Table of Contents

Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 1

ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................2

................................................................................................................................... 3

2. METHODS OF SOLAR ENERGY CAPTURE.................................................................6

3. SOLAR CELL............................................................................................................ 7

3.1 CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION....................................................................................................8

4. SOLAR PHOTO VOLTAICS.......................................................................................8

4.1. CONSTRUCTION / WORKING PRINCIPLE................................................................................9

4.2 TYPES OF PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS..........................................................................................10

4.2.1CONCENTRATING PHOTOVOLTAIC..................................................................................10

4.2.2 LOW CONCENTRATION CPV..............................................................................................11

4.2.3 MEDIUM CONCENTRATION CPV......................................................................................11

4.2.4 HIGH CONCENTRATION CPV.............................................................................................11

4.2.5 CONCENTRATING PHOTOVOLTAICS AND THERMAL..................................................11

4.2.6 COST MEASURES..................................................................................................................12

5. OPTIMIZATION OF SOLAR –PHOTO VOLTAIC CELLS...............................................12

5.1. SHADING IN PHOTOVOLTAIC FIELD......................................................................................12

5.2 PHOTOVOLTAIC STATIONARY COLLECTORS......................................................................13

5.3 PHOTOVOLTAIC SINGLE AXIS TRACKING COLLECTORS..................................................14

5.3.1. NORTH-SOUTH HORIZONTAL AXIS: EAST WEST TRACKING....................................14

5.3.2 EAST-WEST HORIZONTAL AXIS: NORTH-SOUTH TRACKING....................................16

5.4 INCIDENT ENERGY OF SOLAR FEILDS...................................................................................17

6. OPTIMAL DESIGN OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR FIELDS FOR MAXIMUM OUTPUT......18

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 6.1. MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION OF THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF SOLAR FEILD..........18

6.2 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND SHADING...........................................................................19

7. SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING...............................................................................19

7.1 MPPT DESIGN...............................................................................................................................21

7.2 DESIGNING A LOW-POWER, ADAPTIVE TRACKING POWER CONVERTER SYSTEM....23

7.3 PULSE WIDTH MODULATION TECHNIQUES.........................................................................24

8. ADAPTIVE DIGITAL CONTROL LOOP......................................................................25

CONCLUSION............................................................................................................32

REFERENCES............................................................................................................. 33

Signal Processing Aspects of Optimum Energy

Transfer from Solar Cells

ABSTRACT
Renewable energy is the energy generated from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain,
tides and geothermal heat which are naturally replenished. Here we are interested in doing a
study in solar energy, and why its gaining a renewed interest among other energies, methods of
solar energy capture - especially the methods of using concentrated photovoltaic solar cells,
optimization design of solar fields in energy tracking, Challenges and difficulties in the energy
capture, and its cost concern measures and recent technological developments made under solar

2
energy harvesting methods. Solar energy is very needed for those applications which rely on
external energy supply like wireless sensor networks nodes in which the node has to consider
energy harvesting mechanism. This involves design of the low power consuming Maximum
Power Point Tracking (MPPT) circuits and its hardware realization, and the adaptive digital
control technique is employed to identify the optimal working point and its experimental results.
Nowadays Climatic changes coupled with high oil prices and increasing government support is
driving the needs of renewable-energy.

1. RENEWABLE ENERGY-SOLAR

Solar energy is the radiant light and heat from the Sun that has been harnessed by humans
since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar technologies are broadly
characterized as either passive or active depending on the way they capture, convert and
distribute sunlight.

The need of energy harvesting is a primary issue to be tackled to grant effectiveness of the
technology in a wide spectrum of applications. In principle all energy source should be exploited
to extract the available energy. The solar one is generally the most effective in outdoor
applications for the high power density provided and exploitable through solar cells

3
Active solar techniques use photovoltaic panels, pumps, and fans to convert sunlight into useful
outputs. Passive solar techniques include selecting materials with favorable thermal properties,
designing spaces that naturally circulate air, and referencing the position of a building to the Sun.
Active solar technologies increase the supply of energy and are considered supply
side technologies.

Passive solar technologies reduce the need for alternate resources and are generally considered
demand side technologies. It includes orienting a building to the Sun, selecting materials with
favorable thermal mass or light dispersing properties, and designing spaces that naturally
circulate air.

1.1 ENERGY FROM THE SUN

The Earth receives 174 peta watts (PW) of incoming solar radiation at the
upper atmosphere. Approximately 30% is reflected back to space while the rest is absorbed by
clouds, oceans and land masses. The spectrum of solar light at the Earth's surface is mostly
spread across the visible and near-infrared ranges with a small part in the near-ultraviolet.

