9 Feb 2017

Current-voltage Curves For Loads

Dr. Irfan Ullah

Assistant Professor
Electrical Engineering Department
University of Management and technology

Photovoltaic Energy Systems EE526

Contents

1. Simple resistive-Load I–V Curve

2. DC motor I–V curve
3. Battery I–V curves
4. Maximum power point trackers
5. Hourly I–V curves
Simple resistive-Load I–V Curve

For simple resistive load

The operating point is the intersection of the

current–voltage curves for the load and the PVs

As resistance changes, the operating point The efficiency of a PV module with a

moves around on the PV I –V curve fixed resistance load designed
 DC motor I–V curve

the voltage–current relationship for the dc motor

where back emf e = kω and Ra is the armature resistance

• Notice that at start-up, while ω = 0, the current rises rapidly with increasing voltage
• Once the motor starts to spin, back emf drops the current and thereafter I rises more slowly with
increasing voltage

Electrical model of a permanent magnet dc motor Electrical characteristics of a permanent-magnet dc motor

 DC motor I–V curve cont’d..

The motor won’t start spinning until insolation reaches 400 W/m2, but after that it
only needs 200 W/m2 to keep running
Linear current booster (LCB)
• converts low-current, high-voltage power
into high-current, low-voltage power

A linear current booster (LCB) increases current to DC motor I –V curve on photovoltaic I –V curves for varying
help start or keep the motor running in low sunlight insolation
 Battery I–V curves

During the charge cycle, with positive current flow into the battery

VB is the voltage of battery

Ri is the internal resistance

An ideal battery has a vertical current–voltage A real battery can be modeled as an ideal battery in series
characteristic curve. with its internal resistance, with current flowing in
opposite directions during charging and discharging.
Example 9.1

Suppose that a nearly depleted 12-V lead-acid battery has an open-circuit voltage of
11.7 V and an internal resistance of 0.03 Ω.
a. What voltage would a PV module operate at if it is delivering 6 A to the battery?
b. If 20 A is drawn from a fully charged battery with open-circuit voltage 12.7 V, what
voltage would the PV module operate at?
Solution:
the PV voltage would be

While drawing 20 A after VB has reached 12.7 V, the output voltage of the battery
 Maximum power point trackers

Significant efficiency gains could be realized if the operating points for resistive, dc
motor, and battery loads could somehow be kept near the knee of the PV I –V curves
throughout the ever-changing daily conditions

20 kHz

A self-regulating PV module with fewer cells can A buck-boost converter used as a the heart of a maximum power
automatically reduce charging current as the batteries tracker
approach full charge
Maximum power point trackers cont’d..

The average power put into the magnetic

field of the inductor during one complete
cycle is given by

average power into the inductor

The duty cycle D is the fraction of the time the switch is
closed. Examples: (b) 50% duty cycle; (c) D < 0.5; (d) D >
average power delivered by the inductor 0.5

Over a complete cycle, average power into the

inductor equals average power out of the inductor
Example 9.2

Under certain ambient conditions, a PV module has its maximum power point at Vm
= 17 volts and Im =6 A. What duty cycle should an MPPT have if the module is
delivering power to a 10 Ω resistance?
Solution:
The maximum power delivered by the PVs
P = 17 V ×6 A = 102 W.
To deliver 102 W to the 10 Ω resistor
We need
Hourly I–V curves

The MPPT bumps the PV voltages and currents

to appropriate values for the load

Redrawing the PV I –V curves with an MPPT The 1-sun I –V curve with two I –V curves when
insolation is 677 W/m2
 Hourly I–V curves cont’d..

Hour-by-hour PV I –V curves with examples of three Daily Energy Delivered to Three Loadsa
different load types: dc motor, 12-V battery, MPPT.
Discussion

Thanks
?