Design and implementation of an MPPT solar controller

We created and simulated a solar charge controller that uses MPPT to optimize energy output

Solar energy has the advantage of being available and renewable. One way to use it to produce electricity is using photovoltaic cells. These are non-linear sources and their current-voltage characteristic depends much on the level of sunshine and temperature of cells hence a continuous variation of the maximum power point; In this work, we designed an MPPT regulator based on the use of a DC-DC step-down converter and the Arduino Uno microcontroller for controlling the process of charge and the discharge of the batteries, to improve the efficiency of the exploitation of solar energy by using photovoltaic cells. To ensure a continuous tracking of the maximum operating point, we used the Incremental Conductance algorithm; Also, we used the Constant Voltage charging method to control the charging of the batteries. At the end, we carried out series of simulations with Matlab and Proteus software, using a 426 W photovoltaic generator and a 50 Ah battery to validate our design. Keywords: MPPT regulator, Photovoltaic cells, Arduino