A communication method for photovoltaic power plants

Abstract

This invention belongs to the field of photovoltaic technology and provides a communication method for photovoltaic power plants. The photovoltaic power plant includes several terminal devices and a communication terminal. Each terminal device and the communication terminal are connected via communication modules through multiple preset channels. The method includes: determining if a terminal device is a blind spot terminal device; designating a terminal device adjacent to the blind spot terminal device and capable of normal communication as a relay terminal device; the relay terminal device forwarding information from the blind spot terminal device to the communication terminal, and also forwarding information from the communication terminal to the blind spot terminal device, thereby completing the communication transmission between the blind spot terminal device and the communication terminal. This invention enables automatic relaying of photovoltaic subarrays, solving the blind spot problem.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of photovoltaic technology, and in particular to a communication method for photovoltaic power plants. Background Technology

[0002] Traditional point-to-point radio communication distances are limited by transmitter power design and radio management regulations, requiring the addition of repeaters to extend the communication range. When there are a large number of point-to-point communication terminals in complex geographical locations, the construction of communication networks using repeaters is time-consuming and complex.

[0003] In current technologies, communication distances remain insufficient due to electromagnetic environment limitations in practical wireless communication applications. Furthermore, increasing the transmission power of wireless transceivers leads to higher system power consumption and increased hardware costs. Communication blind spots, particularly in areas with complex terrain, are also a concern. Figure 2 As shown, there will be local communication nodes with poor communication quality and interrupted transmission and reception of service messages; these are communication blind spots. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To address this problem, the present invention provides a communication method for photovoltaic power plants.

[0005] To achieve the above-mentioned objectives of this invention, the invention is implemented through the following techniques:

[0006] On one hand, the present invention provides a communication method for a photovoltaic power station, the photovoltaic power station including a plurality of terminal devices and a communication terminal, each of the terminal devices communicating with the communication terminal through a communication module of multiple preset channels, characterized in that it includes:

[0007] Step S101 determines whether any of the terminal devices have blind spot terminal devices. If there are no blind spot terminal devices, the communication terminal communicates normally with the terminal devices.

[0008] Step 102 If there is a blind spot terminal device, designate the terminal device adjacent to the blind spot terminal device and capable of normal communication as a relay terminal device.

[0009] In step S103, the relay terminal device forwards the information of the blind spot terminal device to the communication terminal, and forwards the information of the communication terminal to the blind spot terminal device on its behalf, so as to complete the communication transmission between the blind spot terminal device and the communication terminal.

[0010] In some embodiments, the process of determining that a terminal device is a blind spot terminal device includes,

[0011] The communication terminal initiates a polling request to several of the terminal devices;

[0012] The communication terminal determines whether it has received a polling response from the terminal device. If the communication terminal does not receive a polling response from the terminal device, it determines that the terminal device is a blind terminal device.

[0013] In some embodiments, before the communication terminal initiates a polling request to the plurality of terminal devices, the method further includes:

[0014] The terminal device and the communication terminal are powered on for the first time in sequence;

[0015] The terminal device sends a signal request to the communication terminal, and the communication terminal sends a message back through the preset channel;

[0016] The terminal device parses the message to obtain a preset channel for communication and the physical address of the communication terminal.

[0017] In some embodiments, the determination process of the relay terminal device includes,

[0018] All terminal devices adjacent to the blind spot terminal device that are capable of receiving polling requests and sending polling responses enter relay mode. After waiting for a preset time, a terminal device is automatically and randomly selected as the relay terminal device.

[0019] In some embodiments, the blind spot terminal device sends messages outward at set time intervals. After setting the relay terminal device, the method further includes:

[0020] The relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind spot terminal device, parses the communication terminal to which the message is to be sent, and then performs a relay determination process.

[0021] In some embodiments, the relay terminal device performs a relay determination process including:

[0022] When the message sent by the blind spot terminal device corresponds to the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs basic relay forwarding. At this time, the relay terminal device adds a basic relay identifier to the message and sends it to the corresponding communication terminal. After receiving it, the communication terminal sends a reception completion identifier to the relay terminal device.

[0023] In some embodiments, the relay terminal device's relay determination process further includes:

[0024] If the relay terminal device does not receive the reception completion identifier, it adds the basic relay identifier to the message again and sends it to the preset channel to wait for the corresponding communication terminal to receive it, until the relay terminal device receives the reception completion identifier sent by the corresponding communication terminal.

