| CPC H02J 7/35 (2013.01) [H02J 7/00032 (2020.01); H02J 7/0024 (2013.01); H02J 7/0048 (2020.01); H02J 7/007 (2013.01)] | 14 Claims |
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1. A method of charging an energy storage element; wherein the energy storage element comprises a plurality of energy storage units arranged for storing electrical energy; wherein the method comprises:
determining a voltage of each of the plurality of energy storage units;
determining a state-of-the-charge (SoC) of each of the plurality of energy storage units;
determining a maximum power voltage (Vmp) of a solar power source;
selecting one or more energy storage units of the plurality of energy storage units to form a charging set comprising a series and/or a parallel combination of the selected one or more energy storage units; wherein the selection is based on the determined maximum power voltage, and on a first time period and a second time period associated with a first sun irradiance level and a second sun irradiance level respectively;
wherein the selection is further based on a predetermined voltage and state-of-the-charge corresponding to the first and the second time period respectively;
controlling one or more switches of the energy storage element to form the charging set; and
providing power from the solar power source via a solar power converter to the charging set;
wherein the first sun irradiance level is higher than the second sun irradiance level, and wherein the method further comprises:
assigning, for the first time period, a higher weight to the voltage compared to the state-of-the-charge; and
assigning, for the second time period, a higher weight to the state-of-the-charge compared to the voltage.
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