Earth's land surface, oceans and atmosphere absorb solar radiation, and this raises their
temperature. Warm air containing evaporated water from the oceans rises, causing atmospheric
circulation or convection. When the air reaches a high altitude, where the temperature is low,
water vapor condenses into clouds, which rain onto the Earth's surface, completing the water
cycle. The latent heat of water condensation amplifies convection, producing atmospheric
phenomena such as wind, cyclones and anti-cyclones. Sunlight absorbed by the oceans and land
masses keeps the surface at an average temperature of 14 °C. By photosynthesis green plants
convert solar energy into chemical energy, which produces food, wood and the biomass from
which fossil fuels are derived.

Yearly Solar fluxes & Human Energy Consumption

Solar 3,850,000EJ

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Wind 2,250 EJ

Biomass 3,000 EJ

Primary energy use (2005) 487 EJ

Electricity (2005) 56.7 EJ

Fig.1.Table showing Yearly Solar fluxes & Human Energy Consumption

From the table of resources (Fig.1) it would appear that, the total solar energy absorbed by
Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land masses is approximately 3,850,000 exajoules (EJ) per
year. In 2002, this was more energy in one hour than the world used in one year. Photosynthesis
captures approximately 3,000 EJ per year in biomass. The amount of solar energy reaching the
surface of the planet is so vast that in one year it is about twice as much as will ever be obtained
from all of the Earth's non-renewable resources of coal, oil, natural gas, and mined uranium
combined.

1.2. APPLICATION OF SOLAR ENERGY

 Solar applications includes space heating and cooling through solar architecture

 Potable water via distillation and disinfection, day lighting, hot water,

 Thermal energy for cooking, and high temperature process heat for industrial purposes.

 Architecture and urban planning

 Agriculture and horticulture ,solar lighting, Solar thermal Water heating

 Heating, cooling and ventilation ,Water treatment, Cooking

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  Process heat ,Electrical generation, Experimental solar power solar chemical

2. METHODS OF SOLAR ENERGY CAPTURE

The solar thermal method uses energy from the sun directly to generate heat. Solar panels can be
used to collect heat from the sun and to transfer it for water and space heating in buildings.
Commonly such panels are positioned to maximize absorption of heat from the sun throughout
the day and contain tubing through which water circulates. This tubing is known as solar thermal
collectors .There is also an indirect method where not water but a non-toxic anti-freeze liquid is
used. The sun warms this liquid which in turn transfers this heat to water held in a tank. Passive
thermal building design is as simple as designing to maximize the sun’s use."

2.1. THERMAL ENERGY METHOD

There are wide arrays of products on the market that utilize thermal energy. The products most
often used are called solar thermal collectors and can be mounted on the roof of a building or in
some other sunny location. By far, the most common and one of the most cost-effective solar
thermal collectors is a solar water heater. A solar water heater system is usually comprised of
three parts; a storage tank, a 'working' fluid system and solar collectors. The working fluid flows
through the solar collector either actively pumped or set up in a way that it can passively flow in
which it collects the thermal energy and carries it back into the water storage tank. In some cases
the working fluid is the actual hot water from the tank, but more often it is an independent loop
of either water or water and anti-freeze that collects the heat and carries to it a heat exchanger
inside the storage tank. The heat exchanger transfers the heat from the working fluid into the
water within the storage tank and the hot water is ready for use when needed.

2.2. LIGHT ENERGY METHOD

Capturing light energy from the sun can vary depending on whether you goal is to capture light
or create electricity. If light is the goal, then skylights or light-pipes are a popular method.
Skylights allow the sun's light to enter through specialized windows typically located in the roof
providing natural lighting to a building. One strong consideration that needs to be taken into
account when considering skylights is the amount of thermal or heat energy that may be lost due
to the skylight.

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Another popular alternative in capturing natural light are light-pipes. A Light-pipe is a round
tube lined with extremely reflective materials that guides the light rays from an entrance point
the roof or an outer wall into the building. A collector at the entrance point directs as much
sunlight as possible down the tube and a diffuser spreads the natural light through-out the inner
room. Light-pipes minimize the heat energy lost and are also extremely flexible in design and
implementation, allowing them to extend past an attic or twist and turn around other obstructions
that may be in the way.

3. SOLAR CELL
A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts light directly into electricity by
the photovoltaic effect. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended
specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the
light source is unspecified. Assemblies of cells are used to make solar panels, solar modules,
or photovoltaic arrays. Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the
application of solar cells in producing electricity for practical use. The energy generated this way
is an example of solar energy.

Solar cells exhibit a strong nonlinear electrical characteristic, which makes it low effective
energy in non stationary environments. Non stationary can be associated with changing weather
conditions (Eg.cloudy and not optimally radiating solar power environments) and aging effects
or efficiency degradation in the solar panel. (Eg, dust or rust on the cell surface).
To understand the electronic behavior of a solar cell, it is useful to create a model which is
electrically equivalent, and is based on discrete electrical components whose behavior is well
known. An ideal solar cell may be modeled by a current source in parallel with a diode; in
practice no solar cell is ideal, so a shunt resistance and a series resistance component are added
to the model.

