Patent Application
20130293011
The present disclosure relates to a solar power system, and more particularly to a solar power system, a solar cell module and a power providing method capable of providing electrical power with various intensities.
With the rise of environmental awareness, green energy technologies have been one of the most important developing technologies. Among the various green powers, the solar power, due to the significant developments in technologies and applications in recent years, has been used in various applications and regarded as one of the best green energies.
Basically, a solar cell module includes a plurality of solar cell units coupled in either series or parallel. Because the solar cell module is designed to have an electrical power output based on all the solar cell units therein, and accordingly the solar cell units each can affect the combined power output of the solar cell module. In other words, if a solar cell module adopts a plurality of solar cell units configured to have different output currents, this solar cell module may be restricted to end up having a relatively low output current due to being limited by the one particular solar cell unit having a smallest available maximum output current; and accordingly, the solar cell module cannot attain the expected output efficiency. Therefore, in the solar technology, it is quite often needed to arrange the solar cell units all having the same power output in a same solar cell module.
However, the aforementioned limit may cause inconvenience in the design phase. In other words, it is difficult for the manufacturer to manufacture a solar power system having a maximum electrical power usage by using various obtained solar cell units; and thus, the promote of green energy greatly is harder to achieved.
One object of the present disclosure is to provide a solar cell module capable of adopting a plurality of solar cell units providing different power outputs, and the solar cell unit having a lower power can have a reduced effect on the outputs of other solar cell units.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a solar power providing method capable of providing various powers to corresponding various loads.
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a solar power system capable of adopting one solar cell module for an operation required various powers.
The disclosure provides a solar cell module, which includes a first solar cell and a second solar cell unit. The first solar cell unit has a first positive power supply terminal and a first negative power supply terminal. The second solar cell unit is electrically coupled to the first solar cell unit in series and has a second positive power supply terminal and a second negative power supply terminal. The first solar cell unit is configured to have an available maximum output current greater than that of the second solar cell unit. The first solar cell unit is configured to provide electrical power to a first load and a second load both; and the second solar cell unit is configured to provide electrical power to the second load only.
The disclosure further provides a method for providing solar power adapted to use with a first solar cell unit and a second solar cell unit coupled in series. The method includes: configuring the first solar cell unit to have an available maximum output current greater than that of the second solar cell unit; configuring the first solar cell unit to provide electrical power to a first load; and configuring the first solar cell unit and the second solar cell unit both to corporately provide electrical power to a second load.
The disclosure still further provides a solar power system, which includes a solar cell module, a main system and at least one sub system. The solar cell module includes at least one first solar cell unit and one second solar cell unit coupled in series. The first solar cell unit is configured to have an available maximum output current greater than that of the second solar cell unit. The main system is electrically coupled to the solar cell module and simultaneously supplied with electrical power by the first solar cell unit and the second solar cell unit both. The at least one sub system is electrically coupled to the solar cell module and supplied with electrical power by the first solar cell unit only.
To sum up, through electrically coupling a plurality of series-coupled solar cell units providing different amounts of power output to a first load and additionally electrically coupling one of the solar cell units (the one having a higher power output) to a second load, the solar cell module as well as the solar power system according to the present disclosure can have a higher electrical-power usage by further configuring the solar cell unit having a higher power output to supply spare electrical power, caused by the minimum power limit and cannot be provided to the first load, to the second load while all solar cell units in the solar cell module are supplying electrical power to the first load.
The present disclosure will become more readily apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art after reviewing the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:
The present disclosure will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this disclosure are presented herein for purpose of illustration and description only. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
In another embodiment, the solar cell units 102, 104, . . . , 110, . . . , 120 and 122 each may be configured to have different available maximum output currents (some solar cell units are omitted for brevity). Alternatively, the solar cell units 102, 104, . . . , 110, . . . , 120 and 122 may be divided into a plurality of groups; wherein each of these groups is corresponding to a different available maximum output current, and the one or more solar cell units in the same group are configured to have the same available maximum output current. However, it is understood that the electrical current capable of being supplied by a solar cell module is corresponding to the smallest available maximum output current of each of the solar cell units associated with the solar cell module, regardless of the type of configuration that these solar cell units are adopted.
In this embodiment, the main system 130 is exemplified by a power-charging system (for example, a LT3652 chip) which is configured for electrical power recharging; and the sub system 150 (for example, a LT1937 chip) is exemplified by a peripheral operation system which is powered by electrical power. However, it is understood that the present disclosure does not limit the functions of the main system 130 and the sub system 150. For example, the sub system 150 may be a control system configured to control the main system 130 or, the main system 130 may be a control system configured to control the sub system 150, and no limitation. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed.
As shown in
Moreover, the main system 230 is referred to as a load of both the solar cell units 210, 220, due to being supplied with electrical power from both of the solar cell units 210, 220; similarly, the sub system 250 is referred to as a load of the solar cell unit 210 only, due to being supplied with electrical power from the solar cell unit 210 only.
In this embodiment as shown in
Based on the aforementioned description, the solar cell units 310, 320 can have a series-coupled connection. In addition, the main system 330 is supplied with electrical power by the solar cell unit 320 only, that is, without using the solar cell unit 310; the sub system 350 is supplied with electrical power by using both of the solar cell units 310, 320. Moreover, the main system 330 is referred to as a load of the solar cell unit 320, due to being supplied with electrical power from the solar cell unit 320 only; similarly, the sub system 350 is referred to as a load of the solar cell units 310, 320, due to being supplied with electrical power from both of the solar cell units 310, 320.
In this embodiment as shown in
Therefore, according to the aforementioned embodiments, the technology disclosed in the present disclosure can be applied to a plurality of series-coupled solar cell units (for example, two solar cell units) which are not required to have a same available maximum output current. In the present disclosure, the solar cell unit having a relatively lower available maximum output current is configured to drive a first load only; and the solar cell unit having a relatively higher available maximum output current is configured to further drive a second load as well as driving the first load. For example, as illustrated in
In summary, through electrically coupling a plurality of series-coupled solar cell units producing different amounts of power to a first load and additionally electrically coupling one of the solar cell units (the one having a higher power output) to a second load, the solar cell module as well as the solar power system according to the present disclosure can have a higher electrical-power usage by further configuring the solar cell unit having a higher power output to supply spare electrical power, caused by the minimum power limit and cannot be provided to the first load, to the second load while all solar cell units in the solar cell module are supplying electrical power to the first load.
While the disclosure has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201210135545.4 | May 2012 | CN | national |
