The present invention claims priority to TW 106139376 filed on Nov. 14, 2017.
The present invention relates to a photovoltaic power circuit and a resonant circuit thereof; particularly, it relates to a photovoltaic power circuit capable of operating in a resonant frequency. The present invention also relates to a resonant circuit for the photovoltaic power circuit.
Prior art relevant to the present invention are U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,984,970 and 9,461,551.
In response to the energy crisis and the shortage of global energy stocks, more and more advanced countries are investing resources in researching solar cells. Solar cells belong to one kind of photovoltaic power circuits, whose the basic principle is to utilize the characteristics of a semiconductor PN junction; the junction is capable of converting solar energy it receives to electrical energy, which can be utilized to charge a battery. The V-T (voltage-current) relationship of the PN junction when it generates electrical energy is shown in
As shown in
An example of a prior art photovoltaic power circuit can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,970. The circuit disclosed in the present invention is substantially as shown in
In view of the above, the present invention provides a photovoltaic power circuit and a resonant circuit thereof, to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. The photovoltaic device 2 requires only a few or even a single PN diode to convert the photovoltaic power to the electrical energy, thereby improving the application range of the photovoltaic power circuit and the resonant circuit therein.
From one perspective, the present invention provides a photovoltaic power circuit comprising: a photovoltaic device, which is configured to receive light to generate an input voltage; a resonant circuit, which is coupled to the photovoltaic device, and is configured to convert the input voltage to an output voltage for supplying power to a load circuit; the resonant circuit including: a resonant inverter, which is coupled to the photovoltaic device, and is configured to operate at least one switch therein according to a control signal to convert the input voltage to an AC resonant voltage; a primary resonator, which is coupled to the resonant inverter, and is configured to receive the AC resonant voltage to generate a primary resonant voltage; and a secondary resonator, which is coupled to the primary resonator, and is configured to convert the primary resonant voltage to the output voltage; and a controller, which is configured to adjust a switching frequency or a duty ratio of the control signal according to an input power or an output power and based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit, to determine a maximum power point (MPP); wherein the resonant inverter, the primary resonator, and the secondary resonator all have the resonant frequency.
From another perspective, the present invention provides a resonant circuit for a photovoltaic power circuit, wherein the photovoltaic power circuit includes a photovoltaic device, a resonant circuit, and a controller, the photovoltaic device being configured to receive light to generate an input voltage, the resonant circuit being coupled to the photovoltaic device for converting the input voltage to an output voltage and supplying electrical energy to a load circuit, the resonant circuit comprising: a resonant inverter, which is coupled to the photovoltaic device, and is configured to receive the input voltage and operate at least one switch to convert the input voltage to an AC resonant voltage according to a control signal; a primary resonator, which is coupled to the resonant inverter, and is configured to receive the AC resonant voltage to generate a primary voltage; and a secondary resonator, which is coupled to the primary resonator, and is configured to convert the primary resonant voltage to the output voltage; wherein the controller is configured to adjust a switching frequency or a duty ratio of the control signal according to an input power or an output power and based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit, to determine a maximum power point (MPP); wherein the resonant inverter, the primary resonator, and the secondary resonator all have the resonant frequency.
In one preferable embodiment, the secondary resonator includes: an LC resonant circuit which is coupled to the primary resonator, and includes an inductor and a capacitor connected in series, wherein the LC resonant circuit has the resonant frequency and is configured to generate a secondary resonant voltage according to the primary resonant voltage; and a voltage booster circuit which is coupled to the LC resonant circuit, and is configured to boost the secondary resonant voltage to generate the output voltage.
In one preferable embodiment, the secondary resonator includes: an LC resonant circuit, which is coupled to the primary resonator, and includes an inductor and a capacitor connected in parallel, wherein the LC resonant circuit has the resonant frequency, and is configure to generate a secondary resonant voltage according to the primary resonant voltage; and a rectifier circuit, which is coupled to the LC resonant circuit, and is configure to rectify the secondary resonant voltage to generate the output voltage.
In one preferable embodiment, the primary resonator and the secondary resonator are coupled in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic coupling.
