In a world of increasing energy demand, it is imperative to come up with innovative solutions to reduce and conserve energy use. There is a significant interest in creating an environmentally friendly system that will save money on electricity and maximize the cost return on investment for solar panels. The photovoltaic industry continues to strive to create efficient and inexpensive systems that can be competitive with other energy sources.
The goal of the project is to create a charge controller that takes energy generated in a solar panel and store this power in a battery. The system utilizes a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm which provides a huge improvement to efficiency. Due to the inherent losses that occur in photovoltaic systems, it is essential that the maximum power is extracted. The charge controller is able to monitor the power generated by the photovoltaic array and deliver the maximum amount to the battery bank during varying atmospheric conditions.
SPONSORS
The Solar Knights would like to thank Workforce Central Florida for providing the funding for this project. The team would also like to thank our mentor Alan Shaffer of Lakeland Electric for his guidance and advisement.
- Michael Georgiopoulos
- michaelg@ucf.edu
- (407)823-5338
- www.workforcecentralflorida.com
- Alan Shaffer
- alan.shaffer@lakelandelectric.com
- (863)834-6505
- www.lakelandelectric.com