Direct DC Solar Integration

The output characteristic of a photovoltaic (PV) module varies as the environmental conditions\ud of the module’s operation change. Changes in operating temperature and incident sunlight\ud dynamically change the maximum power available from a PV module, as well as the output\ud voltage. The output voltage of the PV generating system must be regulated, in order to ensure\ud proper power quality for connection to an electrical load, building electric power system, or the\ud electric grid.\ud PV modules are typically connected in series strings and parallel arrays to create PV\ud generating systems. Non-uniform environmental conditions create voltage mismatches\ud throughout PV generating systems. A mismatch between module voltages can severely reduce\ud the amount of power available from the overall generating system. These system losses can be\ud eliminated by regulating the output voltage of each module.\ud This dissertation proposes a power electronic device that fulfills two objectives:\ud extracting maximum power from the single PV module, and regulating the output voltage to\ud ensure a constant value. This dissertation reviews the analytical design of such a system, and\ud validates this design in simulation, utilizing MATLAB/SIMULINK and ANSYS Simplorer