Design and Performance Analysis of a Portable Solar PV Power Supply

Nowadays, solar energy has become an important green power resource. Solar Photovoltaic cells are devices used to convert solar energy into electricity. These cells are placed in parallel or series connections to form solar panels, modules, and arrays. The Off-grid known also as stand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems have become widely adopted as reliable options for electrical energy generation. As this is the case for the present senior design project. The design, simulation, cost analysis, and implementation of the PV test-bed system were carried out using the PV syst V6.12 software package that takes into account the geography of the site, surrounding trees, buildings as well as solar energy resources, and available solar technologies. In addition, it was found that shading due to nearby buildings and trees had limited effects on the system's performance. At first, the 245- Watt testbed was installed on the rooftop of the College of Engineering. The control and instrumentation are hosted in the Mechatronic Lab for one year. It consists of a 245 W Desert-type solar panel, two batteries connected in series, one solar charge controller, and one DC-AC inverter. A fixed tilt angle of 25 degrees is assumed to yield optimal performance throughout the year. In this report, the design and performance measurement are presented and discussed. Measurements include global solar irradiance, ambient temperature, cell temperature, array voltage, array current, battery voltage, and energy. Moreover, IV curve measurements were made before and after cleaning the panel. Two sets of measurements were carried out in May 2014 and November 2014 and the performance of the PV array was found to depend on solar radiation and dust accumulation.