On the Design of an Intelligent Battery Charge Controller for PV Panels

The electricity generations of photo voltaic (PV) panels are strongly related with insolation and temperature. The insolation and temperature are not stable, since the electricity generations of the PV panels are not stable. In PV systems, insolation and temperature continuous vary. Therefore, the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are used to give the highest power to the loads/batteries. The MPPT process is performed with a power electronic circuit and it overcomes the problem of voltage mismatch between the PV panels and the batteries/loads. In this study, a microcontroller is employed to develop battery charge control system for PV panels. The system is composed of a microcontroller (Microchip PIC18F2550), a buck-boost type DC-DC converter, a resistive load, and lead acid battery. In the system, MPPT, charge control, and discharge algorithms are executed by a program embedded within the microcontroller. The program also has ability to perform some data acquisition process and acquired data are sent to the personal computer (PC) through the USB communication port. In addition the system has able to be followed and controlled by the graphical user interface (GUI).