Title :
Shunt regulation for continuous operation of solar array at maximum power
Author :
Liu, Shengyi ; Solodovnik, Eugene ; Dougal, Roger
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng., South Carolina Univ., Columbia, SC, USA
Abstract :
In a standalone system, the solar array operation may be off its maximum power point due to an unbalanced power generation, for example, when the battery is fully charged. The purpose of the shunt regulation is to support the array to continuously operate at its maximum power points regardless of the operating conditions of the solar array, the battery, and the load. The excess energy, if any, through the shunt can be captured and utilized, thus, the overall system efficiency can be improved. This paper presents a simulation study of a simple shunt regulation algorithm for the operation of the solar array at maximum power point continuously, showing a system efficiency improvement of about 37.4%.
Keywords :
cells (electric); load (electric); solar cell arrays; solar power stations; battery; continuous operation; maximum power; maximum power point continuously; overall system efficiency; shunt regulation; solar array; standalone system; unbalanced power generation; Batteries; Energy capture; Heat sinks; Production; Sensor arrays; Solar energy; Solar power generation; Temperature sensors; Thermal degradation; Voltage;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8707-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488450
