A buck converter with simple maximum power point tracking for power electronics education on solar energy systems

Author

Lu, Dylan D C ; Chu, R.H. ; Sathiakumar, S. ; Agelidis, V.G.

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. & Inf. Eng., Univ. of Sydney, Sydney, NSW

fYear

2007

fDate

9-12 Dec. 2007

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper introduces a solar photovoltaic (PV) system suitable for undergraduate engineering education and training. The system consists of a buck converter using a simple maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method. Constant voltage control method is used for the approximate tracking and is implemented by analogue circuits. The circuit simplicity helps students to appreciate the benefit of MPPT in a short period of time without the need to work on complicated circuits and software coding. The proposed converter has been successfully implemented and served as a mini-project in a unit of study in power engineering studies.

Keywords

photovoltaic power systems; power convertors; power engineering education; solar power stations; analogue circuits; buck converter; constant voltage control method; maximum power point tracking; power electronics education; software coding; solar energy systems; solar photovoltaic system; undergraduate engineering education; Buck converters; Circuits; Control engineering education; Engineering education; Photovoltaic systems; Power electronics; Power engineering; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Voltage control; buck converter; maximum power point tracking; power engineering; projects;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Engineering Conference, 2007. AUPEC 2007. Australasian Universities

Conference_Location

Perth, WA

Print_ISBN

978-0-646-49488-3

Electronic_ISBN

978-0-646-49499-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/AUPEC.2007.4548059

Filename

4548059