Design Considerations for Long-Term Remote Photovoltaic-Based Power Supply using Non-Planar Photovoltaic Surfaces Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • This paper presents fundamental design issues for a photovoltaic (PV) based, maintenance-free, highly available power supply for remote unattended loads using non-planar (curved) PV modules. An important application is for powering the sensors, detectors, and communications devices used for long-term remote monitoring for homeland security. Non-planar PV collection surfaces offer advantages over flat plate PV modules including orientation insensitivity and increased energy harvest; both are significant advantageous in reducing the deployment cost and size of the power supply for sensor systems. The system-oriented design described in this paper uses a combination of energy storage, non-planar PV surfaces, power electronics circuits, and control algorithms. The results show that non-flat PV modules increases energy availability compare to flat modules while minimizing the storage system size and sensor footprint. The proposed procedure can be used to design systems for a wide range of power requirements and installation locations. 2013 IEEE.

name of conference

  • 2013 IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security (HST)

published proceedings

  • 2013 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TECHNOLOGIES FOR HOMELAND SECURITY (HST)

author list (cited authors)

  • Shadmand, M. B., & Balog, R. S.

citation count

  • 6

complete list of authors

  • Shadmand, Mohammad B||Balog, Robert S

publication date

  • November 2013