In one preferable embodiment, the resonant inverter circuit includes: an inverter circuit, which includes a full bridge inverter, a half bridge inverter or a Class E inverter, wherein the inverter circuit is coupled to the photovoltaic device, and the inverter circuit includes the least one switch operating according to the control signal to convert the input voltage to an AC input voltage; and an AC resonant circuit, which is coupled to the inverter circuit, and is configured to convert the AC input voltage to the AC resonant voltage.
In one preferable embodiment, the resonant circuit includes a plurality of secondary resonators and each of the secondary resonators is coupled to the primary resonator in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic coupling.
From another perspective, the present invent provides a method for extracting electrical energy from a photovoltaic device, the method comprising the following steps: operating at least one switch to convert an input voltage generated by the photovoltaic device to an AC resonant voltage according to a control signal, based on a resonant frequency; receiving the AC resonant voltage to generate a primary voltage; converting the primary voltage to an output voltage in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic coupling for supplying the electrical energy to a load circuit; and adjusting a switching frequency or a duty ratio of the control signal according to an input power or an output power to determine a maximum power point (MPP).
In one preferable embodiment, the step of converting the primary voltage to an output voltage in a non-contact manner by electromagnetic coupling for supplying electrical energy to a load circuit includes: generating a secondary resonant voltage according to the primary voltage; and generating the output voltage by boosting the secondary resonant voltage.
In one preferable embodiment, the step of converting the primary voltage to an output voltage in the non-contact manner by electromagnetic coupling for supplying the electrical energy to a load circuit includes: providing an LC resonant circuit that includes an inductor and a capacitor connected in parallel, wherein the LC resonant circuit has the resonant frequency, and generates a secondary resonant voltage according to the primary voltage; and generating the output voltage by the rectifying the secondary resonant voltage.
The objectives, technical details, features, and effects of the present invention will be better understood with regard to the detailed description of the embodiments below.
The drawings as referred to throughout the description of the present invention are for illustration only, to show the interrelations between the circuits and the signal waveforms, but not drawn according to actual scale.
The resonant circuit 102 includes a resonant inverter 103, a primary resonator 105, and a secondary resonator 107. The resonant inverter 103 is coupled to the photovoltaic device 101 for receiving the input voltage Vin, and the resonant inverter 103 operates at least one switch therein to convert the DC input voltage Vin to an AC resonant voltage VACrnt according to a control signal Ctl. The primary resonator 105 is coupled to the resonant inverter 103 for receiving the AC resonant voltage VACrnt to generate a primary resonant voltage VPrnt. The secondary resonator 107 is coupled to the primary resonator 105 for converting the primary resonance voltage VPrnt to an output voltage Vout. The controller 109 adjusts a switching frequency or a duty ratio of the control signal Ctl according to an input power Pin or an output power Pout, and based on a resonant frequency of the resonant circuit 102, to determine a Maximum Power Point (MPP). The resonant inverter 103, the primary resonator 105 and the secondary resonator 107 all have a resonant frequency.
The primary resonator 105 is coupled to the resonant inverter 103 for receiving the AC resonant voltage VACrnt to generate a primary resonant voltage VPrnt. The primary resonator 105 has, for example but not limited to, an inductor Lp and a capacitor C2 that have the resonant frequency ω. As shown in the figure, the secondary resonator 107 is coupled to the primary resonator 105 in a non-contact manner (such as, but not limited to, electromagnetic coupling), to convert the primary resonant voltage VPrnt to the output voltage Vout that has the resonant frequency ω. As shown in the figure, the secondary resonator 107 includes an LC resonant circuit 1071 and a voltage booster circuit 1073. The LC resonant circuit 1071 is coupled to the primary resonator 105 in e.g. the electromagnetic coupling manner; the LC resonant circuit 1071 includes an inductor Ls and a capacitor Cs connected in series, and the LC resonant circuit 1071 has the resonant frequency ω. The LC resonant circuit 1071 generates a secondary resonant voltage VSrnt according to the primary resonant voltage VPrnt. The voltage booster circuit 1073 is coupled to the LC resonant circuit 1071, and in one embodiment, the is voltage booster circuit 1073 is a voltage doubler circuit which is configured to double the secondary resonant voltage VSrnt to generate the output voltage Vout. As shown in the figure, the voltage booster circuit 1073 includes, for example, two diodes and a capacitor Co to achieve the effect of doubling voltage. Note that the voltage booster circuit 1073 shown in
The controller 109 obtains information regarding an input power Pin by, for example but not limited to, sensing the voltage drop of the photovoltaic device 101 and the current flowing through the photovoltaic device 101, and the controller 109 calculates to determine the Maximum Power Point (MPP) and adjusts the switching frequency or the duty ratio of the control signal Ctl based on the resonant frequency ω of the resonant circuit 102 so that the switching frequency is equal to or close to the resonant frequency c. The resonant inverter 103, the primary resonator 105 and the secondary resonator 107 all have the resonant frequency ω. The MPP can be calculated and determined with reference to
The present invention is superior to the prior art in many respects. First, for example, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the frequency of the control signal Ctl is adjusted to the resonant frequency ω of the resonant circuit 102 or close to the resonant frequency ω; as such, it is not required to connect many photovoltaic devices 101 in series, and the photovoltaic device 101 of the present invention can be composed of one single photovoltaic device (having one single PN junction), to convert the light energy power to the electrical energy, thus solving the problem in the prior art that the efficiency of converting the photovoltaic power to the electrical energy is greatly reduced when any one of the photovoltaic devices is shielded.
