US 12,463,460 B2
Photovoltaic system
Florian Guschlbauer, Pettenbach (AT); Dominik Pfaffenbichler, Pettenbach (AT); and Michael Koren, Pettenbach (AT)
Assigned to Fronius International GmbH, Pettenbach (AT)
Appl. No. 18/246,615
Filed by Fronius International GmbH, Pettenbach (AT)
PCT Filed Sep. 28, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/076656
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 24, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/073804, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 14, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2025/0183710 A1, Jun. 5, 2025
Int. Cl. H02J 13/00 (2006.01); H02J 3/00 (2006.01); H02J 3/38 (2006.01)
CPC H02J 13/00007 (2020.01) [H02J 3/001 (2020.01); H02J 3/0073 (2020.01); H02J 3/38 (2013.01); H02J 2300/24 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A photovoltaic system, comprising:
an inverter unit having a controller and being adapted to convert an electrical direct current (DC) power generated by photovoltaic modules into an electrical alternating current, AC, power;
a smart meter configured to supply the alternating current (AC) power to a power supply grid; and
an emergency unit connected to the inverter via AC lines and to the smart meter via an emergency switch, the emergency unit having a controller adapted to:
open the emergency switch to automatically disconnect the photovoltaic system from the power supply grid if a power supply grid failure is detected, and
notify a current switching state of the emergency switch by means of power line communication, PLC, via the AC lines to the controller of the inverter unit;
in a normal operation mode of the photovoltaic system, the emergency switch is being in a closed state,
in an emergency operation mode of the photovoltaic system, the emergency switch is being in an open state to disconnect the photovoltaic system from the power supply grid, and
the controller of the inverter unit is being adapted to start the emergency operation mode in response to an open switching state notification received from the controller of the emergency unit,
wherein the emergency unit comprises a buffer storage unit adapted to supply the controller and the PLC transceiver of the emergency unit with electrical DC power in the emergency operation mode of the photovoltaic system.