Updates
5/21/2012 - Final Post
The PVC team has completed the project. A working boost converter and AC inverter were created. Together these systems take the DC output from a solar panel and convert it to AC power. We gave our final presentation about the photovoltaic power converter on May 1st at Bradley University. Be sure to check out our final report on the Deliverables page.
4/16/2012 - Inverter Update
Over the past couple of weeks Tom has been working on the inverter and output filter. A unipolar pulse width modulation scheme is used. The figure below shows the output signal in yellow and the frequency spectrum of the output in red. Input supply is 10V.
The time domain output is shown in light blue and the frequency spectrum of the output is shown in red. The amplitude of the output is 8.75V. As you can see in the frequency spectrum the output signal is mostly 60Hz but there is a relatively small third harmonic component (at 180Hz) that survived filtering.
2/27/2012 - Project Progress
I just wanted to check in and provide some general updates on our project. We have recieved most of the components we ordered before the Christmas break, and we have been busy making use of the parts in lab. Tom has assembled the inverter circuit, including the IGBT gate drivers, and is coding the DSP board to drive the inverter. Luke is also busy coding the DSP board to create the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control.
The inductor we ordered for the boost converter is one of the parts that didn't arrive yet. Since our group wanted to test the MPPT control and interfacing, Brendan made the following small-scale boost converter for testing purposes.
The components used to build this boost converter won't be able to handle the full power of the system, but it does allow us to test the MPPT control.
11/22/2011 - Quick Update
Today we updated some boost converter simulations in PSIM and worked on lab notebook documentation.
11/15/2011 - Project Proposal Presentation
On Tuesday the 15th of November 2011 we gave a presentation to faculty members of the electrical engineering department and student members of our design review team. The presentation covered our project, highlighted our work completed so far, and explained what work we are planning for the future.