Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays

A Maximum Power Point Tracker has been previously developed for the single high performance triple junction solar cell for hybrid and electric vehicle applications. The Maximum Power Point Tracking MPPT) control method is based on the Incremental Conductance (IncCond) but removes the need for curren...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wolfs, Peter, Li, Q.
Other Authors: Unknown
Format: Conference Paper
Published: IEEE 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11060
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author Wolfs, Peter
Li, Q.
author2 Unknown
author_facet Unknown
Wolfs, Peter
Li, Q.
author_sort Wolfs, Peter
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A Maximum Power Point Tracker has been previously developed for the single high performance triple junction solar cell for hybrid and electric vehicle applications. The Maximum Power Point Tracking MPPT) control method is based on the Incremental Conductance (IncCond) but removes the need for current sensors. This paper presents the hardware implementation of the Maximum Power Point Tracker. Significant efforts have been made to reduce the size to 18 mm x 21 mm (0.71 in x 0.83 in) and the cost to close to $5 US. This allows the MPPT hardware to be integrable with a single solar cell. Precision calorimetry measurements are employed to establish the converter power loss and confirm that an efficiency of 96.2% has been achieved for the 650-mW converter with 20-kHz switching frequency. Finally, both the static and the dynamic tests are conducted to evaluate the tracking performances of the MPPT hardware. The experimental results verify a tracking efficiency higher than 95% under three different insolation levels and a power loss less than 5% of the available cell power under instantaneous step changes between three insolation levels.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-110602017-10-02T02:27:29Z Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays Wolfs, Peter Li, Q. Unknown Solar cells Incremental conductance -- IncCond -- Maximum power point tracking -- MPPT -- -- Photovoltaic -- PV Resourcing Queensland Renewable energy (660502) Electrical Engineering (290901) Electric automobiles A Maximum Power Point Tracker has been previously developed for the single high performance triple junction solar cell for hybrid and electric vehicle applications. The Maximum Power Point Tracking MPPT) control method is based on the Incremental Conductance (IncCond) but removes the need for current sensors. This paper presents the hardware implementation of the Maximum Power Point Tracker. Significant efforts have been made to reduce the size to 18 mm x 21 mm (0.71 in x 0.83 in) and the cost to close to $5 US. This allows the MPPT hardware to be integrable with a single solar cell. Precision calorimetry measurements are employed to establish the converter power loss and confirm that an efficiency of 96.2% has been achieved for the 650-mW converter with 20-kHz switching frequency. Finally, both the static and the dynamic tests are conducted to evaluate the tracking performances of the MPPT hardware. The experimental results verify a tracking efficiency higher than 95% under three different insolation levels and a power loss less than 5% of the available cell power under instantaneous step changes between three insolation levels. 2007 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11060 IEEE fulltext
spellingShingle Solar cells
Incremental conductance -- IncCond -- Maximum power point tracking -- MPPT -- -- Photovoltaic -- PV
Resourcing Queensland
Renewable energy (660502)
Electrical Engineering (290901)
Electric automobiles
Wolfs, Peter
Li, Q.
Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title_full Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title_fullStr Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title_full_unstemmed Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title_short Hardware Implementation and Performance Analysis of a Current Sensor Free MPPT for High Performance Vehicle Solar Arrays
title_sort hardware implementation and performance analysis of a current sensor free mppt for high performance vehicle solar arrays
topic Solar cells
Incremental conductance -- IncCond -- Maximum power point tracking -- MPPT -- -- Photovoltaic -- PV
Resourcing Queensland
Renewable energy (660502)
Electrical Engineering (290901)
Electric automobiles
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/11060