Ride through any power outage.
The PowerBloc®️ is a primary power supply to a home or business. Its super-lightweight, high-efficiency inverter delivers ample power to start and run high-demand appliances such as air conditioners. Solar panels with panel-integrated micro converters create an efficient, modular, and shade-tolerant solar array. High discharge-rate battery packs with bi-directional converters store energy and make sure that enough power is available for peak loads.
The PowerBloc®️ is connected to the grid through a durable rectifier built on a cutting-edge topology. Its batteries immediately make up power when the utility is down. You will never notice any interruption, not even a glitch, when the utility’s power fails and later returns.
The PowerBloc®️’s power architecture insulates a customer from the grid rides through any power outages without a glitch. The PowerBloc®️ delivers perfect and constant power in any situation.
PowerBloc®️ can be sized to cover many hours of power outages or to deliver as much energy as desired. The use of a fuel generator can “extend the range” of the batteries where reliability is an absolute must. Going from partial self-supply to being entirely off the grid only requires adding more batteries and solar panels with no need to otherwise change the system.
Power supply is seamless and controlled by an intelligent energy management system which delivers a solar production forecast, learns load patterns and allows users to select performance targets. The system can be monitored and controlled on an intuitive user interface table that is part of the system.
Meet the Ultimate Power Architecture
All PowerBloc®️ solar+battery systems are based on the emerging 380V DC bus standard using proprietary and state-of-the-art power electronics for seamless reliable and powerful operation. The system is modular and expandable up to the maximum system capacity, 40kW for the HOME™ and FIELD™ models and 64kW for the COMM™ model. The electric potential of the bus is set by the inverter input and all components of the PowerBloc®️ adjust their output potential to account for any line losses up to the inverter input. This feature, called “self-leveling” allows one or multiple solar arrays or a fuel generator to be as much as 100 meters way from the inverter. All components are “hot-swappable” making installation and use of the system simple and safe.
The components
The DIYA™ User Interface is a beautiful and intuitive user interface that makes understanding and controlling the PowerBloc® easy and enjoyable. DIYA only provides the information users want to know. DIYA’s home screen is a practical timepiece and weather station while providing system performance cleverly integrated into the dial of the clock.
The TRAFFIC™ Controller monitors and controls energy and power on the system, runs analytic and optimization software, and communicates with external devices, the DIYA™ User Interface, and the internet. A rugged, industrial environment Linux single-board computer inside TRAFFIC is the “brains” of the PowerBloc®. The TRAFFIC Controller communicates with all addressable modules (TWIN™, FORCE™, EXTEND™, STEP™, and BLOC-LINK™) using the BLOC-LINK™ protocol on the RS485 communications standard.
Each cabinet has one BLOC-LINK™ Busbar. The BLOC-LINK Busbar combines the High Potential Direct Current (“HVDC”) wires and the communication lines of modules in a cabinet. The daisy-chained HVDC bus adds current from each module and terminates it at the busbar. There are four (4) RS485 communications channels. Each channel can accept up to twenty-three (23) addressable modules (TWIN™, FORCE™, EXTEND™, and STEP™).
The STEP™ Micro-Converter is a panel-level DC-DC micro-converter that steps up each solar panel’s potential between 24 Volt and 60 Volt to the High Potential Direct Current (“HVDC”) bus of the PowerBloc® nano-grid. STEP uses an innovative two-stage switching network to achieve over 95% conversion efficiency. By connecting solar panels in parallel using STEPs, each solar panel becomes an independent power source whose energy production is maximized through panel-level Maximum Power Point Tracking (“MPPT”) whether the panel is under full sun or cloudy conditions. STEP communicates with the PowerBloc®’s TRAFFIC™ Controller over power line communication. STEP automatically shuts down if communication to the TRAFFIC™ Controller is lost due to a fault in the power line from the solar array or through a user command on the DIYA™ User Interface. STEP is rail-mounted and allows the use of customer-specified panels.
