Solar power charge controller

Solar Power Charge Controller

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Introduction

Charging batteries with solar power is great on the environment and for batteries. Charging and maintaining batteries through solar will result in better battery performance and longer battery life.

The solar energy is converted to electrical energy by photo-voltaic cells, this energy is stored in batteries during day time for utilizing the same during night time.

Precise Charge Controller for Solar Photo Voltaic Panel used Embedded based Micro controller concept.

The main scope is, the photovoltaic cells are converting the sunlight in to electricity a charge controller is used.

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Description:

In solar power system, charge controller is the heart of the system which was designed to protect the rechargeable battery

It deals with a controlled charging mechanism which over charge, deep discharge and under voltage of the battery.

In this a solar panel is used to charge a battery. A set of op-amps are used as comparators to continuously monitor panel voltage, load current etc.

Indications are also provided by a green LED for fully charged battery while a set of red LEDs to indicate under charged, overloaded and deep discharge condition.







Charge controller also uses MOSFET as power semiconductor switch to ensure cut off the load in low battery or overload condition.

A transistor is used to bypass the solar energy to a dummy load while the battery gets fully charged.

This protects the battery from getting over charged.







Block Diagram







Hardware Requirements

Solar panel

Op-amps

MOSFET

Power Diodes

LEDs

Potentiometers

Battery







MOSFET(IRF 510)

The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET, MOS-FET, or MOS FET) is a device used for amplifying or switching electronic signals.

The basic principle of the device a voltage on the oxide-insulated gate electrode can induce a conducting channel between the two other contacts called source and drain.

It is by far the most common transistor in both digital and analog circuits, though the bipolar junction transistor was at one time much more common.







OPAMP LM324Features: Internally frequency compensated for unity gain Large DC voltage gain 100 dB Wideband with 1Mhz (Temperature compensated) Wide power supply range:Single supply 3V to 32Vor dual supplies ±1.5V to ±16VVery low supply current drain (700 μA) essentially independent of supply voltageLow input biasing current 45 nA (temperature compensated)Low input offset voltage 2mV and offset current:5 nALarge output voltage swing 0V to V+ − 1.5V







BC547 (NPN –Transistor)

The BC547 transistor is an NPN Epitaxial Silicon Transistor.

It is used in general-purpose switching and amplification BC847/BC547 series 45 V, 100 mA NPN general-purpose transistors.

The ratio of two currents (Ic/Ib) is called the DC Current Gain of the device and is given the symbol of hfe or nowadays Beta, (β).







1N4148

The 1N4148 is a standard small signal silicon diode used in signal processing.

The 1N4148 is generally available in a DO-35 glass package and is very useful at high frequencies with a reverse recovery time of no more than 4ns.

This permits rectification and detection of radio frequency signals very effectively, as long as their amplitude is above the forward conduction threshold of silicon (around 0.7V) or the diode is biased.







Photovoltaic cells

Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon, which is currently the most commonly used.

Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material.

PV cells also all have one or more electric fields that act to force electrons freed by light absorption to flow in a certain direction.

This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing metal contacts on the

top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off to use externally.







Solar panel

Expose the cell to light, and the energy from each photon (light particle) hitting the silicon, will liberate an electron and a corresponding hole.

If this happens within range of the electric field’s influence, the electrons will be sent to the N side and the holes to the P one, resulting in yet further disruption of electrical neutrality.

This flow of electrons is a current the electrical field in the cell causes a voltage and the product of these two is power.







Battery

An electrical battery is a combination of one or more electrochemical cells, used to convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy.

The battery has become a common power source for many household, robotics and industrial applications.

Larger batteries provide standby power for telephone exchanges or computer data centers







Advantages

No noise

Easy to install

Simple to operate

Pollution free working

Low maintenance cost

Generating panel has a long life







Conclusion

In future, we will have to depend on renewable energy. The only source available around us is sunlight, and we can easily convert sunlight energy into electrical energy by using PV cells to meet our requirement.

However to extend use of solar power energy to industrial and commercial areas, the price of PV cells need to be brought down through low-cost manufacturing techniques.

By using the solar energy power generation technology the usage of non-conventional resources can be minimized which not only reduces the resource extinction but helps widely in reducing the environmental pollution.

http://www.edgefxkits.com/solar-power-charge-controller







By Generating Power Through Solar Energy The Cost Of Electricity Can Be Minimized And Occasionally Can Be Provided With Free Of Cost. Electricity Can Be Supplied Even To Remote Areas With Out The usage Of Transmission Lines.

http://www.edgefxkits.com/solar-power-charge-controller






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Solar power charge controller