Development of a low cost MPPT circuit for Solar Panel

Abstract

Renewable energy source have potential of playing a vital role in electricity generation. In Bangladesh, solar panel is now a widely used renewable energy source. So extracting maximum power from solar panel is vital. In order to maximize the output from a solar panel maximum peak power tracker (MPPT) should be introduced. This paper describes the design and development of a low cost MPPT circuit for extracting maximum power from the solar panel and charging a storage battery. The designed circuit consists of a microcontroller (PIC16F72) which generates high frequency pulse signal of different widths in accordance with the output of solar panel and electrical characteristics of the load to operate the panel at maximum power point. The generated pulse signal drives a DC-DC Buck-Boost converter which gives constant voltage of 15V to the battery ensuring optimum energy being extracted from the solar panel. The microcontroller controls the operation of the system according to the codes burned in it, which had been developed in MPLAB IDE.