Patent Application
20120293000
Peak electrical power use by most businesses and homes is during daylight hours, especially during summer months when air conditioning use is highest. Geographical regions that are sunny are ideal for solar energy collection, such as with photovoltaic cells. Typically, solar energy collection is used to either charge a primary power source, such as battery storage for powering lights at night, or collected solar energy is converted into AC that is fed into an existing system that is primarily supplied with grid power. Some devices, such as toy pool fountains and animated garden decorations, operate only when the sun is adequately shinning directly onto small solar cells that power the toy.
There is a need to maximize the use of available renewable power, such as wind or solar DC power, without requiring expensive and heavy batteries that have a relatively short life, but also without sacrificing the availability or reliability of a device that is powered by a renewable energy source.
The present invention is an electrical circuit and computer program system for delivering power from a renewable energy source to a nearby device that preferably and primarily uses power provided by the renewable source. In the preferred embodiment, circuitry of the system allows grid power to supplement the device when the renewable power output does not adequately meet the immediate demands of the device. The circuitry continues to maximize use of the renewable energy until the output is sufficient to operate the device independently. In the preferred embodiment, the load is a permanent magnet motor that rotates a fan and the renewable energy is a solar DC supply. Because the demand for air movement is typically highest when the sun is high and bright, application of the present invention in an evaporative cooling system would be useful.
The following is the list of numerical callouts used in
This detailed description will describe an electrical system and method for reliably powering a device using a renewable energy source, such as a solar DC supply. preferably, an electrical circuit of the present invention has a renewable DC supply 12 that is converted into a desired DC voltage 16 that is delivered to a DC motor controller 26 of a permanent magnet motor 28. A micro controller 30 of the system monitors the amount of supplied solar DC 16 having the desired DC voltage. If the maximum power available from solar panels 10 at a given instant is not adequate to power the motor of the system, then the micro controller turns on line DC 38, which is produced from an AC supply 34 that has gone through an AC to DC converter 36, to supplement the solar DC 16. The micro controller continuously monitors and adjusts the amount of line DC delivered, completely shutting it off when not needed. Additional features, such as diodes, voltage monitors, displays and surge protectors, will be discussed. Where reference numbers in one figure are the same as another figure, those reference numbers carry substantially the same meaning. Preferred components, steps, uses and configurations will be discussed, but these preferences are not intended to exclude other suitable or functionally equivalent components, steps, uses and configurations.
Renewable energy is most cost effectively produced by harnessing wind or solar, but other known resources could be substituted to attain similar results using the circuitry and logic of the present invention. By way of example, but not limitation, in
The DC supply, shown in
A current sensor 18 detects how much solar DC 16 is supplied at the desired voltage by the solar panels. The current sensor value is input into a micro controller 30, and the solar DC passes through an optional diode 22 before finally being delivered to a DC motor controller 26 of the permanent magnet motor 28. The coils of the motor are the inductive load.
When there is not enough solar DC 16 to start or maintain a desired motor speed, the micro controller (MCU) 30 detects the amount of solar DC at the current sensor and starts to supplement the total current with line DC 38. The solar DC and line DC are joined after they have gone through diodes 22 that prevent the backflow of current into the weaker source. Once the two currents (16 and 38) are joined, the combined currents feed the motor in the same way as already described.
The voltage of the AC supply 34, which is grid power, is known and very consistent, so it is not necessary to have a current sensor after the rectifier of the circuit because the current can be calculated by the MCU based on the percentage of time that the PWM control of the DC to DC converter is on. Alternatively, a PWM control can be part of the AC to DC converter, in which case it would no longer be necessary to place diodes before the DC motor controller.
The micro controller 30, or MCU, is preferably an 8 bit controller with preloaded software containing a computer program that runs the logic shown in
An optional purpose of the MCU is to calculate and display information about the system to a user. The ratio of solar DC versus line DC would be useful, both present and average over a defined time period. This type of information could let a user know whether there were any potential problems with the system. Also, the MCU can be used to control the speed of the motor, possibly even by making the MCU programmable based on time of day, temperature or other desired variables.
While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described, it will be realized that alterations and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/413,414, filed on Nov. 13, 2010, and titled “System and method for supplementing a generated DC power supply”, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61413414 | Nov 2010 | US |
