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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Solar MPPT Concept

Solar MPPT Concept

The usage of solar power is gaining momentum everywhere in the World in order to meet the Power Demand and also for a Pollution free World.    Though solar power is available plenty on earth, its conversion into electrical energy by using Solar panels are very common and very meager due to its low conversion in efficiency. So, it is essential to extract maximum solar power from sun by using solar panels.  

It is time for the Undergraduate / Post graduate students to undertake Solar related projects for Efficient and effective way of extracting solar power.
 
MPPT stands for Maximum Power Point Tracking. This algorithm is most predominantly used in extracting Solar power.


There are mainly two types of solar energy extraction.
1. Mechanical tracking
2. Electrical tracing using at the converter/ inverter stage.

   In Mechanical tracking, the solar panel is tilted towards the solar directions and maximum power is harvested.
  In Electrical tracking, MPPT algorithm is used in the converter / inverter stage in the solar power conversion systems by appropriately controlling the On/Off time of switching in the  converter / inverters. Compared with first method, where mechanical control has been a drawback, in the second method, maximum power can be obtained by appropriately controlling the output voltage of solar panel.