International Journal of Engineering Research and Development e-ISSN: 2278-067X, p-ISSN: 2278-800X, www.ijerd.

com Volume 9, Issue 4 (December 2013), PP. 25-29

Development of a MPPT-based Single Phase PWM Solar String Inverter for AC output for off grid applications
Manisha R. Kandgaonkar1, N.N.Shinde2, P.S.Patil3
1 2,3

Department of Energy Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur,.Maharashtra, India. Department of Energy Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India.

Abstract: A microcontroller based technique of generating a sine wave from the solar panel output is designed and implemented in this paper using a two-stage topology for a solar string inverter. This paper presents the development of a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and control circuit for a single phase inverter using a pulse width modulation (PWM) IC. The attractiveness of this configuration is the elimination of a complex circuitry to generate oscillation pulses for transistor switches. The controller IC TL494 is able to generate the necessary waveforms to control the frequency of inverter through proper use of switching pulse. The DC to AC inversion is successfully achieved alongside the switching signals; the circuit produced inverter output of frequency nearly 50 Hz. The main objective of the proposed technique is to design a low cost, low harmonics voltage source inverter essentially focused upon low power electronic appliances using variable solar power as inputs. Keywords: AC solar panels, DC-AC converters, MPPT charge controllers, PWM inverters, solar string inverters.

I.

INTRODUCTION

a) Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) When a solar PV module is used in a system, its operating point is decided by the load to which it is connected. Also, since solar radiation falling on a PV module varies throughout the day, the operating point of the module also changes throughout the day. Ideally under all operating conditions, one would like to transfer maximum power from a PV module to the load. In order to ensure the operation of PV modules for maximum power transfer, a special method called Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is employed in PV systems where, electronic circuitry is used to ensure that maximum amount of generated power is transferred to the load. The maximum power point tracking mechanism makes use of an algorithm and an electronic circuitry. The mechanism is based on the principle of impedance matching between load and PV module which is necessary for maximum power transfer. This impedance matching is done by using a DC to DC converter by changing the duty cycle (d) of the switch.

Fig.1 Block diagram of the MPPT algorithm along with the circuit.

25

Development of a MPPT-based Single Phase PWM Solar String Inverter

Fig.2 (a) Flow chart of hill climbing method and (b) schematic diagram demonstrating how the operating point moves towards the maximum power point(MPP) The power from the solar module is calculated by measuring the voltage and the current. This power is an input to the algorithm, which then adjusts the duty cycle of the switch, resulting in the adjustment of reflected load impedance according to the power output of PV module. For instance, the relation between the input voltage (Vi) and the output voltage (Vo) and impedance of load (RL) reflected at the input side (Ri) of a buck type DC to DC converter can be given as: Vo = Vi x d Ri = 2 Where d is the duty cycle. By adjusting the duty cycle, Ri can be varied which should be same as the impedance of solar PV module (RPV) in a given operating condition for maximum power transfer [15,16]. b) Inverter: A power inverter, is an electrical power converter that changes direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC); the converted AC can be at any required voltage and frequency with the use of appropriate transformers, switching and control circuits. In an inverter, dc power from the PV array is inverted to ac power via a set of solid state switches MOSFETs or IGBTsthat essentially flip the dc power back and forth, creating ac power. Fig.3 shows basic H-bridge operation in a single-phase inverter. This solid state switching process is known as inversion [6].

Fig.3 An H-bridge circuit performs the basic conversion from dc to ac power. The inverter will receive input of 12 V dc from the controller circuit and it will convert this to 230 V ac. The inverter circuit designed as an H bridge inverter with an IC which incorporates PWM technique and converts, with the help of a 12V/230 V transformer, the obtained 12V dc from MPPT circuit, to the output 230V ac for use.

26

Development of a MPPT-based Single Phase PWM Solar String Inverter

Fig. 4 Full bridge single phase inverter The full bridge (single phase) inverter is built from two half bridges connected to form what is known as a full bridge or H-bridge inverter. Its arrangement is shown in figure 4. It comprises of DC voltage source, 4 power switches (usually bipolar junction transistors-BJTs, metal-oxide semiconductor field effect transistors-MOSFETs, insulated gate bipolar transistors- IGBTs or gate turned on transistors-GTOs) and the load. To create a square-wave output voltage, the device pairs Q1Q3 and Q2Q4 are switched alternatively at a delay of 180 degrees. When Q1 and Q3 are ON with Q2Q4 OFF for a duration t, also with Q2Q4 ON and Q1Q3 OFF at t. Assuming there is a sinusoidal load current, the load will absorb power when Q1Q3 and Q2Q4 pairs are conducting alternatively whereas feed backing occurs when the diode pairs are conducting[22].

II.

APPROACH AND METHOD

The block diagram for the circuit is as shown.

