Solar panels collect solar energy and transform the collected solar energy into electrical energy. When a shadow is produced on the solar panel, such as from a cloud or leaves, cells of the solar panel that are not in the shade tend to overheat. A diode in a photovoltaic junction box mounted on the solar panel acts as a bypass to limit damage from overheating.
Known photovoltaic junction boxes are electrically connected with a bus bar of the solar panel and have a plurality of conductive terminals and a plurality of diodes soldered on the conduction terminals. An anode and a cathode of each diode are soldered on a pair of adjacent conduction terminals, respectively. In operation, the diode will produce heat, and the produced heat will be transferred to the conduction terminals.
Opposite edges of adjacent conduction terminals are parallel to each other and substantially perpendicular to a lengthwise direction of the solar junction box. The anode and the cathode of the diode are soldered on areas in the vicinity of the edges of the adjacent conduction terminals, and thus, diodes within known photovoltaic junction boxes are consistently arranged in a direction parallel to the lengthwise direction of the junction box. Such a known arrangement of the diodes, however, unevenly distributes the heat produced by the diodes within the photovoltaic junction box. The current-carrying capacity of the photovoltaic junction box consequently decreases, and furthermore, the heat produced by the diodes does not dissipate quickly, deteriorating or damaging the diode over time.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds