Novel cascaded battery charging architecture for photovoltaic systems

In this work, a battery charging architecture is proposed and validated which uses optimal photovoltaic energy harness to perform battery charging quickly and safely. The architecture is developed to mitigate conflicting objectives, which arise from charging batteries optimally while simultaneously harnessing photovoltaic energy optimally. A charge controller is implemented which aims to prolong battery life through monitoring battery characteristics, and subsequently determining the proper charge profile that would meet this objective while providing fast and efficient charging. The MPPT controlled solar array is integrated with the battery charging system and the coupled system is simulated and validated.