Economical, PV maximum power point tracking regulator with simplistic controller

Author

Wolf, SMM ; Enslin, JHR

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Electron. Eng., Stellenbosch Univ., South Africa

fYear

1993

fDate

20-24 Jun 1993

Firstpage

581

Lastpage

587

Abstract

A 30% cost reduction of photovoltaic generation can be brought about by the investment in a novel, highly efficient maximum power point tracker (MPPT). Such a power converter is currently under development, implementing a feedforward output current controller as tracking algorithm. The DC-DC power converter, typical of a MPPT, exploits the efficient high-frequency operation, associated with zero-transition switching. Thus the output filter only consists of the combination of a storage battery and its cabling. The resulting power converter is suitable for integration into standard PV panels during manufacturing. The efficiency of the MPPT is 96% for a range of output powers at a low battery voltage of 12.5 V and a component cost of US$21.00

Keywords

DC-DC power convertors; economics; electric current control; feedforward; investment; optimal control; photovoltaic power systems; solar cell arrays; solar cells; switching circuits; tracking; 12.5 V; 96 percent; DC-DC power converter; HF operation; PV panels; ZCS; ZVS; cabling; costs; feedforward output current controller; investment; maximum power point tracking; output filter; solar cells; storage battery; tracking algorithm; Batteries; Costs; DC-DC power converters; Filters; Investments; Photovoltaic systems; Power generation; Power generation economics; Regulators; Solar power generation;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics Specialists Conference, 1993. PESC '93 Record., 24th Annual IEEE

Conference_Location

Seattle, WA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-1243-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PESC.1993.471985

Filename

471985