Development of power conversion system for pico hydro

Recently, the small scale hydro power (pico hydro) using the flume for city water and agricultural water has gained more and more attention. In this study, the electric power conversion system that applied to the pico hydro was developed. The system had two micro-controllers, and the PWM control of a DC-DC converter and the PWM control of an AC-DC inverter were individually executed. The control procedure was described with software, so the parameter was able to be easily adjusted. Moreover, when the specification is changed, the circuit can be easily improved. In the field experiment, the system was connected with the generator, and drove a fluorescent lamp (13W) or LED lights (40W) as a load. As a result, the voltage detection circuit in the DC-DC converter broke down only once in three years. However, other problems have not been seen so far