Recommendation ITU–T Y.2060 published in June 2012 provides an overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) and defines the Internet of Things as a “global infrastructure for the information society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving interoperable information and communication technologies, by exploiting the capabilities of identification, data capture, processing and communication”. IoT takes full advantage of the connected objects to provide services to all kinds of applications, while ensuring compliance with security and privacy requirements. A network which allows to identify “directly and unambiguously digital entities and physical objects and thus to recover, store, transfer and process, without discontinuity between the physical and virtual worlds, the data attached to it” can be seen as a concept that impacts technology and, in a broader sense, society.

The IMEON solar inverter is connected to the web and has the ability to communicate with other objects. IMEON ENERGY teams are constantly developing new applications and new partnerships to interact with new devices. Developments are underway so that the IMEON solar inverter can communicate with and control appliances such as washing machines, dryers, thermostats or home automation systems.

IMEON hybrid inverters are warranted for 10 years if your IMEON is connected to the Internet (the Internet connection must be operational at least 95% of the operating time). An optional extension for your hybrid inverters can be procured to prolong the 10 year warranty period up to 20 years!

If your hybrid inverter is not connected to the internet the warranty of 5 years applies.

For the user, the IMEON guarantee is the assurance of the peace of mind.

In some countries or geographic areas, the infrastructure responsible for the distribution of electricity is fragile and generates significant voltage and frequency fluctuations, leading to frequent power cuts. One of the advantages of IMEON hybrid inverters is the ability to provide a backup mode during these power outages. IMEON solar inverters are equipped with a dedicated output, called “Backup AC Output” which is fed with electricity coming from solar installation and batteries when the public electricity network fails. The installer must only connect the essential electrical appliances to this outlet to secure uninterrupted supply of power. Attention, it is important to make sure that the combined power required for all devices connected to this output does not exceed the power rating of the inverter.

There are two preprogrammed modes that include back-up functionality:

• The Smart-Grid mode, comes with 2 thresholds of battery discharge which are configurable, namely maximum depth of discharge when the grid is present and maximum depth of discharge when the grid is down. It is important to define two different thresholds to assure that a certain amount of energy stored in the batteries is available for backup.
• In Backup mode, when the network is functional the batteries are kept permanently charged. Battery discharge is only allowed when a power outage occurs. This mode allows you to dedicate the full capacity of the battery for backup power supply during network interruptions.

In both modes, the switchover time is 13ms, there is therefore no micro-power cut during the short transition period.

The life of a lithium or lead-acid battery is expressed in number of cycles the battery can sustain in function of applied depth of discharge (DOD). A cycle is defined as a charge and a complete discharge of the battery. Depending on the type of battery, the storage lifespan can vary greatly.

Lithium battery (NMC, LifePO4, LMO …): in recent years, the lithium battery is more and more suitable for solar self – consumption applications. This is mainly due to a significant drop in prices, a long service life, the substantial energy density and a much better yield when compared to lead batteries. Lithium battery manufacturers often indicate lifetimes ranging from 3000 to 6000 cycles at 80% DOD. If the solar self-consumption system has been properly scaled, one cycle must correspond to one day of operation (daytime charge with excess solar power and discharge during the evening and night). If this is the case, the life of a lithium battery varies between 8 and 16 years. Attention, it must be taken into account that these lifespans communicated by the battery manufacturers are given taking into account the standard test conditions. Certain parameters such as high temperatures or high charge and discharge currents can negatively impact the lifetime of a lithium battery.

Lead-acid battery (gel, AGM, OPZV, OPZS …): these batteries have the advantage of being less expensive than lithium batteries. The disadvantages are related to the service life which varies between 400 and 800 cycles at 50% DOD for gel or AGM batteries and between 1000 and 2000 cycles at 50% DOD for OPZV or OPZS batteries (under standard test conditions ). In addition, the number of cycles drops rapidly if the batteries are used at discharge levels above 50%. It is important to check the “cycle / DOD” curves provided by the battery manufacturers to ensure that the inverter is set correctly. As with lithium batteries, lead-acid batteries must be installed in rooms protected from heat and properly ventilated. The charging and discharging currents must not exceed, in general, 10 to 20% of the storage capacity.

Thanks to the integrated Texas Instruments ARM Cortex processor, IMEON ENERGY solutions are designed to evolve, keeping up with future developments, both regulatory and technological: connected devices, smart home, electric mobility, home automation, etc. IMEON hybrid inverters for solar self-consumption have an internal memory capacity of 8 GB foreseen for software updates and newly developed features.

IMEON ENERGY is constantly developing new applications to enable users to optimally exploit the capabilities of their solar inverter for self-consumption. An application manager, integrated into IMEON OS. ONE offers many software modules dedicated to the management of solar installations integrating a hybrid inverter. IMEON is more than just a solar inverter, it’s a smart system that is constantly evolving!

IMEON inverters learn user habits and solar production profiles and adapt their operation through a machine learning process. This process aims to make increasingly relevant choices to increase the autonomy of homes and other equipped sites. IMEON ENERGY is the only manufacturer to design inverters with the ability to learn to continually improve their performance.

