Power System Design Applications for Alternative Energy Sources

---

Solar photovoltaic system or Solar power system is one of renewable energy system which uses PV modules to convert sunlight into electricity. The electricity generated can be either stored or used directly, fed back into grid line or combined with one or more other electricity generators or more renewable energy source. Solar PV system is very reliable and clean source of electricity that can suit a wide range of applications such as residence, industry, agriculture, livestock, etc.

Tools & Media

Solar PV system includes different components that should be selected according to your system type, site location and applications. The major components for solar PV system are solar charge controller, inverter, battery bank, auxiliary energy sources and loads appliances. Multiply the total appliances Watt-hours per day times 1.

Result of the calculation is the minimum number of PV panels. If more PV modules are installed, the system will perform better and battery life will be improved. If fewer PV modules are used, the system may not work at all during cloudy periods and battery life will be shortened.

For MPPT charge controller sizing will be different. A house has the following electrical appliance usage: One 18 Watt fluorescent lamp with electronic ballast used 4 hours per day. One 60 Watt fan used for 2 hours per day. One 75 Watt refrigerator that runs 24 hours per day with compressor run 12 hours and off 12 hours. The system will be powered by 12 Vdc, Wp PV module.

The inverter size should be about W or greater. Home About Leonics Contact us Site map. The first step in designing a solar PV system is to find out the total power and energy consumption of all loads that need to be supplied by the solar PV system as follows:. Different size of PV modules will produce different amount of power. To find out the sizing of PV module, the total peak watt produced needs. The peak watt Wp produced depends on size of the PV module and climate of site location.

For Thailand, the panel generation factor is 3.

To determine the sizing of PV modules, calculate as follows:. An inverter is used in the system where AC power output is needed. The input rating of the inverter should never be lower than the total watt of appliances.

Alternative Energy Systems in Building Design

A hybrid system can consist of solar panels , wind power , fuel cells , electrolyzers , batteries , capacitors, and other types of power devices. Hybrid systems can be setup with power electronics to handle low, high, and variable power requirements. For example, solar panels can be used to convert solar energy into electrical energy when sunlight is directly hitting the PV panels for maximum efficiency, and then power from wind turbines can be used when wind speed and direction is ideal.

The energy from these devices can be stored in batteries and used for electrolysis to produce hydrogen.

Table of Contents

The hydrogen can then be fed to fuel cells to provide power for long periods of time or portable or transportation applications. Power electronics provides a key element in stabilizing, boosting and managing the power when necessary. The electrical output of a specific power system may not provide the input needed for a certain device.

Table of Contents

Many applications, such as grid or residential power, require AC power. Other devices such as cell phones require DC power. The output of fuel cells and batteries, however, is DC voltage with an intensity that depends on the number of cells stacked in series. An inverter can be used to change the output from DC to AC power when needed. Also, many renewable energy systems can have slow startup times and can be slow to respond to higher power needs.

Therefore, systems usually have to be designed to compensate for high or intermittent power requirements. Power converters can be used to regulate the amount of power flowing through a circuit. Figure 1 shows a general schematic with a fuel cell that illustrates the power electronics component as a key element in the fuel cell system. Most renewable energy technologies only provide a certain voltage and current density depending upon the load to the power converter.

An Error Was Encountered

The power converter must then adjust the voltage available from the fuel cell to a voltage high enough to operate the load. As shown in Figure 2, a DC-DC boost converter is required to boost the voltage level for the inverter. This boost converter, in addition to boosting the fuel cell voltage, also regulates the inverter input voltage and isolates the low and high voltage circuits. An example of a hybrid power system is shown in Figure 3. A rechargeable lithium-ion battery can be located inside the fuel cell unit to maintain the microcontroller in a low-power standby or programmed-timer sleep state for several days.

The battery will also enable immediate system startup and power during system shutdown. The battery will be automatically charged whenever the fuel cell is running. The internal battery charging circuit will stop charging the Li-ion battery once it has reached a certain voltage or has been charged for a specific amount of time.

The two basic power electronics areas that need to be addressed in renewable energy applications are power regulation and inverters. The electrical power output of fuel cells, solar cells, and wind turbines are not constant. Multilevel converters are of interest in the distributed energy resources area because several batteries, fuel cells, solar cells, and wind turbines can be connected through a multilevel converter to feed a load or grid without voltage-balancing issues.

The general function of the multilevel inverter is to create a desired AC voltage from several levels of DC voltages. For this reason, multilevel inverters are ideal for connecting an AC grid either in series or parallel with renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics or fuel cells or with energy storage devices such as capacitors or batteries.

Multilevel converters also have lower switching frequencies than traditional converters, which results in reduced switching losses and increased efficiency. Advances in fuel cell technology require similar advances in power converter technology. By considering power conversion design parameters early in the overall system design, a small, inexpensive converter can be built to accompany a reasonably sized solar panel, wind turbine or fuel cell for high system power and energy density.

A DC-to-DC converter is used to regulate the voltage because the output of a renewable energy system varies with the load current.

Power System Design and Applications for Alternative Energy Sources - K. Denno - Google Книги

Many fuel cell and solar cell systems are designed for a lower voltage; therefore, a DC-DC boost converter is often used to increase the voltage to higher levels. A converter is required for these renewable energy systems because the voltage varies with the power that is required. A typical fuel cell drops from 1.

• Days Dark as Night
• Weather Projects for Young Scientists: Experiments and Science Fair Ideas
• Up and Down in the Dales (The Dales Series Book 4)
• The Lawyers Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies: Smart Ways to Work Together (Lawyers Guid
• The Castle in the Forest: A Novel
• Dumisai And The Covenant Of The Ancestors
• The Politics of Bioethics (Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society)