Patent Application
20230027228
The present disclosure is related generally to the collection of solar power and efficient transmission of captured solar generated electricity to one or more inverters for delivery to a power grid, energy storage device, and/or other electric consumer. More particularly, in some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a trunk bus system that may enable better connection of one or more solar panels to an inverter or other electrical component.
Solar panels have long been used to capture energy from the sun and convert the energy into electricity, specifically, direct current (DC) electricity. In many applications, it is desirable to collect the electricity from a panel or several panels and deliver the electricity to an energy storage device (e.g., battery) or other electrical component that may convert, store, or otherwise use the energy. In some embodiments, especially for example when the generated electricity is desired to be transmitted to an alternating current (AC) system (e.g., electric grid, household, etc.), it may be desirable to collect the power generated by the one or more solar panels and deliver the electricity to an inverter that converts the electricity from DC to AC, and passes the AC electricity onto the consumer (grid, household, etc.).
One conventional method of installing solar power DC wires is to connect a plurality of conducting (e.g., copper) photovoltaic extender wires from solar strings to a combiner box, and then combine several DC feeder lines from combiner boxes to an inverter. To implement this method, on-site technicians have to pull the wires, cut the wires to length, crimp connectors, and connect to the combiner boxes. This process is very labor intensive and time consuming, and the quality of work is very low and inconsistent. Additionally, existing wiring harnesses used to make the connections are labor intensive and yield failed and broken connections that often require re-work.
Further complicating matters, more recently, many solar module manufactures are launching high wattage power solar panels. Such panels have lower voltage at maximum power (Vmp) but higher short circuit current (Isc). Using existing wiring harnesses and methods, #6AWG copper PV wire, for example, will be required, substantially increasing costs and adding to the Capex value of solar installation. In addition, due to exposure to severe weather of most sites, combiner boxes installed on site malfunction often, requiring additional intensive maintenance. Furthermore, to better take advantage of the land, most sites try to go with higher numbers of trackers in a row. But solar sites are currently limited to 3 or 4 trackers due to DC loss requirements.
Previously, certain truck busses have been utilized that employ a parallel structure. Disadvantageously, in previous designs, the branch cable (smaller wire) must be bent at least twice—one˜90 degree bend to move the branch cable conductor down to the trunk cable (larger wire) and a second˜90 degree bend to align the branch cable with the trunk cable to facilitate electrical contact between the two. These multiple abrupt bends can lead to wire breaks, complicate installation, and add costs to installation, among other problems.
Accordingly, there is a need for a solution to solve the above issues, and to bring labor savings to the solar power installation.
The present disclosure includes a trunk bus device that, in some embodiments, may facilitate the electrical coupling between one or more branch cables from solar panels into a main trunk cable. More particularly, the present disclosure includes a device that may utilize an angle of approach of the branch cable to the trunk cable of approximately 30 to 50 degrees. In some embodiments, the electrical coupling of the branch line and trunk line may occur in a trunk bus comprised of a substantially rectangular shaped overmold and a substantially rectangular shaped undermold. This device may permit multiple branch lines to enter into a single trunk bus, and each branch line may be electrically coupled onto the main trunk line without requiring the use of undesirable 90-degree bends of the branch cables. In certain embodiments, multiple trunk busses may be used in tandem to permit the energy from numerous solar panels to be combined into a single main trunk line.
The presently disclosed subject matter now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying Figures, in which some, but not all embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter are shown. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. The presently disclosed subject matter may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Indeed, many modifications and other embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the presently disclosed subject matter pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated Figures. Therefore, it is to be understood that the presently disclosed subject matter is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a trunk bus solution that may be used to directly connect solar panels and inverters (or other receivers of solar generated electricity, or other electricity), without the need for combiner boxes and the associated combiner box maintenance and installation. By way of just one example, a trunk bus feeder/trunk may be made using 2kV aluminum photovoltaic wire and may range in sizes from 4/0 to 1000MCM, but larger or smaller sizes are also contemplated.
Referring now to
The branch lines 511 (smaller lines in the figures) may connect to solar panels, and the feeder/trunk cable 512 (e.g., the larger, central cable running through the joint) may be connected to an inverter or to a disconnect box or other electricity receiving device/component, which may, in some embodiments, include a switch and/or fuse protection. By using the trunk bus system, the usage of copper string wires, for example, may be minimized, and larger size aluminum wires (sizing according to NEC code requirements), which is more cost efficient then copper string wires, may also be utilized. Further, the need for combiner boxes and combiner boxes installation and maintenance can be eliminated. Since, in some embodiments, the main trunk/feeder size can be as large as 1000MCM, solar farms may exceed more than 4 or 5 high trackers while maintaining DC loss requirements.
Referring now to
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the presently disclosed invention eliminates several disadvantages with the parallel connectors commonly found in the prior art. As illustrated in
Referring now to
Following long-standing patent law convention, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” refer to “one or more” when used in this application, including the claims. Thus, for example, reference to “a subject” includes a plurality of subjects, unless the context clearly is to the contrary (e.g., a plurality of subjects), and so forth.
Throughout this specification and the claims, the terms “comprise,” “comprises,” and “comprising” are used in a non-exclusive sense, except where the context requires otherwise. Likewise, the term “include” and its grammatical variants are intended to be non-limiting, such that recitation of items in a list is not to the exclusion of other like items that can be substituted or added to the listed items.
For the purposes of this specification and appended claims, unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing amounts, sizes, dimensions, proportions, shapes, formulations, parameters, percentages, quantities, characteristics, and other numerical values used in the specification and claims, are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about” even though the term “about” may not expressly appear with the value, amount or range. Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numerical parameters set forth in the following specification and attached claims are not and need not be exact, but may be approximate and/or larger or smaller as desired, reflecting tolerances, conversion factors, rounding off, measurement error and the like, and other factors known to those of skill in the art depending on the desired properties sought to be obtained by the presently disclosed subject matter. For example, the term “about,” when referring to a value can be meant to encompass variations of, in some embodiments, ±100% in some embodiments +50%, in some embodiments ±20%, in some embodiments +10%, in some embodiments ±5%, in some embodiments +1%, in some embodiments ±0.5%, and in some embodiments +0.1% from the specified amount, as such variations are appropriate to perform the disclosed methods or employ the disclosed compositions.
Further, the term “about” when used in connection with one or more numbers or numerical ranges, should be understood to refer to all such numbers, including all numbers in a range and modifies that range by extending the boundaries above and below the numerical values set forth. The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers, e.g., whole integers, including fractions thereof, subsumed within that range (for example, the recitation of 1 to 5 includes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as fractions thereof, e.g., 1.5, 2.25, 3.75, 4.1, and the like) and any range within that range.
Although the foregoing subject matter has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that certain changes and modifications can be practiced within the scope of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63224631 | Jul 2021 | US |