Choosing an IMEON hybrid inverter for solar self-consumption today is heading for the future.

To achieve this, IMEON hybrid inverter performs a real-time analysis of several parameters: the power consumption of the site (Smart-Meter), the production of the photovoltaic solar installation, the state of charge (SOC) of the battery bank and the status of the public electricity distribution network. In function of these parameters and the objectives set by the user, the artificial intelligence of the IMEON hybrid inverter will decide which sources of energy to use and how to use them: direct consumption, storage in batteries or injection to the public electricity distribution network. Thanks to this process, each kWh generated by the photovoltaic system can be appropriately valorized and the losses are avoided.

In addition to that, the electronics of the IMEON hybrid inverter, which are based on the architecture of a grid – connected solar inverter, also contribute to improving the overall efficiency of the solar self-consumption system. This architecture allows the direct use of the electricity generated by the solar panels without causing losses associated with conversions necessary for charging the battery bank. IMEON hybrid inverter only charges the part of solar production which is not consumed directly (excess production). This latter may seem obvious but it turns out that the majority of solutions available on the market for solar self-consumption with storage effectively charge almost the entire solar production to the battery before it is ready to use. This point is essential when considering efficiency, since the storage itself can generate significant losses, which vary depending on the type of the batteries.

The essential aspect of solar self-consumption is a possibility to generate a kWh which is competitive, in terms of price, with a kWh purchased from the public electricity distribution network. It is easy to understand that each efficiency percentage point gained during production, lowers the price of solar-generated kWh and that IMEON hybrid inverter, simply by its design, improves the profitability of a solar self-consumption installation.

For example, by downloading the “Philips Hue” application your connected IMEON inverter will communicate with the Philips Hue lamp to send the light signals according to the operating state of its solar system. With this application, you can set custom alerts in function of the state of charge of the battery, the presence of excess production, or you can choose to be notified about a transition to backup mode. For example, it is possible to switch the color of the lamp to red when the state of charge of your battery is low level or to switch the color of the lamp to green when the solar output is substantial.

Many applications like the one above are being developed to connect IMEON to new devices or “consumer loads” such as water heaters. In addition to that, Imeon Energy is already engaging with companies creating smart home equipment to accelerate the development of the new software.

With these new technologies, a whole new world of connected energy management is opening up and your IMEON hybrid inverter is ready for it.

• Supervision: These are applications that allow the user to follow the operation of their PV system through IMEON inverter. For example, the application “Timeline” displays information about the events occurring within the installation, such as parameters exceeding specification, loss of communication with lithium batteries or the transition to backup mode due to a grid failure.
• Battery management: these are applications that make the IMEON photovoltaic inverter compatible with certain lithium batteries. To operate with lithium batteries, it is mandatory to establish and sustain communication between the battery management system (BMS) and the IMEON inverter. Using the communication bus, lithium batteries can send information such as charging or discharging currents to apply or not to exceed. This communication occurs through a CAN software protocol and is mandatory for security reasons.
• Smart-grid: These are applications that allow the IMEON photovoltaic inverter to operate by taking into account parameters related to the public electricity distribution network or specific instructions such as battery charging or discharging time. The regulations vary from one country to another, and some of the smart-grid applications make it possible to adapt their installation to local regulations.
• Smart-home: these are applications that can communicate with and / or control certain connected devices present in the building. For example, the “Water Heater” application optimizes the self-consumption rate by starting a water heater when excess solar power generation is present.

By downloading these applications, the user can keep their IMEON PV inverter up to date to accommodate the latest technological developments.

If the installation is connected to the web, the user can connect to the IMEON ENERGY web portal, from a computer, a tablet or a smartphone. In order to have access to this web platform, the installer who has carried out the photovoltaic installation must first create an account for his client.

On this web monitoring platform, the user will have remote access to all the historical operating data of his self – consumption system: electricity generated by the photovoltaic plant, part of the production consumed directly, of the production stored in the battery bank, part of the solar production injected into the public electricity distribution network. It is important to remember that connecting your IMEON inverter to the web affords a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.

If the inverter is not connected to the web, the user can access the IMEON OS. ONE interface locally, which allows to view simplified data concerning the operation of its photovoltaic system. To access this data, stored in the internal memory of the inverter, the user can connect directly to the IMEON, via WiFi.

The OS. ONE interface provides access to multitude of applications that make IMEON unique, suitable for every usage and every user profile. New applications are continuously developed by IMEON ENERGY engineering teams and subsequently integrated into the IMEON OS. ONE library.

Incorporating a Texas Instruments ARM Cortex processor, IMEON ENERGY solutions are designed to evolve and adapt to future developments, both regulatory and technological: connected devices, smart home, electric mobility, home automation, etc. IMEON smart inverters have an internal storage capacity of 8 GB allowing them to effortlessly integrate the updates necessary for their evolution.

By outfitting your solar installation with a smart inverter from IMEON ENERGY, you choose a scalable system that tomorrow will always be at the forefront of technology, constantly incorporating the latest developments. With IMEON, you do not have to replace your inverter to upgrade your installation, you can just update it with one click.