Final-Report

For
converter for on-glass solar system

Team Memebers
Keyang Yang
Fahad Sabir
Mustafa Aydin
Grace Loki

Faculty Adviser
Yicheng Lu

The department of ECE,Rutgers

05/2014
I. Summary
I.Summary
The design and implementation of a boost DC-DC converter with
Maximum Peak Power Tracking function for a on-glass photovoltaic
array is proposed after the whole capstone design process.
For voltage level increasing, which is the main function of the whole
system, two stages boost DC-DC converter are used to increase the
voltage level from 12v to 60-70V. We also built the virtual model for
the devices used in the circuit and proved that the whole system is
workable for a on-glass photovoltaic array. All the parameters used to
build the model are come from reference.
For Maximum Peak Power Tracking function, Using a closed-loop
microprocessor control system, voltage and current are continuously
monitored to determine the instantaneous power. Based on the power
level calculated, an output pulse width modulation signal is used to
continuously adjust the duty cycle of the converter to extract maximum
power. Using a power source as well as a solar panel simulator, system
design testing confirms simulation of expected results and theoretical
operation is obtained.
First design the circuit, then implemented the devices’ parameters
and finally we did simulation and checked the results. The results turns
out the whole system is workable, of course there may be problems
when build the object cause all the design is based on software and there
can be some future work for further research.
II. Technical Background[1]
1. History of solar cells
Solar energy is the earth’s most abundant energy resource. The rate
of energy from sunlight hitting the earth is of the order of 100
petawatts. Just a fraction is needed to meet the power needs of the
entire globe, as it takes approximately 15 terawatts to power the
earth. The Photovoltaic effect was discovered in 1954, when
scientists at Bell Telephone discovered that silicon created an
electric charge when exposed to sunlight.
2. How solar cells work
The word photovoltaic is made up of pieces, with photo- indicating
light and voltaic implying that a potential difference (measured in
volts) is set up by the action of the light. The light directly liberates
electrons whose movement produces DC current. The current
produced is routed to an inverter that converts it to AC electricity
to run most appliances. The inverter also varies the electrical
operating point of the array to maintain its output at the maximum
level. Other components such as battery, transmission and
electrical parts are required to properly conduct, control, convert,
distribute, and store the energy produced by the system. Stand-
alone PV systems designed and sized to supply certain DC and/or
AC electrical loads. Grid-connected systems are designed to
operate in parallel with and interconnected with the electric utility
grid..
3. Developments
Despite the potential of solar energy, less of it is used to produce
energy as compared to other forms of energy. For PV technology
to truly compete on its own with traditional power generation, the
cost and efficiency must continue to improve. This is an ongoing
challenge because most of the available technologies either offer
high efficiency at a high cost, or low efficiency at a low cost. The
technology which will prevail should deliver the greatest efficiency
at the lowest cost. In most PV systems, panels blindly feed their
direct current to a centralized inverter. The inverter turns the
array's DC into AC in sync with the power grid, but it must also
maximize the DC flow coming in by controlling the entire array's
impedance. To correct this inefficiency, the big centralized inverter
can be replaced with micro inverters attached to each panel. The
micro-inverters provide unique solution with high reliability, high
average efficiency overcoming shading effect while delivering the
maximum available PV power.
4. How basic boost circuit works
The most important aspect of a solar cell is that it generates
solar energy directly to electrical energy through the solar
photovoltaic module, made up of silicon cells. Although each
cell outputs a relatively low voltage (approx. 0.7V under open
circuit condition), if many are connected in series, a solar
photovoltaic module is formed. In a typical module, there can
be up to 36 solar cells, producing an open circuit voltage of
about 20V[2].
 Figure1: Solar panel V-I characteristic and Power curve[3]

Figure 2 shows the V-I characteristic of a typical photovoltaic cell.

There is a peak power that corresponds to a particular voltage and
current. Obtaining this peak power requires that the solar panel operate
at or very near the point where the P-V curve is at the maximum. Ideally,
the maximum power will be taken from the solar panels. In order to do
so, the panels must operate at their optimum power point.

Figure 2: Step-up (Boost) dc-dc converter[4]

The operation of the converter depends on the state of the switch.