Fig.2 shows the resulting equivalent circuit of a solar cell and Fig.3 Shows Schematic
representation of a solar cell for use in circuit diagram is shown below.

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Fig .2. The equivalent circuit of a solar cell

Fig .3. The schematic representation of a solar cell

3.1 CHARACTERISTIC EQUATION

From the equivalent circuit it is evident that the current produced by the solar cell is equal to that
produced by the current source, minus that which flows through the diode, minus that which
flows through the shunt resistor

I = IL − ID − ISH (1)

Where

 I = output current (amperes)

 IL = photo generated current (amperes)
 ID = diode current (amperes)
 ISH = shunt current (amperes)

4. SOLAR PHOTO VOLTAICS

A photovoltaic module or photovoltaic panel is a packaged interconnected assembly

of photovoltaic cells, also known as solar cells. The photovoltaic module, known more

8
commonly as the solar panel, is then used as a component in a larger photovoltaic system to offer
electricity for commercial and residential applications.

Because a single photovoltaic module can only produce a certain amount of wattage, installations
intended to produce larger electrical power capacity require an installation of several modules or
panels and this is known as a photovoltaic array. A photovoltaic installation typically includes an
array of photovoltaic modules or panels, an inverter, batteries and interconnection wiring.

4.1. CONSTRUCTION / WORKING PRINCIPLE

PV cell is a panel. Solar Panels use light energy called photons from the sun to generate
electricity through Photo-Voltaic effect

The majority of modules use wafer-based crystalline silicon cells or a thin-film cell based
on cadmium telluride or silicon. Crystalline silicon, which is commonly used in the wafer form
in photovoltaic (PV) modules, is derived from silicon, a commonly used semi-conductor.

In order to use the cells in practical applications, they must be:

 Connected electrically to one another and to the rest of the system

 Protected from mechanical damage during manufacture, transport and installation and use
in particular against hail impact, wind and snow loads. This is especially important for
wafer-based silicon cells which are brittle.
 Protected from moisture, which corrodes metal contacts and interconnects, and for thin-
film cells the transparent conductive oxide layer thus decreasing performance and
lifetime.

Most modules are usually rigid, but there are some flexible modules available, based on thin-film
cells.

Electrical connections are made in series to achieve a desired output voltage and/or in parallel to
provide a desired amount of current source capability. Diodes are included to avoid overheating
of cells in case of partial shading. Since cell heating reduces the operating efficiency it is
desirable to minimize the heating. Very few modules incorporate any design features to decrease
temperature. However installers try to provide good ventilation behind the module.

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New designs of module include concentrator modules in which the light is concentrated by an
array of lenses or mirrors onto an array of small cells. This allows the use of cells with a very
high-cost per unit area such as gallium arsenide in a cost-competitive way.

Depending on construction the photovoltaic can cover a range of frequencies of light and can
produce electricity from them, but sometimes cannot cover the entire solar spectrum specifically
ultraviolet, infrared and low or diffused light. Hence much of incident sunlight energy is wasted
when used for solar panels, although they can give far higher efficiencies if illuminated with
monochromatic light.

Another design concept is to split the light into different wavelength ranges and direct the beams
onto different cells tuned to the appropriate wavelength ranges. This is projected to raise
efficiency to 50%. Also, the use of infrared photovoltaic cells can increase the efficiencies,
producing power at night.

Sunlight conversion rates i.e the module efficiency can vary from 5-18% in commercial
production solar panels that can be lower than cell conversion.

4.2 TYPES OF PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS

4.2.1CONCENTRATING PHOTOVOLTAIC

Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems employ sunlight concentrated

onto photovoltaic surfaces for the purpose of production. Solar concentrators of all varieties may
be used, and these are often mounted on a solar tracker in order to keep the focal point upon the
cell as the Sun moves across the sky.

Luminescent solar concentrators when combined with a PV-solar cell can also be regarded as a
Concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system. Luminescent solar concentrators are useful as they
can improve performance of PV-solar panels drastically.

EFFICIENCY

Semiconductor properties allow solar cells to operate more efficiently in concentrated light, as
long as the cell junction temperature is kept cool by suitable heat sinks. CPV operates most

10
effectively in sunny weather since clouds and overcast conditions create diffuse light, which
essentially cannot be concentrated.Expected future efficiencies are nearly 50%.

4.2.2 LOW CONCENTRATION CPV

Low concentrations CPV are systems with a solar concentration of 2-10 suns. For economic
reasons, conventional silicon solar cells are typically used, and, at these concentrations, the
heat flux is low enough that the cells do not need to be actively cooled. The laws of optics dictate
that a solar collector with a low concentration ratio can have a high acceptance angle and thus
does not require active solar tracking.

4.2.3 MEDIUM CONCENTRATION CPV

From concentrations of 10 to 100 suns, the CPV systems require solar tracking and cooling,
which makes them more complex.

