Increased Energy Return from Solar Panel with MPPT Charge Controller
Abstract
The charge controller (CC) in a solar power system controls voltage and current delivered from the solar panel to the battery and is often either a conventional pulse-width modulation type (PWM) or a Maximum Power Point Transfer (MPPT) type. In our side-by-side solar panel field tests on both clear and cloudy summer days at N58 degrees latitude, an MPPT CC delivered 2-10% more power to the battery than did a conventional CC in most circumstances with the increased efficiency of MPPT over conventional CC generally greater on cloudy days than on clear days. In bench tests of conventional and MPPT CCs using an indoor solar panel illuminated by intense halogen lamps, the MPPT CC returned 16% more energy to the battery than did the conventional CC. These results suggest that researchers with solar-powered instrument stations consider testing the applicability of relatively new MPPT CCs, especially in stations operating in circumstances of limited daylight or bad weather.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2009
- Bibcode:
- 2009AGUFMIN41A1100O
- Keywords:
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- 0758 CRYOSPHERE / Remote sensing;
- 0933 EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS / Remote sensing;
- 0994 EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS / Instruments and techniques;
- 9805 GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS / Instruments useful in three or more fields