[0025] In some embodiments, it also includes:

[0026] When the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is not the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs delegated relay forwarding and resends the message to the preset channel, waiting for the next relay terminal device to receive it, until the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the next relay terminal device.

[0027] In some embodiments, the number of times the delegated relay is forwarded is limited to 4, and the time to life of the message is 1 second.

[0028] In some embodiments, after all the relay terminal devices enter relay mode, the system further includes:

[0029] The relay terminal device performs channel activity detection on the preset channel. If the preset channel is an available channel, the relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind terminal device through the available channel.

[0030] The communication method for photovoltaic power plants provided by this invention has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0031] 1. This invention proposes that a wireless communication-based terminal device can act as a receiver and relay, forwarding messages from non-communicating terminal devices to communicable terminal devices. This solves the complex communication construction problem of requiring separate relay equipment in traditional point-to-point communication, and also addresses the communication blind spots in photovoltaic power plants.

[0032] 2. The automatic relay method of the present invention includes automatic networking between terminal equipment and communication terminal, automatic detection of communication blind spots and automatic confirmation of relay path, so as to avoid information loss caused by the continued existence of communication blind spots.

[0033] 3. This invention avoids complex relay path management and simplifies relay communication paths by using a complete receive and respond mechanism, thus ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of information transmission for terminal devices. Attached Figure Description

[0034] The preferred embodiments will now be described in a clear and easy-to-understand manner, with reference to the accompanying drawings, to further explain the above-mentioned characteristics, technical features, advantages, and implementation methods of a communication method for photovoltaic power plants.

[0035] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a communication relay method for a photovoltaic power station according to the present invention;

[0036] Figure 2 This is a diagram illustrating the blind spots in existing communication technologies;

[0037] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the communication polling status between the communication box and the control box monitored on the communication box in this invention;

[0038] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the communication polling status between the control box and the communication box being monitored on the control box in this invention;

[0039] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the control box completing the data relay task between adjacent nodes in relay mode in this invention. Detailed Implementation

[0040] In the following description, specific details such as particular system architectures and techniques are set forth for illustrative purposes and not for limitation, in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments of this application. However, those skilled in the art will understand that this application can also be implemented in other embodiments without these specific details. In other instances, detailed descriptions of well-known systems, apparatuses, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of this application with unnecessary detail.

[0041] It should be understood that, when used in this specification and the appended claims, the term "comprising" indicates the presence of the described features, integrals, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integrals, steps, operations, elements, components and / or sets.

[0042] To keep the drawings concise, only the parts relevant to the invention are shown schematically in each figure, and they do not represent the actual structure of the product. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, in some figures, only one of components with the same structure or function is shown schematically, or only one is labeled. In this document, "one" can mean not only "only one" but also "more than one".

[0043] It should also be further understood that the term “and / or” as used in this application specification and the appended claims means any combination of one or more of the associated listed items and all possible combinations, and includes such combinations.

[0044] Furthermore, in the description of this application, the terms "first," "second," etc., are used only to distinguish descriptions and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0045] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the specific implementation methods of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings and other implementation methods can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative effort.

[0046] In one embodiment, such as Figure 1 As shown, this invention provides an embodiment of a communication method for a photovoltaic power station. The photovoltaic power station includes several terminal devices and a communication terminal. Each terminal device and the communication terminal are connected to each other through communication modules with multiple preset channels, including:

[0047] S101 determines whether any of the terminal devices have blind spot terminal devices. If there are no blind spot terminal devices, the communication terminal communicates normally with the terminal devices.

[0048] S102 If there is a blind spot terminal device, a terminal device that is adjacent to the blind spot terminal device and can communicate normally is designated as a relay terminal device.

[0049] Specifically, the communication terminal is a communication box, and the terminal equipment is a control box. A photovoltaic power station comprises several photovoltaic tracking bracket subarrays, each consisting of several rows of tracking brackets. Each tracking bracket is equipped with a control box. Only one communication box is set up per photovoltaic tracking bracket subarray. Each control box within the same subarray is communicatively connected to the communication box within that subarray. Commands are sent from the backend to the communication box, and the communication box can issue instructions to several control boxes. Each control box contains a LoRa communication module for receiving and sending information and data, and the communication box also contains a LoRa communication module for receiving and sending information and data. Data packets from LoRa communication modules on the same preset channel are mutually visible, and each terminal device can act as a relay node, forwarding relay tasks.

