US 12,224,703 B2
Fixed DC bus and hydrogen generation system
Alexander W. Au, Oakland, CA (US); Venkata Rahul Abbaraju, Fremont, CA (US); Yang Liu, Mountain View, CA (US); and Wesley Chu, Irvine, CA (US)
Assigned to NEXTRACKER LLC, Fremont, CA (US)
Filed by NEXTracker LLC, Fremont, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 29, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/389,192.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/058,293, filed on Jul. 29, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0038049 A1, Feb. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H02S 40/32 (2014.01); H02J 3/38 (2006.01); H02J 7/34 (2006.01); H02J 15/00 (2006.01)
CPC H02S 40/32 (2014.12) [H02J 3/381 (2013.01); H02J 7/342 (2020.01); H02J 15/008 (2020.01); H02J 2207/30 (2020.01); H02J 2300/26 (2020.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A distributed direct current (DC) power system comprising:
an inverter configured to invert DC to alternating current (AC), the inverter coupled to a DC bus;
a plurality of photovoltaic (PV) strings;
a plurality of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) converters coupled between the plurality of photovoltaic (PV) strings and the DC bus, the plurality of MPPT converters configured to maximize solar power production by the plurality of PV strings and minimize mismatch between the plurality of PV strings;
a plurality of batteries coupled to the DC bus and configured to store excess solar power generated by the plurality of PV strings;
a plurality of DC-DC battery converters (DCBC) coupled between the plurality of batteries and the DC bus, the plurality of DCBCs configured to manage charge and discharge of the plurality of batteries and supply a constant DC voltage to the inverter via the DC bus;
a hydrogen generation system in electrical communication with the plurality of PV strings and the plurality of batteries via the DC bus, the hydrogen generation system configured to draw power from the DC bus that is generated by the plurality of PV strings and that is unable to be fed to a load or to the plurality of batteries to generate hydrogen gas.