Solar Based Battery Charger.....

Dear Mujahid,

Making use of MPPT is pretty much essential for loading an solar panel. The output power fluctuates over light intensity and temperature. If you look at the output power curves you will understand that not regulated on the maximum power will make your design far less effective. I have seen an application note on the Microchip website suggesting a microcontroller (PICmicro) to have a boost (DC/DC-converter) with MPPT on the solar panel. It is hard to circumvent microcontrollers in this kind of complex applications.

Best regards,

Enrico Migchels

Power conversion design engineer

Best - The Netherlands

www.heliox.nl

Dear Mujahid,

Making use of MPPT is pretty much essential for loading an solar panel. The output power fluctuates over light intensity and temperature. If you look at the output power curves you will understand that not regulated on the maximum power will make your design far less effective. I have seen an application note on the Microchip website suggesting a microcontroller (PICmicro) to have a boost (DC/DC-converter) with MPPT on the solar panel. It is hard to circumvent microcontrollers in this kind of complex applications.

Best regards,

Enrico Migchels

Power conversion design engineer

Best - The Netherlands

www.heliox.nl

I agree with you but i just have a doubt on the ciruit below using LTC1734.This is a direct solution from LTC. Inother words could you let me know the which could be the best MMPT IC to be used along witht he LTC1734 here???

Hi Mujahid,

The LTC is 'just' a battery charger which regulates the current trough and the voltage of the battery. Your solar charger must have the same charge characteristic as the LTC1730 but additional have a converter on the input stage which regulates the energy coming from the PV cells to a fixed DC voltage with maximum power tracking incoperated. Look at AN1211 'maximum power solar converter' on www.microchip.com to see what i mean. I would say that if you use a microcontroller for this function it might as well regulate the current through the battery and measure the output voltage.

Best regards,

Enrico Migchels

Power conversion design engineer

Heliox B.V.

Best - The Netherlands

www.heliox.nl

Hi Enrico,

thank you for you valuable feedback and will just check with MPPT and get back. Please let me any redy designs that you know of on for solar panel and will be very helpful.

Hi Enrico,

Considering your inputs i have come across this very new IC from LT it is LT3652. This supports MPPT.

Hi,

LT3652 is good IC it can not only support Peak Power Tracking(MPPT) in Solar Applications, can also charge multi-chemistry batteries like Li-Ion/Polymer, LiFePO4, SLA, NiMH/NiCd chemistries.

Regards,

Chethanrs

Thank you for your interest Chetan,

Well said yes this support almost all the chemistry of  cells/batteries.

But i have a concern here can we use the same and LT3652 to switch from various inputs like example. Can we have a wall adapter input and a sloar???

Hi Enrico,

Any feeback from you would be appirciated inorder to check this can be adopted to redesign for what i had started with?

HI,

Yes you can use the LT3652 to switch from Solar input to wall adapter , provided the voltage input to LT3652 is within 4.95V to 32V range .

Regards,

Chethanrs

Hi Mujahid,

I checked the datasheet of the Linear LT3652 controller. It looks very promising. It has the major benifit of being a hardware controller, so you don't have to be involved with software programming. You have to consider availibility and price of the LT3652 also.

Lot's of succes!

Best regards,

Enrico Migchels
Power conversion design engineer
Heliox B.V.
Best - The Netherlands
www.heliox.nl