[0050] For example, for LoRa communication modules with the same preset channel, through the network discovery operation between communication terminals, any LoRa communication module can obtain data packets from other communicable LoRa communication modules.

[0051] S103 The relay terminal device forwards the information of the blind spot terminal device to the communication terminal, and forwards the information of the communication terminal to the blind spot terminal device on its behalf, so as to complete the communication transmission between the blind spot terminal device and the communication terminal.

[0052] In the relay mode, the blind spot terminal device relays communication with the adjacent terminal device. The adjacent terminal device relays and forwards service messages to the blind spot terminal device and accepts polling from the communication terminal on its behalf, so as to complete the service message transmission task between the blind spot terminal device and the communication terminal.

[0053] For example, such as Figure 5 As shown, a terminal device in relay mode completes the data relay task between adjacent terminal devices, specifically including:

[0054] 1. Neighboring terminal devices communicate in response; 2. If there is a blind spot terminal device nearby, the relay terminal device forwards the information of the blind spot terminal device to the communication terminal, and forwards the information of the communication terminal to the blind spot terminal device on its behalf; 3. Neighboring terminal devices communicate in polling mode.

[0055] In relay mode, the number of times each relay forward is performed is recorded as the number of communications of the blind spot terminal device.

[0056] Specifically, when any initial terminal device cannot directly send a message to the designated destination communication terminal due to insufficient communication distance, and other terminal devices exist within the same preset channel that can communicate with both the initial terminal device and the designated destination communication terminal, the message from the initial terminal device is sent to the designated destination communication terminal through an automatic relay method.

[0057] The terminal devices adjacent to the blind spot terminal device refer to:

[0058] Terminal devices that are physically adjacent to the blind spot terminal device in all four directions, with the blind spot terminal device as the center.

[0059] The automatic relay method mentioned in this invention does not require relay path management or relay path response mechanism, making it simple to design and implement. Furthermore, this automatic relay method can be deployed on every terminal device without the need for a separate repeater design, and can also include an interrogation mechanism to ensure accurate transmission of data packets.

[0060] In this embodiment, no relay path management is required, and the relay path does not need a complete acknowledgment mechanism; only a single acknowledgment from the receiving end is needed, simplifying the design and implementation. No separate repeater design is required. An acknowledgment mechanism is set up to ensure accurate data transmission.

[0061] In one embodiment, the process of determining that a terminal device is a blind spot terminal device includes:

[0062] The communication terminal initiates a polling request to several of the terminal devices;

[0063] The communication terminal determines whether it has received a polling response from the terminal device. If the communication terminal does not receive a polling response from the terminal device, it determines that the terminal device is a blind terminal device.

[0064] Specifically, the communication terminal initiates polling requests to several terminal devices and monitors the polling status after communication between the communication terminal and each terminal device.

[0065] When a communication terminal determines that it has not received a polling response from the terminal device, it determines that the terminal device has not received a polling request from the communication terminal. The terminal device that has not received a polling request from the communication terminal is then identified as a blind spot terminal device, and the terminal devices adjacent to the blind spot terminal device that can accept polling enter relay mode.

[0066] Specifically, the communication polling status between the communication terminal and the terminal device is monitored on the communication terminal. This includes the following steps:

[0067] 1. Start polling; 2. If all terminal devices corresponding to physical addresses receive polling requests, they send response data to the communication terminal corresponding to the physical address to determine that there are no blind terminal devices; 3. If a terminal device corresponding to one of the physical addresses does not receive a polling request within a set time, it will not send response data, and the communication terminal determines that the terminal device corresponding to that physical address is a blind terminal device.

[0068] In one embodiment, before the communication terminal initiates a polling request to the plurality of terminal devices, the method further includes:

[0069] The terminal device and the communication terminal are powered on for the first time in sequence;

[0070] The terminal device sends a signal request to the communication terminal, and the communication terminal sends a message back through the preset channel;

[0071] The terminal device parses the message to obtain a preset channel for communication and the physical address of the communication terminal.

[0072] For example, after the terminal device and the communication terminal are powered on for the first time, they perform a heartbeat reporting operation to obtain heartbeat messages on the same preset channel; and parse the heartbeat messages to obtain the physical address of the terminal that can perform wireless communication.

