Title :
Solar Battery Chargers for NiMH Batteries
Author :
Boico, Florent ; Lehman, Brad ; Shujaee, Khalil
Author_Institution :
Northeastern Univ., Boston
Abstract :
This paper proposes new solar battery chargers for NiMH batteries. First, it is shown that existing charge-control methods can fail when charging by solar arrays in changing environmental conditions. This article discusses the reasons for the failure and introduces new voltage and temperature-based charge- control techniques. To increase charge speed, a maximum power point tracker is also implemented within the micro-controller of the proposed charger.
Keywords :
battery chargers; microcontrollers; secondary cells; solar cells; NiMH batteries; charge speed; charge-control methods; maximum power point tracker; microcontroller; solar arrays; solar battery chargers; temperature-based charge-control techniques; Amorphous silicon; Batteries; Lighting; Robustness; Semiconductor thin films; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Switches; Temperature; Voltage; Battery charger; maximum power point; solar;
Journal_Title :
Power Electronics, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPEL.2007.904164