Variable Inductance for Solar Power Applications Shane McMorrow Supervisor Prof. Ger Hurley Co-Supervisor Dr. Maeve Duffy
Feb 10, 2016
Variable Inductance for Solar Power Applications
Shane McMorrow
Supervisor Prof. Ger Hurley
Co-SupervisorDr. Maeve Duffy
Project Outline
Primary Aims– Investigate Sloped Air Gapped (SAG) inductors– Design and build a DC/DC converter capable of providing
impedance matching for a variable power source– Determine the internal resistance of the variable power supply to
allow impedance matching design– Determine the L-i characteristics of the SAG inductor for the buck
converter to remain in continuous conduction mode– Design a SAG to provide these L-i characteristics– Implement in hardware
System Design
Design Steps
Review & research – Photovoltaic Solar Panels– Buck Converters & impedance matching– SAG inductors
Simulation of a PV solar panel to obtain output characteristics Setting up buck converter equations to calculate duty cycle for
impedance matching and minimum inductance requirements Simulation and design of a SAG inductor which meets minimum
inductance requirements
Simulation of the PV Solar Panel
Initial simulation of a solar cell using PSpice
PV Solar Panel (Sanyo HIP-210NH1-BO-1) simulated using Matlab
Primary aim of this simulation was to obtain the internal resistance of the solar panel for all light levels
Results of simulation
Key Buck Converter Equations
Results
Inductor types
Air GappedInductor
SwingingInductor
SAG Inductor
SAG Vs Swinging Inductor
Changing the Slope
OriginalLower Gradient
Versatility of the SAG Inductor
Lower Gradient
Going to zero slope
Recap of Designed SAG Inductor
Simulated System input Characteristics
Simulated System Output Characteristics
Future Considerations
Making the slope on a sloped air gapped inductor curved
combine a swinging inductor design with a sloped air gapped design
Questions?