Matlab/spice Modeling And High-level Control Design For The Photovoltaic System

Abstract

Photovoltaic solar panels provide a very attractive solution for future cleanenergy provision on site. Today's panels provide a relatively high efficiency under optimal conditions and when they are newly fabricated.However,when external temperature, radiation angle and radiation concentration conditions are varying, the power fluctuates quite heavily. Moreover, aging effects do play a significant role on both the panels and the converter of thesolar energy system.These effects heavily depend on the context withinwhich the panels are used and on the type of technology employed.In this thesis the existing literature on the time-dependent and variationeffects is reviewed. Modeling and analysis of the module and the controllerare carried out in order to examine the improvement of the overall efficiencyof the solar panel system. The existing configurations of the grid connectionsystems and their problems are explored.It is proposed to distribute theconversion stages inside the module to effectively reduce the problems thattoday's photovoltaic systems face. Moreover, a knob-controlled configurationof the module and the intra-module converters is examined. A global controller is proposed for selecting the configuration on the system at run-time inorder to improve the system's efficiency. The control method is based on theconcept of system scenarios. Potential configurations and different use-casescenarios are analysed, under dynamic operating conditions.The purposeof this analysis is the establishment of a roadmap for future work on actualcounter measure development, where the efficiency over the entire life time ofa solar system will be highly improved, with minimal hardware modifications.