Design a 1:2 SPV Converter

As electronics become more lightweight and increase in speed, miniaturization is more important in product design than ever. The goal of our research is to build a DC-to-DC converter that occupies minimum area and extracts near maximum available power. My project this summer is designing a simple 1:2 SPV converter that can be scaled to higher ratios simply by replicating a portion of the design. The SPV converter model initiated by my mentor and professor contains only photovoltaic cells (PV) and switches in a switched photovoltaic cells (SPV) configuration. By discarding area-consuming components, this new model of DC-to-DC converter is significantly smaller in size compared to current ones in the market. My project this summer fits into a big goal which is to verify if the SPV converter can achieve conversion ratios of 1:2/3/4/5/6/7 and measure its harvesting efficiency. In order to do that, we first used simulation software LTspice to build the simplified 2-cell PV model of SPV converter. Next, we simulated the model and did circuit analysis to understand the working principle and debug. The simulation allows us to test different component values in the circuit and thus optimize performances of the model. For a 2-cell SPV converter, we want the output voltage to be two times the input voltage. We also aim for the output voltage to have minimal oscillation without costing too much time. Our results showed that the 2-cell SPV converter model is working as expected. The next step is to build the SPV converter circuit on a printed circuit board in the lab. We are then going to validate simulation results and gather harvesting efficiency data.

Project Mentor: Sandeep Kukunuru

Faculty Advisor: Loai Salem