• Advances in Energy Research
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.97-106
• /
• 2013

This study designs and tests a photovoltaic system with distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) methodology using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) controller. Each solar panel in the distributed PV system is equipped with a newly designed DC/DC converter and the panel's voltage output is regulated by a FPGA controller using PI control. Power from each solar panel on the system is optimized by another controller where the quadratic maximization MPPT algorithm is used to ensure the panel's output power is always maximized. Experiments are carried out at atmospheric insolation with partial shading conditions using 4 amorphous silicon thin film solar panels of 2 different grades fabricated by Chi-Mei Energy. It is found that distributed MPPT requires only 100ms to find the maximum power point of the system. Compared with the traditional centralized PV (CPV) system, the distributed PV (DPV) system harvests more than 4% of solar energy in atmospheric weather condition, and 22% in average under 19% partial shading of one solar panel in the system. Test results for a 1.84 kW rated system composed by 8 poly-Si PV panels using another DC/DC converter design also confirm that the proposed system can be easily implemented into a larger PV power system. Additionally, the use of NI sbRIO-9642 FPGA-based controller is capable of controlling over 16 sets of PV modules, and a number of controllers can cooperate via the network if needed.

• Journal of The Korean Association of Information Education
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.461-467
• /
• 2019

As the convergence solutions become more common, the use of Arduino and Raspberry Pi boards has been increasing. These control boards has to be executed under power blackout. In this environment, we take advantage of solar power system to overcome the power out. In this paper, we poposed a effficient power control strategy. Our experimental device is a DSLR shooting device executed based a predesigned interval time. The control module of our experimental device is the compound system of Raspberry Pi and Arduino boards. Arduino board send the force signals to wake up Raspberry Pi. We developed a new control strategy algorithm for the efficient use of solar power energy. In this paper, we mesured the efficiency of solar enery consuming of our system. We programmed a control system to send DSLR shooting signals. In experimentals, we ensured a stable consuming of electricity during 10 days. In the end, it was found that the consumption power of the Raspberry was reduced by about 81% when the Aduino was combined to save power.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.21-31
• /
• 2020

The government mandates gradually zero energy building and Photovoltaic power generation systems installed in buildings are emerging as the most realistic alternative to increase the independence rate of building energy. In this study, we propose a method to reduce the power consumption of households by increasing the PV capacity of balconies and applying the method used the charged electric power stored in batteries after sunset. In order to evaluate the electric power energy savings of the residential BESS, a balcony PV 1.2 kW and a battery pack 2 kWh were installed for 9 houses in 4 apartments in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do. The BESS is charged when the balcony PV is generated electric power, and when solar power generation is finished, it supplies power to the electric appliances connected to the load. As a result of installing the solar PV module 1.2 kW and 2 kWh class BESS for 3 households located in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, the average electric power consumption saving rate was 40%. The reduction in electricity consumption in the case of zero generation surplus power by maximizing the utilization rate of BESS has been improved to about 53%. Therefore, in order to increase the self-sufficiency rate of electric energy in apartment houses, it is effective to increase the solar photovoltaic capacity of the balcony and apply the residential BESS. In the future, it is believed that the balcony PV and home BESS will play a key role in achieving mandatory zero-energy housing.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.472-478
• /
• 2022

Solar energy harvesting is practiced by various nations for the purpose of energy security and environment preservation in order to reduce overdependence on oil. Converting solar energy into electrical energy through Photovoltaic (PV) module can take place either in on-grid or off-grid applications. In recent time Lithium battery is exhibiting its presence in on-grid applications but its role in off-grid application is rarely discussed in the literature. The preliminary capacity and Peukert's study indicated that the battery quality is good and can be subjected for life cycle test. The capacity of the battery was 10.82 Ah at 1 A discharge current and the slope of 1.0117 in the Peukert's study indicated the reaction is very fast and independent on rate of discharge. In this study Lithium Iron Phosphate battery (LFP) after initial characterization was subjected to life cycle test which is specific to solar off-grid application as defined in IEC standard. The battery has delivered just 6 endurance units at room temperature before its capacity reached 75% of rated value. The low life of LFP battery in off-grid application is discussed based on State of Charge (SOC) operating window. The battery was operated both in high and low SOC's in off-grid application and both are detrimental to life of lithium battery. High SOC operation resulted in cell-to-cell variation and low SOC operation resulted in lithium plating on negative electrode. It is suggested that to make it more suitable for off-grid applications the battery by default has to be overdesigned by nearly 40% of its rated capacity.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.52-58
• /
• 2022

Silicon carbide powder was prepared from carbon black and silicon recovered from waste solar panels. In the solar power generation market, the number of crystalline silicon modules exceeds 90%. As the expiration date of a photovoltaic module arrives, the development of technology for recovering and utilizing silicon is very important from an environmental and economic point of view. In this study, silicon was recovered as silicon carbide from waste solar panels: 99.99% silicon powder was recovered through purification from a 95.74% purity waste silicon wafer. To examine the synthesis characteristics of SiC powder, purified 99.99% silicon powder and carbon powder were mixed and heat-treated (1,300, 1,400 and 1,500 ℃) in an Ar atmosphere. The characteristics of silicon and silicon carbide powders were analyzed using particle size distribution analyzer, XRD, SEM, ICP, FT-IR, and Raman analysis.