 Figure 3: Boost DC-DC converter switch state, and voltage and current waveforms[5]

III. Goal and Scope of design project

1.Goal:

As a support project for building solar system on glass or some other

flexible material, our goal is to design a suitable DC to AC inverter
which can help add the DC power from solar cell directly into grid. And
the first stage of the design will focus on the DC to DC converter, for
more specific, a step up circuit can help to increase the voltage level
from 10V to 200V. Now consider the requirement of the on-glass solar
system.
 (1)Efficiency
(1)Efficiency:

Inverting efficiency has always been an important parameter for

solar system. To improve the efficiency of the hole system, a high
efficiency converter circuit is desired. Usually, an DC to AC inverter can
achieve 95%, and consider the material and promotion strategy, we want
to reach 90% at the first stage and 80% after second stage

Power consumption:
(2)Power

Cause we want to build the circuit on glass, with TFT technique, and
only N-type devices are available, so power consumption will be a
thorny problem for us. As our plan, we can build the basic circuit during
the first stage and adjust it for a better power consumption.

Complexity:
(3)Complexity:

As we want to build the circuit together on the same substrate, so we

prefer simple circuit, and we also want a good performance, so we need
to trade off and give consideration to two or more things.

Specific Application:
(4)Specific

The circuit are going to design with certain MOSFET technique, so

all the devices we will use is expected to be available by the certain
technique.
 2. Scope of design project

The whole design can be divided into two parts analog part and digital
part. For the analog parts, we designed a DC-DC boost-up converter to
increase the voltage level. And for the digital part, we designed a MMPT
which can adjust the duty cycle for the MOSFET and keep the output
stable.

And the whole design can also be divided into three steps. The first step
is to build the analog circuit, after this build the digital part and finally
adjust all MOSFETs and Diodes to the specific application.

IV. Technical Part

1.Approaches

Figure 4: System Block Diagram

 Our project is a microprocessor controlled DC-DC step up converter
used by a solar power system to power some mechanical load. The
system will step up the lower solar panel voltage for an application that
would require more power.
(1)Device model
We used the ZnO thin film transistors and diodes as the devices in our
circuit. And used Pspice building the spice virtual model which is used
in simulation.

Figure4: (a) Device schematic and (b)electrical characteristics of the ZnO TFT.[6]

ZnO thin film transistors (TFTs) have several advantage in solar energy
area, including high electron mobility, transparency to visible light,
superior radiation hardness and much less expensive

Figure5: I –V characteristics of a Ag–ZnO Schottky diode [3]

Figure6: spice NMOS model building

Figure7: spice Diode model building

(2)Analog Circuit Part
(2)Analog
Solar panel: Rather than using an actual solar panel array to test the
design of our system, we implemented a simple solar panel simulator.
Change the arrangement of resistors, we can control the output of the
solar panels to simulate different working condition.

DC converter: two-stages boost-up converter was used to increase the

voltage level
Current sensor: current sensor is used to take current samples from the
solar panel simulator in addition to the voltage.

(3)Digital Circuit Part

(3)Digital
The design of the system requires a function generator which can vary
the pulse width on a square wave and control the duty cycle. This signal
will go to the power MOSFET of the DC/DC converter, which will
allow the system to run at the maximum power point.
2. Result
(1)full circuit

(2)every stage output

(2)every
3. Discussion
The output signals of the DC-DC converter imply accurate operation.
When the switch is off, the inductor charges in energy, and discharges
when the switch is turned on. There is minimal lag between the gate
voltage of the MOSFET and the actual PWM signal. The drain voltage
versus the gate of the MOSFET is also observed.

Figure : Power vs. Duty Cycle

We see a large spike at approximately 71% duty cycle. This is the

moment when the voltage is still at its greatest while the current
already has reached close to its maximum value. With a working
circuit, it would be desired to stay at this 71% duty cycle or close to it.
The microprocessor would oscillate between values of duty cycle
around this 71% duty cycle value. If at all the current or voltage
coming from the power source decreases, the duty cycle would move
up from the 71% value until a lower value is obtained when observing
the power from the source. When the lower value is obtained, the duty
 cycle is increased again, until a decrease can be seen. This oscillation
would prove a successful design.

