A modular PV regulator based on microcontroller with maximum power point tracking

We can find many different types of commercial regulators in the market, these devices basically can be divided into two categories according to their operation mode: The first ones modulate the input voltage with PWM (pulse width modulation) to hold the constant voltage in the output necessary to charge the battery. The other ones operate in the MPP (maximum power point) of the PV (photovoltaic) array, tracking it by different ways depending on the type of regulator; these regulators are called MPPTs (maximum power point trackers). The increase of power using a maximum power point tracker can be up to 25%. This paper presents a regulator which can operate in the maximum power point of PV arrays regardless of the meteorological conditions and the effects of them in the dispersion of the PV array characteristics. Parallel connection of this kind of regulators is also proposed, which allows installation without the need to get rid of previous equipment.