Uninterruptible Power Supplies, Solar Power Kits For Uninterruptible Power Supplies and Related Methods

Abstract

Uninterruptible power supplies, solar power kits for uninterruptible power supplies and related methods are described. According to one aspect, an uninterruptible power supply includes a power bus, mains circuitry configured to rectify electrical energy received from a mains supply system into rectified electrical energy and to provide the rectified electrical energy to a power bus of the uninterruptible power supply, photovoltaic circuitry configured to convert solar energy into converted electrical energy and to provide the converted electrical energy to the power bus, a battery system configured to receive electrical energy from the power bus to charge a battery of the battery system and to discharge electrical energy to the power bus, an inverter configured to provide electrical energy from the power bus to the load, and a controller configured to monitor the photovoltaic circuitry and to implement at least one operation of the uninterruptible power supply using the monitoring.

1 . An uninterruptible power supply comprising:
 a power bus;   mains circuitry configured to rectify electrical energy received from a mains supply system into rectified electrical energy and to provide the rectified electrical energy to the power bus;   photovoltaic circuitry configured to convert solar energy into converted electrical energy and to provide the converted electrical energy to the power bus;   a battery system configured to receive electrical energy from the power bus to charge a battery of the battery system and to discharge electrical energy to the power bus;   an inverter configured to provide electrical energy from the power bus to a load; and   a controller configured to monitor the photovoltaic circuitry and to use the monitoring to determine a remaining period of time the uninterruptible power supply can provide the electrical energy from the power bus to the load during an emergency mode of operation when electrical energy is unavailable from the mains supply system.   
     
     
         2 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to monitor an amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry and to control an amount of the rectified electrical energy provided by the rectifier to the power bus using the monitoring the amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry. 
     
     
         3 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to monitor an amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry and to control shedding of a portion of the load using the monitoring the amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry. 
     
     
         4 . The supply of  claim 3  wherein the controller is configured to shed the portion of the load so that a remaining portion of the load receiving the electrical energy from the inverter corresponds to the amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry. 
     
     
         5 . The supply of  claim 3  wherein the controller is configured to control shedding of an entirety of the load. 
     
     
         6 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to control an exporting of electrical energy from the power bus to the mains supply system using the monitoring. 
     
     
         7 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is a distributed controller comprising first processing circuitry in a kit comprising the photovoltaic circuitry and second processing circuitry external of the kit and configured to communicate with the first processing circuitry. 
     
     
         8 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the rectifier is configured to regulate a voltage of the power bus. 
     
     
         9 . The supply of  claim 8  wherein the controller is configured to control the regulation of the voltage of the power bus by the rectifier using the monitoring. 
     
     
         10 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the inverter is configured to provide the electrical energy from the power bus to the load during periods of time when the rectifier is providing the rectified electrical energy and during periods of time when the rectifier is not providing the rectified electrical energy. 
     
     
         11 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to automatically implement the at least one operation in an absence of user input instructing the controller to implement the at least one operation. 
     
     
         12 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the power bus is not regulated during an emergency mode of operation of the uninterruptible power supply when the electrical energy from the mains supply system is not available. 
     
     
         13 . (canceled) 
     
     
         14 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to use information regarding an estimate of an amount of light to be received by the photovoltaic circuitry in the future to determine the remaining period of time. 
     
     
         15 . The supply of  claim 14  wherein the controller is configured to use temporal information and geographical location information to estimate the amount of light. 
     
     
         16 . The supply of  claim 15  wherein the controller is configured to use weather forecast information to estimate the amount of light. 
     
     
         17 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to monitor an amount of converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry to the power bus to monitor the photovoltaic circuitry. 
     
     
         18 . The supply of  claim 1  wherein the controller is configured to use information regarding an amount of light present at the photovoltaic circuitry to determine the remaining period of time. 
     
     
         19 - 27 . (canceled) 
     
     
         28 . An uninterruptible power supply comprising:
 a power bus;   mains circuitry configured to rectify electrical energy received from a mains supply system into rectified electrical energy and to provide the rectified electrical energy to the power bus;   photovoltaic circuitry configured to convert solar energy into converted electrical energy and to provide the converted electrical energy to the power bus;   a battery system configured to receive electrical energy from the power bus to charge a battery of the battery system and to discharge electrical energy to the power bus;   an inverter configured to provide electrical energy from the power bus to a load; and   a controller configured to monitor an amount of the converted electrical energy provided by the photovoltaic circuitry and to use the monitoring to control shedding of a portion of the load.   
     
     
         29 . An uninterruptible power supply comprising:
 a power bus;   mains circuitry configured to rectify electrical energy received from a mains supply system into rectified electrical energy and to provide the rectified electrical energy to the power bus;   photovoltaic circuitry configured to convert solar energy into converted electrical energy and to provide the converted electrical energy to the power bus;   a battery system configured to receive electrical energy from the power bus to charge a battery of the battery system and to discharge electrical energy to the power bus;   an inverter configured to provide electrical energy from the power bus to a load; and   a controller configured to monitor the photovoltaic circuitry and to use the monitoring to vary an amount of the rectified electrical energy provided by the mains circuitry to the power bus.