Variable Inductance for Solar Power Applications

Shane McMorrow

Supervisor Prof. Ger Hurley

Co-SupervisorDr. Maeve Duffy

Project Outline

Primary Aims– Investigate Sloped Air Gapped (SAG) inductors– Design and build a DC/DC converter capable of providing

impedance matching for a variable power source– Determine the internal resistance of the variable power supply to

allow impedance matching design– Determine the L-i characteristics of the SAG inductor for the buck

converter to remain in continuous conduction mode– Design a SAG to provide these L-i characteristics– Implement in hardware

System Design

Design Steps

Review & research – Photovoltaic Solar Panels– Buck Converters & impedance matching– SAG inductors

Simulation of a PV solar panel to obtain output characteristics Setting up buck converter equations to calculate duty cycle for

impedance matching and minimum inductance requirements Simulation and design of a SAG inductor which meets minimum

inductance requirements

Simulation of the PV Solar Panel

Initial simulation of a solar cell using PSpice

PV Solar Panel (Sanyo HIP-210NH1-BO-1) simulated using Matlab

Primary aim of this simulation was to obtain the internal resistance of the solar panel for all light levels

Results of simulation

Key Buck Converter Equations

Results

Inductor types

Air GappedInductor

SwingingInductor

SAG Inductor

SAG Vs Swinging Inductor

Changing the Slope

OriginalLower Gradient

Versatility of the SAG Inductor

Lower Gradient

Going to zero slope

Recap of Designed SAG Inductor

Simulated System input Characteristics

Simulated System Output Characteristics

Future Considerations

Making the slope on a sloped air gapped inductor curved

combine a swinging inductor design with a sloped air gapped design

Questions?