Second, according to the present invention, in the resonant circuit 102, the primary resonator 105 and the secondary resonator 107 are electromagnetically coupled with each other in a non-contact manner, that is, the photovoltaic device 101, the resonant inverter 103 and the primary resonator 105 (and the controller 109), are on the same side, while the resonator 107 and the load circuit 104 are on the other side, so the circuits on two sides are not directly connected, and in this way, the circuits on the same side as the photovoltaic device 101 (for example, circuits belonging to the solar panel circuit and its periphery), and the circuits on the same side as the resonator 107 and the load circuit 104 (for example, circuits belonging to the rechargeable battery circuit and its periphery) can be separated and isolated from each other, and the battery is charged by a wireless manner, providing more flexibility in application.
Further, by resonance operation in the present invention, the current flowing through the coil (inductor LP) of the primary resonator 105 can be maintained at a constant current regardless of whether the load circuit 104 is heavily loaded or lightly loaded. In detail, referring to
when
and ZTX=jXP+Zeq, wherein XP is an equivalent impedance of the inductor LP, an equivalent impedance is:
and a current ICOIL flowing through the impedance LP is:
Thus, the reflected impedance Zeq behind the primary resonator 105 is independent of the current ICOIL flowing through the impedance LP, and in the case where the AC input voltage VACin does not change much, the current ICOIL flowing through the coil (inductor LP) of the primary resonator 105 can be maintained at a constant current.
A primary resonator 305 is coupled to the resonant inverter 303 for receiving the AC resonant voltage VACrnt to generate a primary resonant voltage VPrnt. The primary resonator 305 includes, for example but not limited to, an inductance Lp, which has a resonant frequency ω with a capacitor C1 in the AC resonant circuit 3033. As shown in the figure, a secondary resonator 307 is coupled to the primary resonator 305 in a non-contact manner (such as but not limited to electromagnetic coupling), for converting the primary resonant voltage VPrnt to the output voltage Vout that has the resonant frequency ω. As shown in the figure, the secondary resonator 307 includes an LC resonant circuit 3071 and a rectifier circuit 3073. The LC resonant circuit 3071, which is coupled to the primary resonator 305 by electromagnetic coupling, includes an inductor Ls and a capacitor Cs connected in parallel, and the LC resonant circuit 3071 has a resonant frequency ω. The LC resonant circuit 3071 generates a secondary resonance voltage VSrnt according to the primary resonant voltage VPrnt. The inductance Ls and the capacitor Cs coupled in parallel provide a voltage booster effect, and the secondary resonance voltage VSrnt can be further raised as compared with the second embodiment. The rectifier circuit 3073 is coupled to the LC resonant circuit 3071 for rectifying the secondary resonance voltage VSrnt to generate the output voltage Vout. As shown in the figure, the rectifier circuit 3073 includes, for example, four diodes and a capacitor Co, wherein the four diodes are connected as a full bridge rectifier circuit. Note that the rectifier circuit 3073 shown in
The present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof. It should be understood that the description is for illustrative purpose, not for limiting the scope of the present invention. The various embodiments described above are not limited to being used alone; two embodiments may be used in combination, or a part of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. As an example, the plural secondary resonators shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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106139376 | Nov 2017 | TW | national |