4.2.4 HIGH CONCENTRATION CPV

High concentration photovoltaics (HCPV) systems employ concentrating optics consisting of

dish reflectors or Fresnel lenses that concentrate sunlight to intensities of 200 suns or more. The
solar cells require high-capacity heat sinks to prevent thermal destruction and to manage
temperature related performance losses. Multijunction solar cells are currently favored
oversilicon as they are more efficient. The efficiency of both cell types rises with increased
concentration; multijunction efficiency also rises faster.

4.2.5 CONCENTRATING PHOTOVOLTAICS AND THERMAL

Concentrating Photovoltaics and Thermal (CPVT) technology produces both electricity and
thermal heat in the same module. Thermal heat that can be employed for hot tap water, heating
and heat-powered air conditioning (solar cooling), desalination or solar process heat CPVT
systems can be used in private homes and increase total energy output to 40-50%, as compared
with normal PV panels with 10-20% efficiency, and they produce more thermal heat in
wintertime compared with normal thermal collectors. Also, thermal systems do not overheat.

11
4.2.6 COST MEASURES

Compared to conventional flat panel solar cells, CPV is advantageous because the solar collector
is less expensive than an equivalent area of solar cells. CPV system hardware (solar collector and
tracker) is targeted to be priced well under 3 USD/Watt, whereas silicon flat panels that are
commonly sold are 3 to 5 USD /Watt (not including any associated power systems or installation
charges).

Though the cost of multi junction solar cells is roughly 100x that of comparable silicon cells, the
cell cost remains a small fraction of the cost of the overall concentrating PV system, so the
system economics might still favor the multi junction cells.

5. OPTIMIZATION OF SOLAR –PHOTO VOLTAIC CELLS

The design of stationary and single axes tracking collectors in a field consisting of rows of
collectors involves relationships between the field and collector parameters and solar radiation
data. In addition, shading and masking of adjacent rows affect the collector deployment of the
field by decreasing the incident energy on the collector plane. The use of many rows, densely
deployed in a given field, increases the field incident energy but also increases the shading.
Therefore, there is an optimal deployment of the collectors in the field yielding, for example,
maximum energy, minimum required field area, or other objectives. For photovoltaic collectors,
the output energy depends on the module efficiency, the solar cell operating temperature, and on
the scheme of the electrically interconnected modules. Series interconnection between the
photovoltaic modules may have a significant effect on the output energy of the solar plant in
event of shading. The following topic deals with the optimal design of photovoltaic solar fields
for stationary and single axes tracking collectors to obtain maximum annual output energy [20].

5.1. SHADING IN PHOTOVOLTAIC FIELD

Solar collectors deployed in rows in solar fields may be subjected to shading by adjacent rows
during the day. The amount of shading depends on the distance (spacing) between the collector
rows. Two spacing approaches may be applied: one is based on a required minimum distance
between the rows for maintenance purpose of the solar field, and the other is based on reducing
the mutual shading between the collector rows. In cases where there are no limitations on the
field size or other considerations, the distance between the collector rows may be rather large.

12
On the other hand, if the field size is limited or economic considerations are to be taken into
account, the collector rows may be deployed with a smaller distance between the rows
determined by the requirement for the solar field maintenance. In the present study, the
required distance for maintenance is applied.

Fig.4. Shows shading by collectors in a stationary solar field

5.2 PHOTOVOLTAIC STATIONARY COLLECTORS

A stationary solar field is shown Fig.4. The field is oriented due to south, horizontal, and of
length L which is also the collector length; the distance between PV collector rows is D, the
collector height is H, and the collector inclination angle with respect to horizontal is β. Shaded
collectors are referred here to collector rows K≥2 (Fig.4) that may undergo shading fully or
partially during the year; the first row is never shaded.K is the number of collector rows [20].
The relation between the field and collector parameters is given by

K × H × cos β + (K – 1) × D = W (2)
We define a status matrix, Ms, as follows:

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Ms (j, k) = 1 if module in coloumn j and row k is un shaded
0 if module in coloumn j and row k is shaded entirely or partially. _

The status matrix depends on the day n and the hour T, i.e., Ms= f (n, T). With this matrix, we
may determine if a certain module is illuminated (unshaded) during the whole day, shaded
during the whole day, or illuminated during a part of day and shaded in another part of the day.
In addition, the status matrix assumes that a partially shaded module, at a given time, is
considered as a fully shaded module. This assumption defines a lower limit for the collector
performance.

For series connection of PV modules, it is important to know which modules are illuminated
during the same time intervals as the other modules on the collector. This information is given in
the matrix status, Ms.