V. Personal Contribution
Keyang Yang: 1. Analog block and digital block design
2. Digital control code
3. Device model building
4. Simulation test
5. Presentation and Report writing

Fahad Sabir: 1. Background research

2. Analog block simulation test
3. Impact of work research
4. Report writing

Mustafa Aydin: 1. Background research

2. Economical impact research
3. Help with simulation test

Grace Loki: 1. Background research

2. Help with simulation test
 VI. Impact of the work
1. Technical
The greatest advantage of micro-inverters can be seen in power
harvesting capabilities over string inverters. String inverters are supplied
power from arrays of solar modules. If any obstruction affects any of the
modules, the whole array performs poorly, which is caused because the
modules are connected in series and power outputs must be equalized for
the array. This is not the case in micro-inverters systems because each
module is independent and one module with poor performance does not
affect any other module in the system. The inverter on glass system is
synonymous of the micro inverter system in that respect. String inverters
are 96% efficient and micro-inverters are 94% efficient in converting
power, however, string inverters lose 2% of potential power harvested
due to mismatch of solar modules and a further 2% loss due to DC
wiring. Furthermore, if a string-inverter breaks down, the whole array of
modules is lost which is a loss of another 2% power harvesting over
lifetime of system. Combining these advantages of micro-inverters,
initial cost per yielded Watt (Wy) is around 12% lower than
conventional string inverter systems. Although it is difficult to achieve
the same efficiency as micro inverters on a solar inverter on glass, which
uses thin film technology using zinc oxide transistor, the lower costs of
installation and production balance this disparity.

2. Economical

The micro-inverter systems cost less to maintain and are more

dependable compared to string inverters. String –inverter systems can
only be monitored at a system lever, rather than micro-inverter systems
that can be analyzed at the level of each individual module. Finding a
faulty module is much easier in micro-inverter systems due to this
advantage. Micro-inverter systems can also be monitored online so
finding fault is much quicker to reduce power harvest loss. Micro-
inverters are shown to be more dependable, lasting 25 years in real
world conditions, which is also the life span of solar modules. On the
other hand, string inverters rarely last the lifetime of the solar PV system,
usually around 5-10 years. The lifespan of the solar inverter on glass
system is also assumed to be 25 years. Replacement of conventional
string inverter costs $5,192, $739 per micro-inverter, versus $1000
approximately for replacement of the solar panel with built in micro
inverter. Accounting for above advantages, maintenance of string
inverters costs 11% of initial cost of PV system, versus only 2% for a
micro-inverter system and solar inverter on glass system.

3. Social

(1)Clean source of energy

(1)Clean
 Generating energy from solar panels emits very little pollution into
the air, and thus solar energy is a much cleaner source of energy
than the burning of fossil fuels.
(2)Job creation
(2)Job
When homes, cities or companies decide to build and operate solar
energy facilities, the projects often help to create numerous jobs.

VII. Conclusion and Future work

Solar power continues to demonstrate its potential as a breakthrough
for renewable energy. As companies continue the research into solar
power, the technology for them is becoming more and more useful.
After the capstone design, we designed a DC-DC converter with
MMPT function witch is for specific application.

Of course all the design is based on virtual model, and there can be
some future work and we are going to continue our work in these
sections:
 (1) circuit lay out , need to arrange all the circuit devices and adjust
them for a suitable lay out processing.

(2) Combine the design with building, cars and many other places
where can be useful.

VIII. References
[1] Hegedus, Steven S., and Antonio Luque. "Status, trends, challenges
and the bright future of solar electricity from photovoltaics." Handbook
of photovoltaic science and engineering (2003): 177.
[2] 1 Bogus, Klaus and Markvart, Tomas. Solar Electricity. Chichester,
New York.Wiley Press, 2004.
[3][4][5]Sayigh, A.A.M., ed. Solar Energy Engineering. New York,
USA: Academic Press, 1977
[6] Chieh-Jen Ku, Ziqing Duan, Pavel I. Reyes, Yicheng Lu, Yi
Xu,Chien-Lan Hsueh,and Eric Garfunkel, Applied Physics Letters 98,
123511 (2011)