[0073] Specifically, the above process is the network discovery process. Upon initial power-on, the terminal device carrying the wireless transceiver performs a heartbeat reporting operation. Terminal devices on the same preset channel periodically receive heartbeat messages from other terminals, and then sequentially parse these heartbeat messages to obtain the physical addresses of communicable terminals. The terminal device performs a heartbeat reporting every 2 seconds after the service data transmission is completed.

[0074] In one embodiment, the determination process of the relay terminal device includes,

[0075] All terminal devices adjacent to the blind spot terminal device that are capable of receiving polling requests and sending polling responses enter relay mode. After waiting for a preset time, a terminal device is automatically and randomly selected as the relay terminal device.

[0076] The random waiting time is 100us-1000us, and the automatic selection principle is that whoever ends the random waiting first enters the relay mode.

[0077] For example, a random wait of 100us to 1000us is performed, and after the wait ends, CAD (Channel Activity Detection) monitoring is performed.

[0078] If the CAD detects that a channel is available, the terminal device will send a heartbeat message on the preset channel. The heartbeat message includes a heartbeat identifier and the physical address of the terminal itself.

[0079] If the CAD detects that the channel is unavailable, it will repeat the random wait of 100us to 1000us until the channel becomes available, and then send a heartbeat message.

[0080] In one embodiment, the blind spot terminal device sends messages outward at set time intervals. After setting the relay terminal device, the method further includes:

[0081] The relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind spot terminal device, parses the communication terminal to which the message is to be sent, and then performs a relay determination process.

[0082] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device performs a relay determination process including:

[0083] When the message sent by the blind spot terminal device corresponds to the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs basic relay forwarding. At this time, the relay terminal device adds a basic relay identifier to the message and sends it to the corresponding communication terminal. After receiving it, the communication terminal sends a reception completion identifier to the relay terminal device.

[0084] In one embodiment, the relay terminal device's relay determination process further includes:

[0085] If the relay terminal device does not receive the reception completion identifier, it adds the basic relay identifier to the message again and sends it to the preset channel to wait for the corresponding communication terminal to receive it, until the relay terminal device receives the reception completion identifier sent by the corresponding communication terminal.

[0086] In one embodiment, when the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is not the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs delegated relay forwarding. At this time, the relay terminal device resends the message to the preset channel and waits for the next relay terminal device to receive it until the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the next relay terminal device.

[0087] In one embodiment, the number of times the delegated relay is forwarded is limited to 4, and the time to life of the message is 1 second.

[0088] In one embodiment, after all the relay terminal devices enter relay mode, the method further includes:

[0089] The relay terminal device performs channel activity detection on the preset channel. If the preset channel is an available channel, the relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind terminal device through the available channel.

[0090] Specifically, the automatic relay process for the photovoltaic subarray includes the following steps:

[0091] When a communication terminal receives a service message in a preset channel and the recipient is not itself, if the recipient of the service message is its own communicable terminal, then a basic relay judgment is performed.

[0092] If it is not another terminal that can communicate with this terminal, then a relay delegation determination is performed.

[0093] At the same time, if the recipient of the service message also receives the message, a reception completion identifier is sent in the preset channel to inform other communicable terminals to cancel the basic relay judgment and delegated relay judgment.

[0094] Specifically, a random wait of 100us to 1000us is performed first, followed by CAD monitoring after the wait period ends.

[0095] If a channel is detected as available, a basic relay identifier is added to the service message, and it is sent to the preset channel. The system then waits to receive the receive completion identifier from the service message recipient. If the receive completion identifier is not subsequently received, the process of adding the basic relay identifier to the service message and sending it to the preset channel is repeated once more.

[0096] Following the aforementioned relay judgment, the following steps are also included:

[0097] First, a random wait of 100us to 1000us is performed. After the wait ends, CAD monitoring is performed. If the channel is found to be available, the service message is resent to the preset channel.

[0098] This invention proposes that a wireless communication terminal device can act as a receiver, or automatically discover other communicable terminal devices and forward messages requiring relay to the corresponding target receiver. This solves the complex communication construction problem of traditional point-to-point communication, which requires adding a separate relay role, and also addresses the communication blind spots in photovoltaic power plants.

[0099] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the above-described division of program modules is merely an example. In practical applications, the above functions can be assigned to different program modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different program units or modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The program modules in the embodiments can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one processing unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software program unit. Furthermore, the specific names of the program modules are only for easy differentiation and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application.