5.3 PHOTOVOLTAIC SINGLE AXIS TRACKING COLLECTORS

Single axes tracking methods are distinguished by the direction of the rotating axis, tracking
direction, and the way the tracking is implemented. Two single axes tracking methods are used
in the study.
 North-south horizontal axis, east-west tracking
In this method, the collectors are installed on axes along northsouth direction and execute a
movement along east-west direction.
 East-west horizontal axis, north-south tracking
In this method, the collectors are installed on axes along east-west direction and execute a
movement along north-south direction.

5.3.1. NORTH-SOUTH HORIZONTAL AXIS: EAST WEST TRACKING

The deployment of two rows of collectors in the solar field is shown in (Fig.5.) Describing the
minimum distance Dmin between the collector rows for maintenance purpose at noon time, the
maximum distance Dmax between the collectors at sun rise or sun set, which is the installation
distance of the collector rows, and the instantaneous distance between the collectors D

14
corresponding to the variation of the collector inclination angle β in the east-west tracking
method.

Fig. 5. North-south horizontal axis: east-west tracking collectors

The relation between parameters in (Fig.5) is

D = H × (1 – cos β) + Dmin (3)

Constant rotational speed of the collectors is used for obtaining the incidence angle

cos θ =[(sinφ sin δ + cosφ cosδ cos ω)2 + cos2 δ sin2 ω]1/2 (4)

The instantaneous inclination angle β is

β=ω (5)
where
φ is the latitude angle.
δis the earth declination angle.
θ is the angle between the solar beam and the normal to the collector.
and ω is the solar time angle.

Substituting Eq (5) in Eq (3) we get the distance between the collectors as

15
D = H × (1 – cosω) + Dmin (6)

5.3.2 EAST-WEST HORIZONTAL AXIS: NORTH-SOUTH TRACKING

The deployment of two rows of collectors in the solar field is shown in (Fig.6) describing the
minimum distance Dmin, the maximum distance Dmax, and the instantaneous distance between
the collectors D, similar to Fig.(5). The angle β is the minimum inclination angle of the collector
in the north-south tracking method.

Fig.6. East-west horizontal axis: north-south tracking collectors

The relation between parameters in Fig. 6 is

D = H × (cos βmin – cos β) + Dmin (7)

Sun altitude tracking of the collectors is used for obtaining the incident angle

cos θ = (1 − cos2δ sin2 ω)1/2 (8)

The surface inclination angle is given by

β=z (9)

16
where z is the zenith angle given by
cos z = sin φsinδ + cosφ cosδ cos ω (10)

Substituting Eq. (10) into Eq. (7), we obtain

D = H×(cosβmin - sinφ × sinδ - cos φ × cosδ × cosω ) + Dmin (11)

5.4 INCIDENT ENERGY OF SOLAR FEILDS

The yearly incident solar energy of the field [20] is given

Q = H ×L ×[qb + qd+ (K – 1) qbsh + qdsh] (12)

qb - yearly beam irradiation, per unit area, of unshaded collector (first row)
qd - yearly diffuse irradiation, per unit area, of unshaded collector (first row)
qb sh - average yearly beam irradiation, per unit area, of shaded collector (K−1)rows.
qdsh - average yearly diffuse irradiation, per unit area, of shaded collector (K−1) rows

One may notice that the upper rows receive more irradiation than the lower rows, the distribution
of the irradiation on the modules of the upper rows is generally even, and the distribution of the
irradiance on the modules for the east-west tracking collector is more even than for the two other
types of collectors.

To obtain practical voltage levels, PV modules are connected in series. The best connection of
the modules in series is when they are exposed to the same illumination intensity during the same
period of time. Therefore, the modules in each row may be connected in series with acceptable
loss of energy. One may notice the difference in the incident irradiation on different collector
rows and the difference in the total incident irradiation on the different types of collectors.

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6. OPTIMAL DESIGN OF PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR FIELDS FOR MAXIMUM
OUTPUT
The developed procedure is now used for the optimal design of photovoltaic solar fields to obtain
maximum output energ. A solar field comprises of many rows of collectors separated by a
distance for maintenance purpose. Shading of collectors by their neighbors is likely to occur
during some period of time depending, among others, on the spacing between the collector rows.

A densely deployed field of collectors increases the field energy but, at the same time, increases
also the shading. Therefore, an optimal design of a solar field is desired to obtain for maximum
energy production.

This section deals with the optimal design of stationary and single axis tracking photovoltaic
collector fields to obtain maximum output energy from a given field area.

6.1. MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION OF THE OPTIMAL DESIGN OF SOLAR

FEILD
The mathematical formulation of the solar field design problem may be described as a “general
programming problem,” usually multivariable and nonlinear in both the objective and constraint
functions [21] and may be stated in the following form

(13)
Where Z+ is a natural number set, and C(X¯) is called the objective function of the optimization
problem. The problem variables X¯ are n design parameters of the solar .The parameters are
free to vary in an allowed range bounded by upper and/or lower physical limits and they may be
interrelated to satisfy some conditions. The constraints are expressed by me satisfying conditions

18
called equality constraints and by (m−me) bounded conditions called inequality constraints. Some
of the optimization variables are integers.

e.g., X1=K is the number of collector rows and by definition is an integer.

