Tag: Photovoltaic
DC-DC converter starts up and operates from a single photocell
by Marian Stofka @ www.edn.com: The bq25504 from Texas Instruments is a good candidate to become a milestone on the road to micro-power management and energy harvesting. A prominent feature of this IC is its ability to start up at a supply voltage as low as 330 mV typically, and 450...
Continue ReadingSolar energy harvester IC that operates with indoor lighting
Saelig Company, Inc. (www.saelig.com) has introduced the patented Sol Chip Saturn802 Energy Harvester IC - a unique photovoltaic (PV) cell which can produce output voltage levels of 0.75V, 1.5V, 2.25V, 3.0V, 4.5V, and 9V, which existing solar cells cannot do. The maximum power which...
Continue ReadingPerovskite solar cells stabilized at 19% efficiency
Researchers at EPFL in Switzerland have found that adding large organic compounds called guanidinium (CH6N3+) into methylammonium lead iodide perovskite solar cells can provide stable power efficiency of 19%, approaching that of silicon cells. by Nick Flaherty @ eenewseurope.com: The...
Continue ReadingGrid-connected solar microinverter reference design
A PDF from Microchip on the theory behind inverter design connected to grip power.: There are two main requirements for solar inverter systems: harvest available energy from the PV panel and inject a sinusoidal current into the grid in phase with the grid voltage. In order to harvest...
Continue ReadingResearchers Developed Highly Durable Washable And Stretchable Solar Cells
Scientists of Japanese research institute RIKEN and the University of Tokyo have successfully developed a product that allows solar cells to continue to provide solar power after being washed, stretched and compressed. Takao Someya of Riken Center for Emergent Matter Science, a...
Continue ReadingBismuth Oxyiodide (BiOI)—A Non-toxic Alternative To Solar Cells
Bismuth is considered as a "green-element" and bismuth-based compounds are gaining attention as potentially non-toxic and defect-tolerant solar absorbers. The researchers of the University of Cambridge and the United States developed theoretical and experimental methods to show that...
Continue ReadingUsing a supercapacitor for power management and energy storage with a small solar cell
Jean Mars & Julia Leem @ edn.com writes: In Part 1 of this series, we have reviewed solar cell performance, how to select and size the supercapacitor, requirements of supercapacitor charging circuits and charging IC characteristics. We will now use two case studies to illustrate...
Continue ReadingCircuit implements photovoltaic-module simulator
José M Blanes and Ausiàs Garrigós writes: Electronics engineers often use photovoltaic-module simulators to test dc/dc-power converters, inverters, or MPPT (maximum-power-point-tracking)-control techniques. The use of these simulators lets you work in the laboratory with...
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