Courses
Fundamentals of Solar: Grid Connected
Texas Instruments
Fundamentals Course
November 2010
Comment
rvrna
fantastic presentation
John.Donovan
Sorry, I'm told that for copyright reasons this is the only format in which the ...
Photovoltaic (PV) solar technology is at the heart of the multi-billion dollar clean/green/renewable energy industry, powering everything from road signs to entire cities. While solar cells themselves are essentially just big PN-junction semiconductors, there’s a lot of advanced and rapidly evolving electronic engineering required to optimize the energy transfer from the rooftop to the grid.
This course covers the fundamentals of grid-connected PV systems, with the aim of providing engineers with a good overview of the technologies, topologies and electronics that make up such systems. The course content includes:
- Introduction to Photovoltaic Systems
- Cells, Modules and Arrays
- System Components and Configurations
- Inverter Topologies
- Utility Interconnection Issues
- PV Systems and the Smart Grid
About the Presenter:
John Donovan, Technology Editor
John Donovan is the Editor/Publisher of Low-Power Design and Low-Power Wireless and ex-Editor-in-Chief of Portable Design and Managing Editor of EDN Asia. He has 25 years experience as a technical writer, editor and semiconductor PR flack, having survived earlier careers as a C programmer and microwave technician. John is a member the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a Senior Member of the IEEE.
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John.Donovan
11/4/2010 11:44 AM EDT
Providing a good overview while including enough technical depth in under an hour to make it worthwhile was quite a challenge. Please grab some coffe, check it out and let me know what you think as well as what else you'd like to see covered. There are links at the end that can expand on material that I just breezed through.
Also, would you like to see a follow-on course on standalone PV systems? This course covered inverters and grid issues while only making passing reference to DC storage systems and their associated electronics. A new course would build on this one and fill in the blanks.
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Rich Krajewski
12/10/2010 8:36 PM EST
Yes, please, a follow-on course covering standalone PV systems would be great. Anything and everything on solar power, please!
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WoodyWonka
1/23/2011 6:55 AM EST
Dear John, thank you for this one!
You did a great job sticking to the fundamentals and by doing that keeping it nice and understandable for people (like me) just entering the subject.
A follow-on covering standalone PV systems would definately be welcome! Looking forward to it already.
Thanks again.
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prabhakar_deosthali
11/9/2010 8:09 AM EST
This course is a good overview of Solar power systems basics. Inclusion of some more details on the suitable battery technology and the charging techniques will be appropriate.
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prabhakar_deosthali
11/9/2010 8:12 AM EST
It also came into my reading that the new breakthrough in materials like Graphene has made it possible to build PV cells by just a thin layer of Graphane on the window glass( retaining the trasnperancy of the glass. ) may be some light can be shed on this new development
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John.Donovan
11/16/2010 1:01 PM EST
Thanks, Prabhakar. I'm saving the battery technology material for a follow-on course on stand-alone solar installations, providing there's enough demand for such a course.
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ManasK.RayChaudhuri
12/26/2010 8:50 PM EST
DEAR JOHN
I AM INTERESTED IN A FOLLOW-ON COURSE & DEFINITELY THERE'S ENOUGH DEMAND.
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Tinus.vandeWouw
11/10/2010 2:05 AM EST
I would love to have this as stand-alone presentation in PDF format rather then on-line only. I want to share this with friends in Central Africa, but in many development countries internet speeds are prohibitively slow...
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minders
11/10/2010 2:47 AM EST
I would like to have presentation in pdf format
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Arm_1
11/10/2010 4:07 AM EST
Really nice cource, I also like to have a stand alone presentation.
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EMBEDDED_#2
11/10/2010 4:14 AM EST
I would like to have presentation in pdf format.
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Matni
11/10/2010 8:32 AM EST
John,
Great overview. Would it be possible to get this as a stand-alone presentation in whatever format you can spare? I for one would also like to see more on DC storage technologies.
Z.M.
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stephane.BRETTE
11/10/2010 8:55 AM EST
Good course same demand about a pdf or downloadable swf ?
Stéphane
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John.Donovan
12/10/2010 9:58 AM EST
Re. the various requests for PDFs: Sorry, I'm told that for copyright reasons UBM can't distribute in that format, just in the form you see here.