Thus optimal design of solar photovoltaic fields consisting of multiple rows are obtained for
tracking maximum solar energy and producing maximum output energy from a given field area
considering shading and masking of adjacent rows into account.

6.2 EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND SHADING

To study the effect of the temperature and the shading on the ouput energy of the photovoltaic
solar field, four steps were used

 Calculating the maximum solar incident energy of the field

 Calculating the maximum output energy of the PV array at the incident irradiance and at
25°C,
 Calculating the maximum ouput energy of the PV array at the incident irradiance and at
the operating temperature
 Calculating the maximum output energy of the PV array at the incident irradiance,
operating temperature, and taking into account the interconnection between the PV
modules undergoing shading

7. SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING

Energy harvesting technique is taken into consideration in many cases since due to long time
operational life. In principle, all energy sources should be exploited to extract the available
energy; among the others, e.g., see [2]–[6], The Solar energy being a most interesting one in out-
doors deployments due to its relatively high power density. This type of technique is most
preferably implemented in wireless sensor network nodes to track solar energy .Here low- power
maximum power point tracker (MPPT) circuit is specially designed to harvest solar energy for
the functioning of wireless sensor network.

19
The energy transfer mechanism is strongly influenced by the illumination condition such as the
angle of incidence of the sunlight which varies along the day. All such phenomena can be
interpreted as transient or permanent perturbations affecting and reducing the efficiency of the
energy production phase.
Existing solar energy harvesting solutions for wireless sensor nodes consist of a simple on/off-
threshold charge mechanism relying on a diode connecting the cell with the rechargeable battery
[8].Unfortunately, in a diode- based solution the electrical working point of the cell is fixed and
set by the battery voltage, hence preventing any adaptation. Whenever the available power is
below the threshold the diode disconnects the cell from the battery and no energy is wasted.

A Traditional MPPT circuit which is a diode-based solution is extremely low cost and low power
but it suffers from three main drawbacks.

 The working point of the cell is set by the battery voltage and cannot be adjusted to
maximize energy transfer in a changing environment
 The threshold prevents the system to operate efficiently at low radiating power rates .i.e.,
during not optimal solar conditions.
 The electrical characteristic of the solar cell has to be chosen to properly match the
nominal voltage of the battery, hence constraining solar panels and batteries.

All mentioned problems can be addressed by substituting the diode-based circuit with a
Maximum power point tracker (MPPT) system.

20
Fig .7.Schematic Design of MPPT Circuit.

7.1 MPPT DESIGN

MPPT design requires the development of an adaptive system to transfer the energy generated by
the solar cell into a storage medium such as a battery or a super capacitor while maintaining the
working point of the cell around the optimal one, for which the transferred power is maximized.
In wireless sensor units, the size of the solar panel must be as small as possible and a traditional
MPPT circuit would consume all the generated power.

The maximum power point detection has been performed with a priori modeling of the cell [12],
[13], by analog control loops [7], or through artificial neural networks and fuzzy solutions [14].
Furthermore, the efficacy of sensing solely the output electric parameters of the converter has
been demonstrated in [15].

But these solutions do not cope with three main constraints associated with wireless sensor nodes
such as
 Availability of reduced HW resources on the node
 Requirement for an extremely low power consumption of the MPPT to allow most of the
harvested energy to be conveyed to the battery
 Extremely low power operation rates.

21
Here a novel implementation of an adaptive digitally controlled MPPT circuit [1] especially
designed for wireless sensor nodes are discussed.
Here the MPPT design requires the development of an adaptive system to transfer the energy
generated by the solar cell into a storage medium such as a battery or a super capacitor while
maintaining the working point of the cell around the optimal one, for which the transferred
power is maximized. In wireless sensor units, the size of the solar panel must be as small as
possible and a traditional MPPT circuit would consume all the generated power. The design has
been carried to attain
 Extremely low power consumption of the MPPT
 Fast adaptation to the changing environment
 High energy transfer efficiency and low cost

Fig .8. Detailed design of MPPT circuit.

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7.2 DESIGNING A LOW-POWER, ADAPTIVE TRACKING POWER CONVERTER
SYSTEM

The above designed MPPT circuit (Fig.8) is essentially composed of two main logical blocks
 A voltage controllable power converter adapting the solar cell with the battery for power
transfer.
 A control system keeping the solar panel working in the optimal point (the one
maximizing the energy harvest).

A high level description of the MPPT circuit is given in (Fig.7)

The detailed electronic design is provided in (Fig.8).