[0100] In the above embodiments, the descriptions of each embodiment have different focuses. For parts that are not described in detail or recorded in a certain embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0101] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0102] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; the division of modules or units is merely a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interface; the indirect coupling or communication connection of apparatus or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0103] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0104] Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit described above can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit.

[0105] It should be noted that the above embodiments can be freely combined as needed. The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for those skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A communication method for a photovoltaic power station, the photovoltaic power station comprising a plurality of terminal devices and a communication terminal, each of the terminal devices being communicatively connected to the communication terminal through a communication module of a plurality of preset channels, characterized in that, The communication terminal is a communication box, the terminal device is a control box, the photovoltaic power station comprises a plurality of photovoltaic tracking support sub-arrays, each photovoltaic tracking support sub-array comprises a plurality of tracking supports, each tracking support is provided with a control box, one communication box is arranged in each photovoltaic tracking support sub-array, and each control box under the same photovoltaic tracking support sub-array is in communication connection with the communication box in the photovoltaic tracking support sub-array; the control box and the communication box are provided with the communication module of the preset channel, each terminal device of the same preset channel is a relay node, and is used for forwarding a relay task; Step S101 monitors the communication polling state between the communication terminal and the terminal device on the communication terminal, starts polling, determines whether a plurality of terminal devices have blind terminal devices, and if not, the communication terminal and the terminal device communicate normally; Step S102 if the blind terminal device is present, the terminal device adjacent to the blind terminal device and capable of normal communication is set as a relay terminal device, and the determination process of the relay terminal device comprises: all terminal devices adjacent to the blind terminal device and capable of receiving a polling request and sending a polling response enter a relay mode, and after waiting for a preset time, a terminal device is automatically selected at random as the relay terminal device; Step S103 the relay terminal device forwards the information of the blind terminal device to the communication terminal, and forwards the information of the communication terminal to the blind terminal device, so as to complete the communication transmission between the blind terminal device and the communication terminal; The blind terminal device sends a message outward at a set time interval, the relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind terminal device, analyzes the communication terminal to be sent by the message, and then the relay terminal device performs a relay judgment process; when the communication terminal physical address corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is not the communication terminal physical address corresponding to the message sent by the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs a relay forwarding by delegation, the relay terminal device re-sends the message to the preset channel, waits for the next relay terminal device to receive, and continues until the communication terminal physical address corresponding to the message sent by the blind terminal device is the communication terminal physical address corresponding to the message sent by the next relay terminal device.

2. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 1, characterized in that, The process of determining the terminal device as a blind terminal device comprises: The communication terminal initiates a polling request to a plurality of terminal devices; If the communication terminal does not receive the polling response of the terminal device, the terminal device is determined as a blind terminal device.

3. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 2, characterized in that, Before the communication terminal initiates a polling request to a plurality of terminal devices, further comprising: The terminal device and the communication terminal are sequentially powered on for the first time; The terminal device sends a signal request to the communication terminal, and the communication terminal feeds back a message through the preset channel; The terminal device parses the message to obtain a preset channel available for communication and a physical address of the communication terminal.

4. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 3, characterized in that, The relay terminal device performs a relay judgment process, which includes: When the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the blind spot terminal device is the same as the physical address of the communication terminal corresponding to the message sent by the relay terminal device, the relay terminal device performs basic relay forwarding, and at this time, the relay terminal device adds a basic relay identifier to the message and sends it to the corresponding communication terminal. The communication terminal sends a receiving completion identifier to the relay terminal device after receiving the message.

5. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 4, characterized in that, The relay terminal device performs a relay judgment process, which includes: If the relay terminal device does not receive the receiving completion identifier, the relay terminal device adds a basic relay identifier to the message again and sends it to the preset channel to wait for the corresponding communication terminal to receive, until the relay terminal device receives the receiving completion identifier sent by the corresponding communication terminal.

6. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 5, characterized in that, The number of times of the commissioned relay forwarding is limited to 4, and the survival time of the message is 1s.

7. The communication method for a photovoltaic power station according to claim 1, characterized in that, After all the relay terminal devices enter the relay mode, the process further includes: The relay terminal device performs channel activity detection on the preset channel. If the preset channel is an available channel, the relay terminal device receives the message sent by the blind spot terminal device through the available channel.

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