Modern society requires a large amount of electrical power generated from a variety of sources. Such power may often be generated on macro levels at facilities such as hydroelectric dams, coal and natural gas-driven generators, and nuclear power plants. As technology improves in other areas, solar-powered generators and wind-powered generators are also becoming a more prevalent source of power generation in society. Generating electrical power has conventionally been accomplished by large enterprises on massive scales, such as utility companies and power companies that produce energy on the order of megawatts and tie directly to a national electrical grid. However, some newer technologies, such as solar and wind, may be well suited to produce energy on micro levels such that individual home owners may own solar- and wind-driven power generators that may supply power to a local house or even produce small amounts of energy to be fed back to the electrical grid.
As a result, a local power sink (e.g., a home), may sometimes draw power from the national electrical grid or from a local micro-generator (or both). Thus, the connection point for the local micro-generator may use a switch controller to facilitate the connections to and from the home and to and from the electrical grid. This may typically involve an inverter/charger because the local micro-generator may produce electrical energy at a voltage that is incongruent with a typical AC voltage of 120/240 volts and 60 Hz. Therefore, local switching circuitry that includes control logic, a proper number and size of inverters/chargers, and a battery for storing electrical energy are all components of a local system needed to properly generate, use and store electrical energy from a local micro-generator.
Note that the same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and figures to reference like components and features.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds