Petra Solar Develops Industry's First AC Sense ASIC
The new AC Sense ASIC is a high accuracy control and sense integrated circuit designed to improve AC line measurement accuracy, performance, and reliability
(South Plainfield, NJ, Oct. 12, 2010) - Petra Solar Inc., the world pioneer of smart pole mounted solar power systems, today announced the introduction of the industry's first AC Sense ASIC, an application specific integrated circuit designed to improve the measurement accuracy and performance of its SunWave™ Smart Energy Modules (SEM). The new AC Sense ASIC offers an integrated AC line voltage and current monitoring solution for increased accuracy, reduced component count, and improved reliability. The new integrated circuit (IC) replaces conventional discrete solutions consisting of voltage sense transformers, current sense transformers, and hall effect devices with a single integrated solution improving accuracy, reliability and size.
Sensing the parameters of the utility grid is critical to the highly efficient operation of solar systems. In addition, accurate sensing of the utility grid voltage and current supplied by solar systems is essential for utilities to harvest the solar energy value as well as to enable utility Smart Grid applications such as outage detection, voltage optimization, and reactive power control.
The new AC Sense ASIC features high speed, high resolution circuitry with integrated analog to digital (A/D) converters making the sensed voltage and current signals available in high resolution digital format. The new chip is therefore very suitable for control functions in addition to the monitoring capabilities for grid tied solar systems. Other features include programmable gains, on-chip calibration to compensate for external component variability, and fast over-current detection for enhanced protection. In addition, the chip offers advantages over alternative approaches in terms of reduced DC current injection, facilitating compliance with various standards.
"The new AC Sense ASIC constitutes another milestone in Petra Solar's efforts to bring about innovation in smart solar technology through semiconductor integration," said Dr. Shihab Kuran, the company's CEO and President and a veteran of the semiconductor and solar industries. "We have assembled a world class team of engineers who are making semiconductor integration a core piece of our product strategy."
Joe DeLuca, Vice President of Development and Product Management, noted, "The need for high accuracy AC line sensing is particularly paramount in Petra Solar's SunWave systems since each unit constitutes a stand-alone solar power generator with its own sensing and control circuitry, and are deployed in a highly distributed architecture in utility distribution grids. The high level of accuracy achieved with the new AC Sense ASIC enables next generation Smart Grid applications to improve grid reliability while furthering solar penetration levels."
About Petra Solar:
Petra Solar, founded in 2006 by CEO and President, Dr. Kuran, is the pioneer of SunWave systems, a grid-tied, pole-mounted, distributed solar generation system. The SunWave system combines solar energy with smart-grid communications and electric grid enhancement functions to create a comprehensive utility grade solution for utilities. Investors have demonstrated confidence in Petra Solar, providing $54 million in private capital since 2007.
More information about Petra Solar can be found at www.petrasolar.com.