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aksonlyaks
11/11/2010 6:57 AM EST
Very good course..
I am also trying to use solar power for my project...
But the points were i'm struggling are :
1. I'm unable to figure out how to build MPPT
2. i'm charging Lead acid battery in three steps( constant current, constant voltage and trickle). Now in constant current mode to raise the current i have to raise the charging voltage also otherwise current does not rise. How to make a constant current circuit which can only increase current not the voltage?? i'm using buck circuit to do the same.
Any kind of help will be appreciated.
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John.Donovan
11/16/2010 1:07 PM EST
Thanks for the kind words. Re. your design questions, check out TI's and National's web sites. Both have active solar programs and are all over MPPT and charging issues. Also don't overlook Linear Tech, Maxim, ON Semi and others who can probably help with the latter. See who offers reference designs or dev kits and work from there.
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machlang
11/14/2010 12:04 AM EST
This course was a very informative overview of PV. Thanks very much for providing these courses.
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Sanati
11/15/2010 10:56 PM EST
Can you kindly provide this presentation in pdf format so that I can share with my collegues and provide the information to my students - Sansoth
santkakul@gmail.com
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patrick.mannion
11/16/2010 12:47 AM EST
Hi all, we're delighted you've enjoyed the course. Due to copyright issues we cannot distribute the course per your requests, but it will be here on EETimes whenever you need it. Best regards to all.
Patrick
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Linktech
11/21/2010 1:19 AM EST
John, I listened to the training material and I thought it was a very good intro on the topic. I would like to see a part 2 that covers non-grid tied PV solutions. I guess the biggest difference would be storage as you hinted to in your comment. I would really like an honest assessment of the best and most cost effective storage solution that is low maintenance. I am just not impressed with the liquid acid based solution. I am hoping there has been tremendous progress in this area as a result of the research investments in Electric Vehicles batteries.
-- Lincoln.
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John.Donovan
11/21/2010 8:48 PM EST
Thanks, Lincoln, I really appreciate the feedback. I'm afraid that battery technology continues to lag the electronics: banks of deep cycle lead/acid marine batteries are still the norm for backup storage. Lithium-ion batteries have a far higher energy density, but for fixed locations that isn't particularly relevant whereas the far higher price is. If space or weight are important, then lithium-ion batteries--possibly with a fuel-cell backup--may make sense. Otherwise reconcile yourself to a trip to the auto parts store.
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modelmakeroz
11/22/2010 8:46 PM EST
Thanks.
The information presented on microinverters is ahead of the commecial game going by quotes I've had.
I will hurry up and wait accordingly.
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salt&pepper
12/1/2010 4:58 PM EST
quite a good short overview to cover key points of smart solar system. Thanks for sharing.
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bluesapphire
12/5/2010 5:58 PM EST
Excellent overview of solar PV systems! Curious about the business aspects i.e. financing options available; payback time for commercial systems, etc. Any good sources for this type of information?
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Alessandro.Nicosia
12/6/2010 9:55 AM EST
Very good overview. I'm interested on more specific topics like devices for solar battery charge, mainly for portable applications and set of slides or pdf file should be available for the current course.
Thank and best regards, Alessandro.
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natasha.graddy
12/8/2010 2:20 PM EST
This was an excellent overview of PV systems. I am looking for and MORE interested in stand alone PV systems as we use them at work and I will be installing several next year. It would also be a great idea if the presentation were in pdf format so I could print the slides for reference later on.
Thanks!
Natasha
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ranpras
12/10/2010 7:56 AM EST
Is there a You tube video Presentation available of the same ?
This will reach a wider audience if one is available
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John.Donovan
12/10/2010 9:59 AM EST
Sorry, there's no video.We decided the material could better be conveyed by slides and audio.
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Pradeep.Shetty
12/29/2010 6:00 AM EST
Excellent Sir. Very Informative. Thank You.
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Usmansorry
1/12/2011 7:46 AM EST
The points discussed are informative.
Can you please send in pdf/ppt version
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John.Donovan
1/23/2011 7:07 AM EST
Sorry, I'm told that for copyright reasons this is the only format in which the course is available.
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rvrna
4/28/2011 12:52 PM EDT
fantastic presentation
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