Low-cost virtual instrumentation of PV panel characteristics using Excel and Arduino in comparison with traditional instrumentation

Hammoumi, Aboubakr El; Motahhir, Saad; Chalh, Abdelilah; Ghzizal, Abdelaziz El; Derouich, Aziz

doi:10.1186/s40807-018-0049-0

Cited by 67 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Experimental results are transferred from microcontroller to personal computer at 115200 baud rate using Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0) cable. Results are stored in excel using PLX-DAQ excel macro-tool [24]. PLX-DAQ is a simple add-on Microsoft Excel tool which supports to collect each and every sample with in short interval of time to reduce the human effort in data collection process.…”

Section: Dual Axis Solar Tracking System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of light-dependent resistor sensor for the application of solar energy tracking system

Dadi¹,

Peravali²

2020

SN Appl. Sci.

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Optimization of cadmium sulfide light-dependent resistor (CdS-LDR) sensor is one of the suitable circuit elements to be used as the sun-pointing sensor. The sun-pointing sensor is used in solar energy tracking systems to capture maximum power by photovoltaic (PV) cells or systems at the time of uniform or partial irradiance of the sun and effect of shade during clouds. PV cells or modules' generating power is affected due to partial shading. The PV cells are able to produce maximum power, as long as the sun's irradiance is projected perpendicular to the panel's surface. Optimization of lightdependent resistor CdS-LDR sensor is designed based on the intensity of the sun. A relation is obtained between intensity and photo-resistance of CdS-LDR sensor with coefficient of regression (R 2) value of 0.99. Maximum intensity of the sun is captured using CdS-LDR sensor which is designed with characteristic curve of intensity and photo-resistance using power algorithm. Minimum dull intensity of the sunlight is used to place the panel in initial position. In addition to that cloud effects with sudden transients are also analyzed using temperature humidity index term. The power gained by optimized dual axis solar tracking (DAST) system is 50.63% with reference to fixed panel. The generated power of DAST system is also analyzed under shading effect of cloud. Data are collected for every 2-3 s of time interval from 6:32:00 to 17:38:33 using real-time virtual instrumentation Parallax Data Acquisition tool.

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Section: Dual Axis Solar Tracking System Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of light-dependent resistor sensor for the application of solar energy tracking system

Dadi¹,

Peravali²

2020

SN Appl. Sci.

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“…Then, the data are displayed in Excel format, which can then be processed and plotted in real‐time in graphical form. The PLX‐DAQ Excel macro allows communication between the microcontroller and an Excel spreadsheet using UART bus …”

Section: Descriptions Of the Proposed Smart Active Dastmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The PLX-DAQ Excel macro allows communication between the microcontroller and an Excel spreadsheet using UART bus. 54…”

Section: Power Data Acquisition Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

A simple and low‐cost active dual‐axis solar tracker

Hammoumi

Motahhir

Ghzizal

et al. 2018

Energy Science & Engineering

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This paper presents the design and practical implementation of a simple active dual‐axis solar tracker (DAST) to track the sun's movement by using fewer components and low‐cost as well. A dual‐axis mechanism is developed in order to tilt the PV panel by two servo motors facing the highest intensity of sunlight captured by LDR sensors, which are placed in the four corners of PV panel. The DAST prototype was constructed practically and tested using a real‐time virtual instrument based on Excel to determine its efficiency. Moreover, a comparison based on experimental results between the energy produced by the proposed smart DAST and a fixed panel shows that the smart DAST produces 36.26% more energy compared to the fixed panel. The proposed active DAST can be easily implemented without possessing deep knowledge about solar tracking technologies and electronic engineering.

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“…6 and 7 respectively in order to validate the performance of used PV emulator. The output power obtained by voltage and current sensors is transmitted and plotted directly in real-time in Excel by using PLX-DAQ data acquisition Macro, which allows communication between the microcontroller of the Arduino Mega and an Excel spreadsheet through serial communication [24]. Figure 8 presents the experiment P-V and I-V curves characteristics of the PV emulator.…”

Section: Pv Emulator Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of a Low-Cost PV Emulator for Testing MPPT Algorithm Under Fast Irradiation and Temperature Change

Chalh

Motahhir

Hammoumi

et al. 2018

Technol Econ Smart Grids Sustain Energy

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This paper presents a study of a low-cost photovoltaic (PV) emulator to test the real implementation of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm. This PV emulator is composed of a variable DC supply in series with a variable resistor; it is based on the maximum power transfer theorem in order to provide a curve that exhibits a peak which can be tracked by an MPPT algorithm. Moreover, this emulator can be used to test the performance of the MPPT algorithm under fast variation of the solar irradiance and temperature. For this reason, the P&O MPPT algorithm with a boost DC-DC converter is used in order to validate the functionality of the PV emulator. Finally, the experimental results show that our PV emulator can provide a simple, efficient and low-cost way for users (researchers, engineers, students, etc.) to test and validate their MPPT algorithms.

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Low-cost virtual instrumentation of PV panel characteristics using Excel and Arduino in comparison with traditional instrumentation

Cited by 67 publications

References 14 publications

Optimization of light-dependent resistor sensor for the application of solar energy tracking system

Optimization of light-dependent resistor sensor for the application of solar energy tracking system

A simple and low‐cost active dual‐axis solar tracker

Study of a Low-Cost PV Emulator for Testing MPPT Algorithm Under Fast Irradiation and Temperature Change

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