Photovoltaic sample-and-hold circuit enabling MPPT indoors for low-power systems
Photovoltaic sample-and-hold circuit enabling MPPT indoors for low-power systems
Photovoltaic (PV) energy harvesting is commonly used to power autonomous devices, and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is often used to optimize its efficiency. This paper describes an ultra low-power MPPT circuit with a novel sample-and-hold and cold-start arrangement, enabling MPPT across the range of light intensities found indoors, which has not been reported before. The circuit has been validated in practice and found to cold-start and operate from 100 lux (typical of dim indoor lighting) up to 5000 lux with a 55cm2 amorphous silicon PV module. It is more efficient than non-MPPT circuits, which are the state-of-the-art for indoor PV systems. The proposed circuit maximizes the active time of the PV module by carrying out samples only once per minute. The MPPT control arrangement draws a quiescent current draw of only 8µA, and does not require an additional light sensor as has been required by previously-reported low-power MPPT circuits.
maximum power point tracking, photovoltaics, energy harvesting
1196-1204
Weddell, Alex S.
3d8c4d63-19b1-4072-a779-84d487fd6f03
Merrett, Geoff V.
89b3a696-41de-44c3-89aa-b0aa29f54020
Al-Hashimi, Bashir M.
0b29c671-a6d2-459c-af68-c4614dce3b5d
June 2012
Weddell, Alex S.
3d8c4d63-19b1-4072-a779-84d487fd6f03
Merrett, Geoff V.
89b3a696-41de-44c3-89aa-b0aa29f54020
Al-Hashimi, Bashir M.
0b29c671-a6d2-459c-af68-c4614dce3b5d
Weddell, Alex S., Merrett, Geoff V. and Al-Hashimi, Bashir M.
(2012)
Photovoltaic sample-and-hold circuit enabling MPPT indoors for low-power systems.
IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, 59 (6), .
(doi:10.1109/TCSI.2011.2173393).
Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) energy harvesting is commonly used to power autonomous devices, and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is often used to optimize its efficiency. This paper describes an ultra low-power MPPT circuit with a novel sample-and-hold and cold-start arrangement, enabling MPPT across the range of light intensities found indoors, which has not been reported before. The circuit has been validated in practice and found to cold-start and operate from 100 lux (typical of dim indoor lighting) up to 5000 lux with a 55cm2 amorphous silicon PV module. It is more efficient than non-MPPT circuits, which are the state-of-the-art for indoor PV systems. The proposed circuit maximizes the active time of the PV module by carrying out samples only once per minute. The MPPT control arrangement draws a quiescent current draw of only 8µA, and does not require an additional light sensor as has been required by previously-reported low-power MPPT circuits.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 23 September 2011
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 December 2011
Published date: June 2012
Keywords:
maximum power point tracking, photovoltaics, energy harvesting
Organisations:
Electronic & Software Systems
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 272832
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/272832
ISSN: 1549-8328
PURE UUID: a12abd22-ee3b-4bad-8fce-2cb2211e298c
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Date deposited: 23 Sep 2011 10:55
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:25
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Contributors
Author:
Alex S. Weddell
Author:
Geoff V. Merrett
Author:
Bashir M. Al-Hashimi
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