The step-up converter stage electronically adapts the solar cell providing a voltage V p with the
storage battery characterized by voltage Vb. The prior voltage Vb differs from the former
dependent voltage Vp and is fixed by the battery charge status.
Conversely, Vp can be imposed leaving to a power (n IpVp) transferred to the battery where n is
the power converter efficiency. Since Vp can be controlled it is our goal to set V p to Vm , the
voltage for which the trasferred power is maximum .

The proposed power converter stage is a modified single inductor step up converter built over the
LT1303 integrated circuit [17]. The LT1303 natively implements a hysteretic analog control loop
designed to stabilize the output voltage by operating its power switch at fixed duty cycle while
the entire integrated power stage is turned on and off to control the power flow. This is
accomplished by the hysteretic comparator C1 and the square wave generator G1 of (Fig.8)

The integrated circuit has an inductor peak current control scheme which avoids the inductor to
saturate .The power switch SW1 is composed of two proportional units measuring inductor
current and disabling the switch when the current goes above a maximum nominal value, e.g.,
400 mA. This control technique is known to be effective especially for low power dc–dc stages
as it assures high efficiency at low power rates and facilitates the design of the control loop [9]-

23
[11]. This power stage as well as the analog circuit can be forced into an extremely low power
consumption state through a dedicated CPU digital signal labeled “power down”.

The analog control loop implemented by the LT1303, which we suitably modified by introducing
a further external operational amplifier A1, grants that Vp input is kept at the optimal reference
point of voltage Vs. A1 is an extremely low power unit (50- A supply current) with a reasonable
large bandwidth (200-kHz gain–bandwidth product) and provides an amplified control error Vs-
Vp. The reference signal Vs is digitally provided by the control CPU [18] and needs to be
converted into an analog signal.

7.3 PULSE WIDTH MODULATION TECHNIQUES

A pulse width modulation (PWM) technique is opted instead of a power eager digital–analog
converter (DAC) to perform the digital to analog conversion using a standard PWM modulator
provided by the CPU followed by a second order passive low pass filter F1 to generate the
analog reference voltage.

Since it was possible to directly connect the reference voltage to one of the high impedance
inputs of the LT1490 operational amplifier, no buffer was needed, hence reducing the power
consumption of the converter.Battery BT employed for storage is a 300-mAh NiMH
rechargeable battery with a nominal voltage of 4.8 V (the battery pack is composed of two 150-
mA h units connected in parallel).We considered NiMH batteries instead of Pb-sealed, NiCd and
Lithium-ions ones for their compactness,ease recharge ability and no memory charging effects.

The power delivered to the battery is (P = Vb*Ib ), where Ib is the battery current. To grant a
suitable control action both Vb and Ib need to be measured. Vb can be simply acquired through the
switched bandgap reference circuit BG1 while Ib requires a more complex procedure since the
single inductor step up dc–dc converter provides an output current whose spectra starts at the
switching frequency (155 kHz for the LT1303). Moreover, the modified control loop (due to its
time delaying PI action) may cause the power converter burst mode switching activity to slow
down. This phenomenon might introduce burst mode oscillations on the output current
waveform.

24
As such, in order to remove these unwished frequencies, and to provide at the same time an
accurate current reading, we employed a high side active current to voltage converter based on
op-amp A2 and a second order passive low pass filter F2. All circuits of the power converter
system (LT1303, CPU and LT1490 op-amps) are powered from the “self power point” of (Fig.8)
which is located before the current reading electronics.

As such, the measured current represents the net current flowing into the battery (i.e., the total
generated current minus that used to power the electronics). This accurate reading allows the
CPU for enabling the converter only when effective energy harvesting is possible.

8. ADAPTIVE DIGITAL CONTROL LOOP

As presented in the previous section the control loop of the MPPT circuit aims at keeping voltage
Vp at the optimal reference voltage Vs=Vm maximizing the power transfer from the solar cell to
the battery. Since power at the output of the converter is the product of V b and Ib and the battery
voltage can be assumed constant during the control cycle, the stored power is proportional to the
output current (here the control requires few seconds while the order of the constant of time is
the hour).

25
Fig .9. Solar cell characteristics in two radiate conditions.

(Fig.9.) presents two typical behaviours for a solar cell illuminated in two different conditions;
the generated current and power as function of the cell voltage V p are given (in curve A the
radiating power is higher than in B). Whatever the technology of the solar cell is (e.g., inorganic
or organic), the power versus the cell voltage curve P(Vp,Ip) shows a convex behaviour
characterized by a unique maximum associated with the energy transduction phenomenon[16].

The control algorithm in execution on the CPU has to identify the optimal voltage V m for which
the transferred power is maximized and, due to changing conditions, track it so that adaptively V s
converges to Vm which, in turn changes over time. The identified optimal Vm at a given time
instant will become the reference value to be considered by the analog control loop.

