A Closed-Loop Maximum Power Point Tracker for Subwatt Photovoltaic Panels

This paper proposes a closed-loop maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for subwatt photovoltaic (PV) panels used in wireless sensor networks. Both high power efficiency and low circuit complexity are achieved. A microcontroller (μC) driven by a fast clock was used to implement an MPPT algorithm with a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on industrial electronics (1982) 2012-03, Vol.59 (3), p.1588-1596
Main Authors: Lopez-Lapena, O., Penella, M. T., Gasulla, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Complexity
Complexity theory
Current measurement
Dynamic power management (DPM)
Efficiency
energy harvesting
Hysteresis
Maximum power
maximum power point (MPP) tracking
Panels
Photovoltaic cells
Power consumption
Power demand
Sensors
Solar cells
Switches
Voltage control
Voltage measurement
wireless sensor networks
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Summary:This paper proposes a closed-loop maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for subwatt photovoltaic (PV) panels used in wireless sensor networks. Both high power efficiency and low circuit complexity are achieved. A microcontroller (μC) driven by a fast clock was used to implement an MPPT algorithm with a low processing time. This leads to a maximum central-processing-unit duty cycle of 6% and frees the μC to be used in the remaining tasks of the autonomous sensor, such as sensing, processing, and transmitting data. In order to reduce power consumption, dynamic power management techniques were applied, which implied the use of predictive algorithms. In addition, the measurement and acquisition of the output current and voltage of the PV panel, which increase circuit complexity, was avoided. Experimental measurements showed power consumptions of the MPPT controller as low as 52 μW for a 2.7-mW PV power and up to 388 μW for a 94.4-mW PV power. Tracking efficiency was higher than 99.4%. The overall efficiency was higher than 90% for a PV panel power higher than 20 mW. Field measurements showed an energy gain 15.7% higher than that of a direct-coupled solution.
ISSN:0278-0046
1557-9948
DOI:10.1109/TIE.2011.2161254