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Google patents inverters that predict power grid faults

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This filing describes a method where solar or battery inverters send out small electrical signals at different frequencies to test the local power grid. By measuring how the grid reacts, the inverter predicts potential faults and adjusts its own settings to help the grid handle those issues.

Why it mattersIt suggests a way for home energy systems to actively help stabilize the power grid before problems occur, rather than just passively consuming or supplying power.

In the filing’s own words

An inverter coupled to an electrical power grid characterizes the electrical power grid. The inverter outputs a plurality of electrical signals of different frequencies to the electrical power grid, measures responses of the electrical power grid to the plurality of electrical signals to obtain measurement data, and processes the measurement data to generate prediction data that characterizes one or more fault conditions of the electrical power grid. The inverter adjusts an operational setting of the inverter based on the prediction data. The operational setting affects a response of the electrical power grid to a fault condition.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A power grid characterization method performed by an inverter that is electrically coupled to an electrical power grid, the method comprising: outputting, by the inverter, a plurality of electrical signals of different frequencies to the electrical power grid; measuring, by the inverter, responses of the electrical power grid to the plurality of electrical signals to obtain measurement data; processing, by the inverter, the measurement data to generate prediction data that characterizes one or more fault conditions of the electrical power grid, each of the characterized fault conditions in the one or more fault conditions being associated with respective one or more grid conditions that potentially cause the fault condition; and adjusting, by the inverter, an operational setting of the inverter based on the prediction data, the operational setting affecting a response of the electrical power grid to at least one grid condition associated with at least one fault condition in the characterized fault conditions.

Facts

Company
Google (X Development LLC)
Official title
CHARACTERIZING ELECTRICAL GRID AND PREDICTING FAULT CONDITIONS USING INVERTERS
Publication number
US20260302794A1
Application number
19702262
Filed
Jun 9, 2026
Published
Oct 1, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

H02J 3/381 Electricity & electronicsH02J 2103/30 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.