Tennessee Patent of the Month – April 2021
When setting up a solar panel field, the location of each panel relative to each other must be known. This helps to track which panels share a circuit, are in series, in parallel and so on. This can be labor intensive as solar fields can be massive. Shoals Technologies Group, LLC has designed a system which can automatically commission a solar panel array, reducing the manual effort involved in setting up a solar field.
Their method for automatically mapping this array uses monitoring devices on each panel.. The monitoring device is connected between a positive and negative terminal of a solar panel. This device monitors the position based on certain selected “master panels” which serve as anchor points. Each master panel broadcasts a unique identifier. Each other panel listens to this broadcast and stores the information in memory as their location. They also store data on the voltage of the broadcast, helping to map the solar panels in strings and arrays. This system helps to simplify solar panel installation and monitoring, making solar fields more achievable.
Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.
Who We Are:
Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.