• Solar Energy
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.3-8
• /
• 1991

There are fifteen solar radiation measurement stations over the entire country in Korea. However, they are not capable of supplying reliable solar radiation data for remote areas including islands. The un-manned automated insolation measurement station is suitable for these areas due to the electric power shortage and the maintenance problems at these isolated areas. Our main aim in this work is to develop a solar radiation measurement system which collects and stores data by itself utilizing a PV module and a battery as power source for entire system irregardless of the environmental condition. A developed KIER's prototype system along with an independent HWS reference system has been installed at the designated remote island, Dok-do. Global solar radiation has been measured every hour for a 6-month period of time by both systems at this site. A comparison between the measured solar radiation data by each system indicates that there is an excellent agreement showing average 3.0% of an absolute error. It has been observed that the 8-month average global solar radiation was $2,330W/m^2$ day at this island. We came to the conservative conclusion that the developed KIER system is applicable for measuring solar radiation and for supplying reliable fundamental design data for solar energy utilization system at the remote areas.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2010.11a
• /
• pp.51.2-51.2
• /
• 2010

In recently, interests in the New & Renewable Energy are increasing because of exhaustion of fossil energy and limit of greenhouse gas emission all over the world. Furthermore, improvements in living standards and high-raise Buildings due to the industrial growth require a lot of sunlight in the interior space. Sunlight system gets the natural light into the indoor dark space. There are a lot of type of systems which are reflector type, duct type, optical fibers type and so on. And these systems consist of light-collection module, light-transporting module and light-emitting module. In this research, we installed optical fiber sunlight system in our head office building and tested the system's performance and efficiency. Optical fiber sunlight system is closely connected with hour of sunlight, due to the system have to chase the sun for the solar concentrating, and the system's light-collection and light- transporting efficiency is important factors in the system's performance. As a result of the test, system can be used about 5.66 hours on average in a day, and it has a about 3.21 times collection efficiency and 5.5% transmission loss.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
• /
• v.17 no.6
• /
• pp.359-362
• /
• 2016

In the PV (Photovoltaic) power system, a junction box collects the DC voltage generated from the PV module and transfers it to the PCS (power conditioning system). The junction box prevents damage caused by the voltage difference between the serially connected PV modules and provides convenience while repairing or inspecting the PV array. In addition, the junction box uses the diode to protect modules from the inverse current when the PV power system and electric power system are connected for use. However, by using the reverse blocking diode, heat is generated within the junction box while generating electric power, which decreases the generating efficiency, and causes short circuit and electric leakage. In this research, based on the purpose of improving the performance of the PV module by decreasing the heat generation within the junction box, a junction box with a built-in bypass circuit was designed/manufactured so that a certain capacity of current generated from the PV module does not run through the reverse blocking diode. The manufactured junction box was used to compare the electric power and heating power generated when the circuit was in the bypass/non-bypass modes. It was confirmed that the electric power loss and heat generation indicated a decrease when the circuit was in the bypass mode.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.21 no.9
• /
• pp.25-31
• /
• 2007

In this paper, a novel MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking) algorithm for power of PV(Photovoltaic) systems is presented using a boost converter for a connected single phase inverter. On the basic principle of power generation for the PV(photovoltaic) module, the model of a PV system is presented. On the basis of this model, simulation of this PV system and algorithms for maximum power point tracking are described by utilizing a boost converter to adjust the output voltage of the PV module. Based on output power of a boost converter, single phase inverter uses predicted current control to control four IGBT#s switch in full bridge. Furthermore, a low cost control system for solar energy conversion using the DSP is developed, based on the boost converter to adjust the output voltage of the PV module. The effectiveness of the proposed inverter system is confirmed experimentally and by means of simulation. Finally, experimental results confirm the superior performance of the proposed method.

• Journal of IKEEE
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.159-164
• /
• 2014

This paper targets the development of micro-converter such as a power converter for photovoltaic module. In corresponding to the poor performance of centralized PV system under partial shading, the power converter for single PV module to maximize the energy harvest from PV module. The power converter is constantly tracking the maximum power point of photovoltaic system and increases energy output power. To minimize the quantity of devices and switchs, 320W solar micro-converter is developed using synchronous rectifier. From the basis of these results, through simulations and experiments were verified efficiency.