Patent 7880081 was granted and assigned to Thales Group on February, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A solar generator has at least two branches electrically connected in parallel at opposite first and second ends of positive and negative polarity, respectively, each branch comprising one or more photoelectric cells electrically connected in series and having a first end provided with first blocking means adapted to block an electrical current coming from an adjacent branch. The second end of each branch is provided with second blocking means adapted to limit the propagation toward an adjacent branch of a discharge current induced by an electrical arc in a photoelectric cell of its own branch to a value less than or equal to a nominal current value for that branch.