Design Considerations for Parallel Differential Power Processing Converters in a Photovoltaic-Powered Wearable Application

Hyunji Lee and Katherine A. Kim
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Hyunji Lee: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, 50 UNIST-gil, Ulsan 44919, Korea
Katherine A. Kim: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, 50 UNIST-gil, Ulsan 44919, Korea

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 12, 1-17

Abstract: Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a widely used to supply power to the electric grid but can also be used in lower-power emerging applications, like in wearables or the internet of things. One fundamental challenge of using PV power in flexible wearable applications is that individual PV modules point at various angles, thus receiving different light intensities. Using a series configuration for the PV modules greatly decreases power utilization under uneven irradiance conditions. Parallel differential power processing (DPP) converters are employed to address this power reduction problem, while maintaining individual PV control and maximizing output power. Two parallel DPP configurations, with and without a front-end converter, are analyzed and compared for a target battery-charging application. The DPP system without a front-end converter shows consistently high performance and operates properly over a wider range of lighting conditions. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are also examined for parallel DPP systems. When the MPPT parameters are properly calibrated, simulation results indicate that voltage-offset resistive control is the most effective at maximizing PV power under unbalanced lighting conditions.

Keywords: photovoltaic power; differential power processing; maximum power point tracking; wearable applications; energy harvesting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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