Fig.5 Block diagram for a solar power system MPPT Circuit: The next step is to design and test the MPPT circuit. The voltage and the current output from the panel array have to be measured and the maximum power has to be supplied to the battery.
BAT+ F1 BAT_V 1 J4 1 2 C1 BAT 100uF/25V C2 0.1uF R13 1K 22K C9 0.1uF LCD_D4 LCD_D5 LCD_D6 LCD_D7 +5V R42 33E B_C J11 1 2 3 4 5 PROG 100K R3 10K R4 1K RESET SW1 SW PUSHBUTTON C25 0.1uF R10 1K 22K C8 0.1uF C23 33PF LOAD+ R43 100K R45 BAT_V Q2 Solar_V IRF9530 D3 1N5822 D4 1N5822 D6 R44 1K 22K C30 0.1uF Load_ADC U7 RESET BATV B_C Solar_ADC 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 MCLR/VPP/RE3 RB7/KB13/PGD RA0/ANO RB6/KB12/PGC RA1/AN1 RB5/KB11/PGM RA2/AN2/VREF-/CVREF RB4/KB10/AN11 RA3/AN3/VREF+ RB3/AN9/CCP2 RA4/TOCKI/C1OUT RB2/INT2/AN8 RA5/AN4SS/HLVDIN/C2OUT RB1/INT1/AN10 RE0/RD/AN5 RB0/INT0/FLT0/AN12 RE1/WR/AN6 VDD RE2/CS/AN7 VSS VDD RD7/PSP7/P1D VSS RD6/PSP6/P16 OSC1/CLKI/RA7 RD5/PSP5/P1B OSC2/CLKO/RA6 RD4/PSP4 RCO/T1OSO/T13CKI RC7/RX/DT RC1/T1OSI/CCP2 RC6/TX/CK RC2/CCP1/P1A RC5/SDO RC3/SCK/SCL RC4/SDI/SDA RD0/PSP0 RD3/PSP3 RD1/PSP1 RD2/PSP2 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 PGD PGC LCD_RS LCD_EN LCD_D4 LCD_D5 LCD_D6 LCD_D7 C24 33PF XTAL2 Solar_V R9 100K R11 Solar_ADC Y1 8MHz XTAL1 RESET 10A FUSE U4 +5V VIN BAT_V +5V LCD1 LCD 16x2 R12 C4 100uF/25V C5 0.1uF 100K R14 BATV 1k LCD_EN R1 C22 0.1uF LCD_RS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 GND Vcc CNT RS RW EN D0 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 A C

GND

VOUT

LM7805/TO

+5V C10 R24 1K R25 1K 3 C13 0.1uF 2 + -

0.1uF 1 U3A LM358

J10 CON1

J12 CON1

J13 CON1

J14 CON1

+5V PGD PGC

+5V J39 CON2 D1 1N4148

+5V

R26

1 2

1N5408

J2 2 1 SOLAR R19 C12 D5 1000uF/25V 1N5408 47K R20 10E Q4 R21 BC547 C_CNTRL

+5V

+5V

C7 1uF XTAL1 XTAL2 PIN8 C_CNTRL LOAD_CNTRL

J9 +5V RX TX 1 2 3 4 CON4

C17 0.1uF

R8 4K7

RX TX

R22 R23 3K3

1K J6 Q1 1 2 R31

0.1E/1W D7 1N4148

BAT_V

IRF9530

LOAD+ CON2 J5 J3 2 1 CON2 J7 LOAD

1K 1K

R28 LED

1 2

R32 1K R30 PIN11 PIN11

R15 47K

R16 10E Q3 R17 BC547 Load_CNTRL

1 2 1K CON2

1K R18 3K3

Fig.6 Schematic diagram for MPPT circuit

Fig.7 MPPT circuit.

Inverter Circuit: Next is the circuit for the inverter part. For the inverter the IC TL494 is used. The four MOSFETs IR740 are arranged in a bridge network and will be switched on two at a time alternately by the two switching MOSFETs IRF50N06 so that two will conduct at a time. The timing is set by using RC network and IC TL494 controls the waveform. The transformer will convert the output to 230 V a.c.

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Development of a MPPT-based Single Phase PWM Solar String Inverter

Fig.8 Schematic diagram for inverter circuit

Fig.9 Inverter circuit.

III.

TESTING

The MPPT and Inverter circuit: The circuit of the MPPT is first tested with the help of a D.C. power supply. It is checked whether the voltage is passed to the battery to charge it. Finding it to work as required, it is then tested with solar panels. The regulator is also checked by varying the d.c. voltage. It shows the expected readings on the display.

Fig.10 a. Waveform of inverter output.

b .Observation of Output on Hyper terminal.

The efficiency of the MPPT circuit is tested and found to be around 80%. It increases with the increase in intensity. The efficiency of the inverter is tested and found to be as much as 90%. It increases with increase in load.

IV.

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The time required to charge the battery is tested. This is done first using an SMPS and then with the two solar panels. The efficiencies of the MPPT and inverter circuits are found to be around 90% and 79.9% respectively.

V.

CONCLUSION

The experiments and observations shows that MPPT based charge controllers are best suitable for solar systems as they track the maximum power in case of power fluctuations at the input side due to environmental condition variation. Hence it is recommended to use the MPPT based charge controllers. Use of microcontroller

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Development of a MPPT-based Single Phase PWM Solar String Inverter

based systems provide huge computational capability and reduction in the hardware. Microcontroller is a mini computer and brings much more accuracy in the control of MOSFET and IGBT. It is recommended to use a single phase PWM inverter with H bridge using IRF740B N-channel MOSFETs and the TL494 power supply controller. The TL494 incorporates all the functions required in the construction of a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) control circuit on a single chip. Designed primarily for powersupply control, this device offers the flexibility to tailor the power-supply control circuitry to a specific application. Several outstanding features of the developed Sinusoidal PWM inverter are: fewer harmonic, low cost, simple and compact.

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