Experimental Study of Solar Module & Maximum Power Point Tracking System under Controlled Temperature Conditions

An experimental work has been designed to evaluate the performance of solar module thoroughly. This is crucial to develop a solar module and maximum power point tracker (MPPT) system design for optimal operation of solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The impact of temperature and solar irradiance intensity at various solar module angle investigated to study the effect of solar module power output of a moving UAV. Moreover, the effect of lamination on solar module and the benefit of MPPT for application of small solar-powered UAV are scrutinized. The results show that the optimum operating temperature for this solar module is approximately 45°C and solar power rises almost linearly along the solar module tilt angle. The laminated solar module has consistently loss 10% power compared to the non-laminated solar module. Besides, an additional 24% power can be obtained with the use of MPPT for small solar-powered UAV developed by Aircraft Design Group, Cranfield University