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University of Kentucky

Computer architecture

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Stargrazer One: A New Architecture For Distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking Of Solar Photovoltaic Sources, Edgard Munoz-Coreas Jan 2015

Stargrazer One: A New Architecture For Distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking Of Solar Photovoltaic Sources, Edgard Munoz-Coreas

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The yield from a solar photovoltaic (PV) source is dependent on factors such as light and temperature. A control system called a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) ensures that the yield from a solar PV source is maximized in spite of these factors. This thesis presents a novel implementation of a perturb and observe (PO) MPPT.

The implementation uses a switched capacitor step down converter and a custom digital circuit implementation of the PO algorithm. Working in tandem, the switched capacitor step down converter and the custom digital circuit implementation were able to successfully track the maximum power point of …