High Efficient and Cost-Effective PV System for Residential Applications

Issue: Solar power has drawn tremendous interest in recent decades. PV conversion efficiency ranges from 91% to 96%, but the cost for a complete system, including the hardware and installation cost, is high. The main objective is to lower the cost of the system and make PV systems more popular for residential applications. The study of power electronics interfaces for PV panels has been an important topic in both academia and industry. PV systems can be categorized into two architectures, distributed and centralized, both of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. High efficiency has been the focus of most studies and research, but little attention has been paid to the cost issue. The high cost of installation has been a major setback for PV systems in adaption for residential applications.

Objective: The goal of this project is to develop a high-efficient cost-effective PV system for residential applications. REU students will (i) have a better understanding of centralized or distributed PV system architecture as applied to residential homes, (ii) gain experience with the power electronics interface for PV systems, and (iii) simulate a prototype PV system to demonstrate high efficiency and cost reduction.

Student Involvement: Three sample problems that students will address to: (i) perform a cost-benefit study of the PV system architecture; (ii) study and simulate the basic power electronics interface (DC/DC converters and DC/AC inverters) using PSIM or Matlab; and (iii) implement and simulate the basic Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) functionality.