IoT-Enabled High Efficiency Smart Solar Charge Controller with Maximum Power Point Tracking—Design, Hardware Implementation and Performance Testing

• Main Authors: Md. Rokonuzzaman, Mohammad Shakeri, Fazrena Azlee Hamid, Mahmuda Khatun Mishu, Jagadeesh Pasupuleti, Kazi Sajedur Rahman, Sieh Kiong Tiong, Nowshad Amin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Electronics
• Subjects: internet of things (IoT); MPPT charge controller; solar charge controller (SCC); perturb and observe (P& O); microcontroller-based SCC
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/9/8/1267

Amid growing demand for solar photovoltaic (PV) energy, the output from PV panels/cells fails to deliver maximum power to the load, due to the intermittency of ambient conditions. Therefore, utilizing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) becomes essential for PV systems. In this paper, a novel internet of things (IoT)-equipped MPPT solar charge controller (SCC) is designed and implemented. The proposed circuit system utilizes IoT-based sensors to send vital data to the cloud for remote monitoring and controlling purposes. The IoT platform helps the system to be monitored remotely. The PIC16F877A is used as a main controller of the proposed MPPT-SCC besides implementing the perturb and observe (P&O) technique and a customized buck–boost converter. To validate the proposed system, both simulation and hardware implementation are carried out by the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment and laboratory set up, respectively. The proposed MPPT-SCC can handle the maximum current of 10 A at 12 V voltage. Results show that the efficiency of the proposed system reaches up to 99.74% during a month of performance testing duration.