The STEP™ Solar Input Module accepts inputs from a Branch of a Solar Array equipped with STEP™ Micro-Converters. Solar panel-level STEP Micro-converters combined with the STEP Solar Input Module create a solar array that is safe, efficient, and flexible. A Branch is a “daisy chain” of up to thirty (30) × STEP Micro-Converters for up to 10 kW|DC of solar power. The Branch will rapidly shut down, which means when a Branch is turned off, its electric potential will fall below 30 Volts in less than 30 seconds. This section shows the 1-Branch STEP Solar Input Module.
The STEP™ Solar Input Module accepts inputs from up to two Branches of a Solar Array equipped with STEP™ Micro-Converters. Solar panel-level STEP Micro-converters combined with the STEP Solar Input Module create a solar array that is safe, efficient, and flexible. A Branch is a “daisy chain” of up to thirty (30) × STEP Micro-Converters for up to 10 kW|DC of solar power. Each Branch will rapidly shut down, which means when a Branch is turned off, its electric potential will fall below 30 Volts in less than 30 seconds. This section shows the 2-Branch STEP Solar Input Module.
The TWIN™ Bi-directional Converter steps up the battery pack’s 50 V electric potential to the 400 V potential of the PowerBloc®’s High Potential Direct Current bus and the potential of the HVDC bus down to the battery potential. TWIN can charge any rate in the range of 0-4 kW and discharge at 0-3.8 kW. TWIN can be connected to one or two batteries. When two batteries are used, then they will operate in parallel. The TRAFFIC™ Controller manages the operation of multiple TWINs on the PowerBloc. A PowerBloc® typically has three (3) or more TWINs. TWIN delivers unprecedented flexibility and performance for the YouSolar nano-grid.
Lithium-Iron Phosphate, LiFePO 4
The PowerBloc uses a safe and high-discharge 50 Volt LiFePO 4 battery which requires no active cooling. Each battery pack is equipped with a battery management system. YouSolar uses a 50V battery pack with an energy storage capacity of 5.1 kWh and delivers up to 100 A over the entire range of the discharge curve.
The EXTEND™ Rectifier extends the 400V direct current nano-grid to integrate AC power sources such as utility or generator power. The EXTEND has four bays which can each hold a 3kW rectifier. All four AC input lines are electrically isolated. Therefore, up to four different AC sources can connect to the EXTEND (or one AC source can be distributed over multiple lines). The EXTEND can accept power at frequencies of 50 or 60 Hertz and electric potentials of 200-250 Volts. The rectifier will accept 120 V, but the power of the DC output will be less than 3 kW.
The CAPS™ Bus Capacitor Module holds six large capacitors, which keep the High Potential Direct Current bus stable when the TWIN™ Bi-Directional Converters switch from charge to discharge mode. The capacitors also absorb ripples from the inverter.
Coming Q2 of 2022
The FORCE™ Inverter is a 15-kilowatt grid-forming single-phase inverter with surge capacity that allows it to start motors, such as in air conditioners, water pumps, or refrigerators.
Coming 2022
SINK™ is a small grid-tied inverter that allows the PowerBloc® to send solar energy that cannot be used or stored to the grid.
real-time forecast. Internet-connected PowerBloc® nano-grids receive an hourly 5-day forecast every two hours. PowerBloc’s EDISON™ Energy Management System then uses this data to create a solar production forecast.
How it works.
Today’s legacy grid
In today’s legacy power grid, it’s necessary for power plants and distribution systems to be oversized just to meet peak load. Most of the time, the legacy grid barely uses half its capacity, while consumers still bear the full cost through their utility rates.
Tomorrow’s hybrid
In tomorrow’s hybrid power grid power plants and distribution systems have higher utilization rates. Average demand is lower because of distributed solar systems, but peak demand is even lower because much of it is delivered by distributed batteries. The result is an electric supply that is cheaper, greener and more reliable than the legacy grid.
