Variable Inductance for Solar Power
Applications
Shane McMorrow
Supervisor
Prof. Ger Hurley
Co-Supervisor
Dr. Maeve Duffy
Project Outline
Primary Aims
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Investigate Sloped Air Gapped (SAG) inductors
Design and build a DC/DC converter capable of providing
impedance matching for a variable power source
Determine the internal resistance of the variable power supply to
allow impedance matching design
Determine the L-i characteristics of the SAG inductor for the buck
converter to remain in continuous conduction mode
Design a SAG to provide these L-i characteristics
Implement in hardware
System Design
Design Steps
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Review & research
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Photovoltaic Solar Panels
Buck Converters & impedance matching
SAG inductors
Simulation of a PV solar panel to obtain output characteristics
Setting up buck converter equations to calculate duty cycle for
impedance matching and minimum inductance requirements
Simulation and design of a SAG inductor which meets minimum
inductance requirements
Simulation of the PV Solar Panel
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Initial simulation of a solar
cell using PSpice
PV Solar Panel (Sanyo HIP210NH1-BO-1) simulated
using Matlab
Primary aim of this
simulation was to obtain the
internal resistance of the
solar panel for all light levels
Results of simulation
Key Buck Converter Equations
Results
Inductor types
Swinging
Inductor
Air
Gapped
Inductor
SAG Inductor
SAG Vs Swinging Inductor
Changing the Slope
Lower Gradient
Original
Versatility of the SAG Inductor
Lower Gradient
Going to zero slope
Recap of Designed SAG Inductor
Simulated System input Characteristics
Simulated System Output Characteristics
Future Considerations
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Making the slope on a sloped air gapped
inductor curved
combine a swinging inductor design with a
sloped air gapped design
Questions?