A real-time MCU-based wireless system for PV applications

This paper presents a Wi-Fi-based stand-alone system for online monitoring of the operating conditions of a photovoltaic (PV) plant. The setup is constituted by a microcontroller unit (MCU), a power meter to periodically sample the values of voltage and current, a temperature sensor, Li-Ion rechargeable batteries, a DC-DC converter able to supply the circuitry, a pc running MATLAB. The core of the presented system is the use of an analytical method to calculate solar irradiance that allows not to resort to solar sensors. The system is thought to be embedded on the back of each PV panel constituting the PV plant and to provide quick information on the operating point and, hence, also on the power production of the device. A MATLAB instrument control interface is used to collect data about the whole plant and to manage the acquisition. The PV panel is simulated through a TerraSAS PV simulator able to emulate the electrical behavior of any solar array.