Design, fabrication and evaluation of performance of a maximum power point tracker
- Bangkok : Asian Institute of Technology, 1981
- vii, 81 p.
- Thesis ; no. ET-81-8 .
- Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. ET-81-8 .
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development
Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1981
When coupling a photovoltaic panel to a load the operating point has little chance to correspond exactly to the optimum point of the current-voltage characteristic of the panel . A Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) that tracks continuously this maximum power point always helps to increase the efficiency of such an energy transfer. This presentation considers three types of loads, a) Storage Battery-Boost Tracker b) DC PM Motor driven Pumps- BUCK Tracker c ) Resistive Loads-BOOST or BUCK Tracker Theoretical studies show that MPPT properly designed for Battery Charging improves the panel utilization by approximately 20%. A BOOST MPPT which could be modified to form a BUCK was built and tested with above load types . The design criteria for maximum energy transfer at various power levels are studied and presented. Efficiencies obtained are of the order of 85%, at a cost of about 50 US$ . It is shown that efficiencies of more than 95% can be reached without doubling the component cost.