• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.47-58
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• 2018

A solar array simulator (SAS) consists of an engine that generates a setpoint according to panel characteristics, a power stage that provides the actual output, and a controller. Particularly, if the control method is not suitable due to the nonlinearity of the solar panel output curve depending on the irradiation amount and the temperature, and the variation of the curve factor depending on the various panel materials, then the panel simulation function cannot be performed properly. Current and voltage mode controls are usually used for the conventional control method. However, these control methods deteriorate the control performance near the maximum power point; thus, a hybrid control method using two or more controllers has been investigated. In this study, we analyze the hybrid control method using three controllers divided into different areas. The design equation of the controller is derived based on the small signal modeling of each controller, and the simulation performance of the solar array simulator verifies its stability and response speed.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.401-408
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• 2016

During daylight, the solar array of low earth orbit satellites harvests electrical power to operate satellites. The power conversion of the solar array is carried out by control of the operation point using the solar array regulator when the solar array faces the sunlight. Thus, the design of the solar array should comply with not only the power requirement of satellite system but also the input voltage requirement of the solar array regulator. In this paper, the design requirements of the solar array for low earth orbit satellites are defined, and the means of satisfying these requirements are described. In addition, the architecture of a multi-distributed interface is suggested to maximize the power harvested from a solar array having high temperature deviation between each panel. The power analysis in this paper shows the optimal number of multi-distributed interfaces with a converter.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.393-406
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• 2002

Aerodynamic pressures and forces were measured on a model of a solar panel containing six slender, parallel modules. Of particular importance to system design is the aerodynamically induced torque. The peak system torque was generally observed to occur at approach wind angles near the diagonals of the panel ($45^{\circ}$, $135^{\circ}$, $225^{\circ}$ and $315^{\circ}$) although large loads also occurred at $270^{\circ}$, where wind is in the plane of the panel, perpendicular to the individual modules. In this case, there was strong vortex shedding from the in-line modules, due to the observation that the module spacing was near the critical value for wake buffeting. The largest loads, however, occurred at a wind angle where there was limited vortex shedding ($330^{\circ}$). In this case, the bulk of the fluctuating torque came from turbulent velocity fluctuations, which acted in a quasi-steady sense, in the oncoming flow. A simple, quasi-steady, model for determining the peak system torque coefficient was developed.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.1310-1317
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• 2014

In our daily life, the need of energy increases day by day. However, the amount of natural resources on the earth is limited and thus gaining renewable energy as an energy resource is one of the important and urgent problems. Solar energy is one of the most popular available energy sources that can be converted into electricity by using solar panels. In order for solar panels to produce maximal output power, the incident angle of the sunlight needs to be persistently perpendicular to the solar panel. By the way, most of the solar panels are installed at fixed position and direction. Therefore, as the sun's position changes, it is impossible to produce maximal output power inevitably. To improve this problem, in this paper, a sun tracking system using two degree-of-freedom (DOF) active sensor array is proposed so that the solar panel may always direct sunlight perpendicularly. And also a series of software, such as a search mode and a holding mode, which can control the developed sun tracking system is developed. Several experiments using the implemented sun tracking system are executed and the effectiveness of the system is verified from the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2013

In the paper, a pattern analysis to decide whether the 1st local peak power point near open circuit voltage is the global peak power point or not, in case that the voltage and current at the 1st local peak power point are in a specific range, for Maximum Power Point Tracking on the photo voltaic power conversion system. When a solar cell panel array is shaded partially, multi-local peak power points can occur. That makes it hard to search the global peak power point. Through Tableau analysis using by piecewise linear solar cell model, V-I characteristic of a solar cell panel array circuit when partial shading problem happens, is simulated. The global peak power and the local peak power points is confirmed by simulations. Voltage and current values and patterns of V-I characteristic are analyzed. The generating efficiency of the solar cell panel array is improved, when the solar cell panel array circuit is operated at the power point estimated by setting up specific range.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.118-126
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• 2020

A solar array simulator is a special power supply that regulates the output voltage and current to simulate the characteristics of a photovoltaic panel. The operating point of the panel is difficult to control with a single controller because of the non-linearity of the output curve, which is determined by the amount of irradiation, temperature, and panel material. In the conventional method, the output curve is divided into sections through the current and the voltage mode controls. It reduces the overall performance of the system due to the interchanging control mode. By using the single mode controller, the noise interference of the measured value and the stability of the control around the maximum power point were demonstrated. To solve these issues, this study proposes a new unified controller. The stability of the controller was analyzed along with operating principles, and performance improvement was experimentally verified.

