Increasing output of Solar Panel using

Boost Converters

Aditi, Arnav Gupta, Himanshu Lohani Electrical and Electronics Engineering , Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology, Uttar Pradesh Technical University

Introduction • Alternative energy sources are inherently non-polluting and

continuous free in their availability, . However, their applications in conventional distribution systems are limited due to high initial cost and reliability issues.

• It is anticipated that PV systems will become one of the main energy resources to full fill the global energy requirement by the end of this century

• The daily average solar energy incident over India varies from 4 to 7 kWh/m2 with about 1500–2000 sunshine hours per year (depending upon location), which is far more than current total energy consumption

• Assuming the efficiency of PV modules were as low as 10%, this would still be a thousand times greater than the domestic electricity demand projected for 2015. the cost of generating solar power.

Hypothesis • The boost converter has the reputation of being low-

performance and complicated to design

• Operating in DCM generally will result in a higher loop bandwidth at the expense of lower efficiency. The DCM converter will likely be smaller due to the smaller inductor, but the demands on the output capacitor’s ability to handle ripple current are higher.

• In this project we are using a ferric –core inductor in which frequency cannot be increased much since that will lead to losses hence to improve the efficacy a microcontroller can be used to obtain a duty cycle of up to 0.5.

Project approach

• The design of the model has been made by giving the running condition of the load the utmost importance.

• In case of poor sunlight if the output of the of the PV panel is not enough to drive the boost converter components so that the converter could boost the voltage to drive the load, then the load will be switched over to the main supply so that the load gets uninterrupted power supply.

• To do this a single pole double throw (SPDT) relay has been used which can connect the load to any one of the inputs i.e the main supply or the boost converter output.

• The SPDT gets it commands of switching between the two inputs through the comparator which compares the output voltage of the PV panel with the test voltage taken from the battery.

• If the output of the comparator is positive then the SPDT puts the load on the boost converter and if the output of the comparator is negative then the SPDT puts the load on the main supply.

Figure 2 Block Diagram

Applications •Hybrid Electric Vehicles The NHW20 model Toyota Prius HEV uses a 500 V motor. Without a boost converter, the Prius would need nearly 417 cells to power the motor. However, a Prius actually uses only 168 cells and boosts the battery voltage from 202 V to 500 V. •Solar Home Lighting System The electric output of solar cells which is typically of the order of 0.5 Volt cannot directly be used for large lighting systems. Therefore, DC-DC boost converter is used to boost this voltage to 12-24 V for the purpose of lighting street lamps, i.e., halogen bulbs.

Concluding Remarks This project uses the DC-DC Boost converter to boost the solar panel output to efficient levels and support the load. If the required voltage from the solar-panel drops below the test voltage then the relay switches load to the mains. However output voltage and load current always depend upon the application

References • C. K. Tse and K. M. Adams, "Qualitative analysis and control

of a DC-to-DC Boost Converter Operating in Discontinuous Mode", IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, Vol. 5, No. 3, July 1999, Pp 323-330.

• Diary R. Sulaiman, Hilmi F. Amin, and Ismail K. Said., “Design of High Efficiency DCDC Converter for Photovoltaic Solar Home applications”, Journal of Energy and Power engineering, 2009.

Figure 1 DC DC Boost Converter