelist in response to a determination that the device failed to connect; and

permitting communications with those power electronics modules of the plurality of power electronics modules that are on the whitelist;

wherein the controller is physically connected to the hub and communicates with the hub via wiring that also carries power from photovoltaic panels to an inverter.

22. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving, at a controller, hardware identifiers of a plurality of power electronics modules to be configured, wherein:

each of the plurality of power electronics modules of at least a portion of the plurality of power electronics modules is associated with a corresponding photovoltaic panel;

a hub is configured to wirelessly communicate with the plurality of power electronics modules; and

the controller is physically connected to the hub and communicates with the hub via wiring that also carries power from photovoltaic panels to an inverter; and

configuring, by the controller, the plurality of power electronics modules using the received hardware identifiers including by:

obtaining a whitelist of power electronics modules, wherein the whitelist includes the received hardware identifiers to the whitelist;

removing a device from the whitelist in response to a determination that the device failed to connect; and

permitting communications with those power electronics modules of the plurality of power electronics modules that are on the whitelist.

Continuity (3)

References Cited (20)