• Advances in Energy Research
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

This study designs and tests a photovoltaic system with distributed maximum power point tracking (DMPPT) methodology using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) controller. Each solar panel in the distributed PV system is equipped with a newly designed DC/DC converter and the panel's voltage output is regulated by a FPGA controller using PI control. Power from each solar panel on the system is optimized by another controller where the quadratic maximization MPPT algorithm is used to ensure the panel's output power is always maximized. Experiments are carried out at atmospheric insolation with partial shading conditions using 4 amorphous silicon thin film solar panels of 2 different grades fabricated by Chi-Mei Energy. It is found that distributed MPPT requires only 100ms to find the maximum power point of the system. Compared with the traditional centralized PV (CPV) system, the distributed PV (DPV) system harvests more than 4% of solar energy in atmospheric weather condition, and 22% in average under 19% partial shading of one solar panel in the system. Test results for a 1.84 kW rated system composed by 8 poly-Si PV panels using another DC/DC converter design also confirm that the proposed system can be easily implemented into a larger PV power system. Additionally, the use of NI sbRIO-9642 FPGA-based controller is capable of controlling over 16 sets of PV modules, and a number of controllers can cooperate via the network if needed.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.307-328
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• 2016

This paper describes an investigation of the net wind loads on solar panels and wind loads on the underlying roof surface for panels mounted parallel to pitched roofs of domestic buildings. Typical solar panel array configurations were studied in a wind tunnel and the aerodynamic shape factors on the panels were put in a form appropriate for the Australian/New Zealand Wind Actions Standard AS/NZS 1170.2:2011. The results can also be used to obtain more refined design data on individual panels within an array. They also suggest values for the aerodynamic shape factors on the roof surface under the panels, based on a gust wind speed at roof height, of ${\pm}0.5$ for wind blowing parallel to the ridge, and ${\pm}0.6$ for wind blowing perpendicular to the ridge. The net loads on solar arrays in the middle portion of the roof are larger than those on the same portion of the roof without any solar panels, thus resulting in increased loads on the underlying roof structure.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.10-15
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• 2010

The experimental study was conducted to optimize the system dissipating properly heat from the in-situ solar panel installed on the roof. For this purpose, six 12-Watt panels, which were consisted of the different design conditions such as containing phase change material(PCM), changing the array of the aluminum fin and honeycomb at the back of the panel, were tested. PCM, which had $44^{\circ}C$ melting point, was chosen in this study. In order to enhance absorbing and expelling heatin PCM, profiled aluminum fin was placed either inward oroutward from the panel. Furthermore, Aluminum honeycomb is imbedded in the back container to find if it would improve the thermal conductivity of PCM. During the experiment, there were ranged to $26^{\circ}C\sim32^{\circ}C$ for outdoor temperature and $700W/m^2\sim1000W/m^2$ for irradiance. As a result, the solar panel, combined with honeycomb and outward fins with PCM instead of placing the fins inward, is showing the best performance in terms of controling panel temperature and its efficiency.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.273-278
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• 2009

The experimental study is performed to investigate the optimum design of the system dissipating properly heat from the in-situ solar panel installed on site. For this purpose, six 12-Watts panels, which are set at the different conditions of the solar panels contained phase change material, changing the array of the aluminum fin and honeycomb at the back of the panel, are tested. PCM, which has $44^{\circ}C$ melting point, is chosen in this study. In order to enhance the thermal heat from the absorbed heat in PCM, finned aluminum plate is placed. Furthermore, Aluminum honeycomb is imbedded in the back container to find if it would improve the thermal conductivity of PCM. As a result, the solar panel, which is combined with honeycomb and outward fins with PCM instead of placing the fine inward, is showing the best performance in terms of controling panel temperature and efficiency.