What is MPPT Charge Controller?

 

Most of the people use solar energy to generate electricity at their house, business or farms. Although they are able to generate electricity without any hassle, the question arises is “Are they extracting maximum power from the Solar PV panels?”

The purpose of the MPPT based charge controller is the same. It extracts maximum power from the solar PV panels in order to generate maximum electricity. But how does this charger function? How it can do what it does?

Before we come to know how solar mppt charger works let us know what exactly is the concept of MPPT.

MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking is an algorithm that includes charge controllers used for extracting maximum available power from PV module under certain conditions. The voltage at which PV module can produce maximum power is called ‘maximum power point’ (or peak power voltage).

The major principle of MPPT charger is to extract the maximum available power from PV module by making them operate at the most efficient voltage (maximum power point). That is to say: MPPT checks output of PV module, compares it to battery voltage then fixes what is the best power that PV module can produce to charge the battery and converts it to the best voltage to get maximum current into battery. It can also supply power to a DC load, which is connected directly to the battery. When battery is deeply discharged: MPPT charger can extract more current and charge the battery if the state of charge in the battery is low.

A MPPT solar charge controller is embedded with P&O (perturb and observe) algorithm to maximize the amount of power going into the battery or power delivered to load from PV module. MPPT is a DC to DC converter which operates by taking DC input from PV module, changing it to high switching DC and converting it back to a suitable DC voltage and current to exactly match the PV module to the battery.

Wrapping things up, an MPPT charge controller is widely used nowadays to increase the efficiency of the solar power products and electricity generation. So if you are planning to generate electricity using Solar energy then go ahead and include an MPPT charger in your list in order to extract maximum power from the PV panels.

How to generate electricity using solar energy and make it usable for business/home appliances?

                  

Planning to generate your own electricity using solar energy? Don’t know where to start or what to do? Take a paper and pencil because you are about to get answers to all your questions right here…!

Before we move forward and know how to actually generate the electricity let us see what all items are needed for the same.

The list of items you need are as follows:

1. Solar Panels
2. MPPT based Charger (Maximum Power Point Tracking)
3. Battery to store the current.
4. Solar Off Grid Inverter
5. Generator(Optional)

There are many suppliers of PV solar panels and batteries in the market. You can choose any one of them. If you are willing to buy good quality and reliable charge controllers and off grid inverters click here.

Once you have bought all the items the question arises is “How to use these items to generate electricity?” “What are their functions?”So here’s a step by step guide for that:

1. Install solar panels at an angle considering latitude of location so that they absorb maximum energy from the sun. Usually take an advice from an expert so as to which direction and angle the panels should be installed. If the panels are installed properly then you can harvest maximum solar energy from the sun. After installation of panels connect them with the charge controller.
2. Connect the charger with the battery. The charger will in turn utilize maximum power generated from the panels as it is an MPPT based charger and not a normal charge controller. The charger will send the power harvested towards the battery for storage.
3. The battery should also be connected with the Solar Off Grid Inverter. It stores the electricity in the form of DC i.e. Direct Current.
4. The Off Grid Inverter should be connected to the generator (optional) and the house. Most of the appliances in our homes and workplaces do not work on direct current (DC) but on alternating current (AC). The inverter serves the purpose of converting DC to AC. The inverter then supplies the alternating current to the house/workplace for further use.
5. If the main power is unavailable and you have discharged the battery completely then having a generator connected is an extra add on for generating electricity.

That’s it. You did it! You have just learned the art of generating electricity using solar energy. Now you can generate and use your own electricity without any further delay.