Portable sun tracking photovoltaic power system

Project (M.S., Electrical and Electronic Engineering)--California State University, Sacramento, 2013.For many people who live in rural areas of Southeast Asia, such as Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, access to electric power is either too expensive or it is unavailable. This unfortunate condition may be greatly mitigated, however, by the deployment of inexpensive and highly efficient portable electric power generation systems. This project proposes the design of such a system by exploiting current photovoltaic panel and battery technology. This portable power system is designed to power small applications such as portable electronics and other low-power electrical devices. To gain maximum power from solar panels, the panels will be mounted on a single axis sun tracking device. A lead acid battery, for storing harvested energy, is selected because of its availability and suitability. To charge the battery, a battery charging circuit will be used based on good efficiency and a control algorithm. Overall, this project is intended to solve system integration challenges with solar panel, battery, and charger in order to achieve the greatest power efficiency from the solar panel and the maximum battery life while maintaining good overall system portability and low cost. The final product is a working device that can be used to power small electronic devices for a practical duration.Electrical and Electronic Engineerin