Design of Photovoltaic Systems

This course is a design-oriented course aimed at photovoltaic system design. The course begins by discussing the PV cell electrical characteristics and interconnections. Estimation of insolation and PV sizing is addressed in some detail. Maximum power point tracking and circuits related to it are discussed. Later, applications related to peltier refrigeration, water pumping, grid connection and micro grids are discussed in detail. Lastly, a brief discussion on life cycle costing is also discussed in order to bring in a measure of completeness to the course.

A Historical Perspective.
PV cell characteristics and equivalent circuit.
Model of PV cell.
Short Circuit, Open Circuit and peak power parameters.
Datasheet study.
Cell Efficiency.
Effect of temperature.
Temperature effect calculation example.
Fill Factor.
PV cell simulation.
Identical PV cells in series.
Load line.
Non-identical cells in series.
Protecting cells in series.
Interconnecting cells in series.
Simulation of cells in series.
Identical cells in parallel.
Non-identical cells in parallel.
Protecting cells in parallel.
Interconnecting modules.
Simulation of cells in parallel.
Practicals - Measuring I-V characteristics.
Practicals - PV source emulation.
Introduction.
Insolation and irradiance.
Insolation variation with time of day.
Earth centric viewpoint and declination.
Solar geometry.
Insolation on a horizontal flat plate.
Energy on a horizontal flat plate.
Sunrise and sunset hour angles.
Examples.
Energy on a tilted flat plate.
Energy plots in octave.
Atmospheric effects.
Airmass.
Energy with atmospheric effects.
Clearness index.
Clearness index and energy scripts in Octave.
Sizing PV for applications without batteries.
Examples.
Batteries - intro.
Battery capacity.
Battery C-rate.
Battery efficiency.
Battery energy and power densities.
Battery comparison.
Battery selection.
Other energy storage methods.
PV system design - load profile.
PV system design - days of autonomy.
PV system design - battery sizing.
PV system design - PV array sizing.
Design toolbox in octave.
MPPT concept.
Input impedance of Boost converter.
Input impedance of Buck converter.
Input impedance of Buck-Boost converter.
PV module in SPICE.
Simulation of PV and DC-DC converter interface.
Impedance control methods.
Reference cell - voltage scaling method.
Reference cell - current scaling method.
Sampling method.
Power slope method 1.
Power slope method 2.
Hill climbing method.
Practical points - Housekeeping power supply.
Practical points - Gate driver.
Practical points - MPPT for non-resistive loads.
Simulation of MPPT.
Direct PV-battery connection.
Charge controller.
Battery charger - Understanding current control.
Battery charger - slope compensation.
Battery charger - simulation of current control.
Batteries in series - charge equalisation.
Batteries in parallel.
Peltier device - principle.
Peltier element - datasheet.
Peltier cooling.
Thermal aspects.
Heat transfer by conduction.
Heat transfer by convection.
Peltier refrigeration example.
Radiation and mass transport.
Demo of Peltier cooling.
Water pumping principle.
Hydraulic energy and power.
Total dynamic head.
Numerical solution - Colebrook formula.
Octave script for head calculation.
Examples.
Octave script for hydraulic power.
Centrifugal pump.
Reciprocating pump.
PV power.
Pumped hydro application.
pv data.
Grid connection principle.
PV to grid topologies Part-I.
PV to grid topologies Part-II.
PV to grid topologies Part-III.
3 phase d-q controlled grid connection intro.
dq-axis theory.
d-q theory : AC to DC transformations.
d-q theory : DC to AC transformations.
3 phase grid connection system.
Single phase grid connection system.
PV-Grid interface example.
SVPWM - discrete implementation.
SVPWM - analog implementation.
Application of integrated magnetics.
Growth models.
Growth model examples.
Annual payment and present worth factor.
LCC - example-01.
LCC - example-02.
LCC - example-03.