(Fig.10.) Presents a block diagram for the proposed control scheme executed by the CPU. In its
current form, the algorithm providing Vm is a simplified gradient- ascend technique on the
P(Vp,Ip) curve w.r.t. Vs ( Vs coincides with Vp at the end of the transient phase of the controller).
The starting point of the iterative indirect algorithm is provided by a low cost amplitude search

26
technique which periodically scans the power curve in voltage. Starting from the identified sub-
optimal point the gradient-ascent algorithm updates Vs to converge towards the optimal point
and, once the optimal point neighborhood is reached it tracks environmental changes by
modifying Vs accordingly.

Assume the unit starts from a situation without power delivery (e.g.at night). The control CPU is
enabled every seconds through a polled timing mechanism and, once active, it turns on the
converter and scans Vs for identifying a good starting point. This is accomplished by linearly
decreasing Vs from a maximum to a minimum value and measure the induced Ib .

The voltage associated with the maximum value of I b is the one considered as starting point for
the gradient ascent algorithm.The gradient control mode is then enabled to track changing
weather conditions with a parameterized Tgrad step update.

Conversely, if no power is generated the CPU turns off the converter and waits for the next wake
up signal. More articulate actions e.g. based on predictive algorithms for optimally setting T off
could be envisaged in a future release. The initialization+ tracking algorithm must be as simple
as possible for power consumption reasons, prompt enough to detect and track changes and
flexible to accommodate different solar cells (different typologies of solar panels can be
connected without the need of electronic adapters).

27
 Wait for To

Turn off the converter Turn on the co

Perform an amplitud

Has a valid maxim

power point being

Wait for Tgr

Fig .10. Control algorithm for identifying and adapting the optimal Vs. Is there power
coming from th

28
The iterative algorithm converges to the correct value provided that the parameter gain
amplifying the gradient function is small enough. Moreover, the curvature around the optimal
point is rather flat which implies the algorithm to be robust (a small discrepancy between Vs and
Vm does not significantly reduce the energy transfer efficiency). Starting from the iterative
standard gradient ascend equation.

We approximate ΔVs,i as

(14)

(15)
Hence obtaining

(16)
Both operations are characterized by an extremely reduced CPU overhead.

The gradient is estimated through its definition, here by super imposing perturbation wave to the
control variable and evaluating its effect on the controlled one. To detect the gradient sign we
adopted a correlation operator since a positive correlation stands for a positive power gradient
whereas a negative correlation stands for a negative one (and correlation is a straight low-cost
operation

(17)
Where

(18)
is the perturbation on the working point superimposed by the CPU.

29
 (19)
is the induced perturbation on the controlled variable and Mp is the number of points used to
generate the perturbation signal.

The implemented adaptive algorithm can be synthesized as if

(20)
Here the Hebbian-like tracking algorithm if effective provided that the following are true.

 The spectrum of the perturbation wave is limited to the region for which the converter
Vs → Ib transfer function is flat in modulus with zero phase. Additionally perturbation
wave amplitude must allow current channel perturbations arising outside the maximum
working point to be separated from noise at the analog–digital converter (ADC) level
(satisfaction of this design constraint can be verified at simulation level).

 The update gain to be used in gradient ascent is small enough to guarantee convergence
towards the unique maximum, yet providing enough reaction ability to tracking the
changes

During operational activity the control CPU also monitors the battery voltage and disables
the converter whenever the voltage is above a safety voltage threshold hence introducing an
extra charge limiter. Moreover, the CPU performs a digital zero compensation of the current
channel readings, sampling the channel before the converter is turned on. This digital zero
compensation is necessary since the low current/low power analog current reader has an
intrinsic bias which needs to be removed to grant an accurate detection of the zero power
condition

30
The implemented algorithm runs on a 8 bit PIC16F870 CPU at extra low power 32.768-kHz
clock frequency so that the CPU consumes only 30μA and does not need to be necessarily
switched off [18]. The data interface was written in Tiny OS[19] so that power-related
information necessary to the control CPU can be easily acquired by the master CPU of the
Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) node executing Tiny OS code.

31
CONCLUSION

The importance of solar energy as renewable energy and why it gained renewed interest among
other energies are well known from this study. And various techniques of solar energy capture
particularly the method of capturing solar energy by concentrated photovoltaic solar cell were
studied. Different types and optimization of photovoltaic collectors were studied in different
directional tracking in order to obtain maximum efficiency of solar energy and optimal design of
solar field under the effect of shading, and new technique of energy harvesting method which
includes a low-power MPPT in this study is noted to maximize the energy generation from a
small, low power solar cell. The entire design of this MPPT system, from the power converter to
the digital control system has been expressly designed for low power operations, independently
from the specific nature of the solar panel and the battery type. The suggested control system is
able to generate an energy transfer rate particularly high also when the cell is in shadow or the
weather is cloudy, differently from existing solutions for WSN nodes that do not produce energy
in these situations.

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Web links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy

http://www.solarfreaks.com

http://www.informaworld.com

http://www.polarpowerinc.com

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