How to make solar photovoltaic products more intelligent and more efficient

The central issue of solar photovoltaic products:

* Opportunities and challenges in transforming solar energy from emerging energy to mainstream energy

* The final efficiency of the entire system is more important than the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells

* Variables that determine the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells

Solar Photovoltaic Products Solutions

* NXP "Delta Converter" distributes the voltage difference between adjacent panels evenly by using the principle of energy exchange

* Three processes related to solar system architecture

The amount of energy that the sun shines on the earth every six hours is enough to meet the energy needs of the entire year. With this huge free green wealth, photovoltaic (PV) technology has become a symbol of environmental protection. However, photovoltaics/solar energy, which has been available for more than 30 years, has produced less than 0.5% of the world's energy output.

The transformation of solar energy from emerging energy into mainstream energy faces many opportunities and challenges. Although the amount of energy from the sun is extremely large, it is still a long way to make solar PV a free commodity due to limited equipment conversion costs and the need for conversion efficiency. However, using semiconductors to manage the conversion system can easily solve this problem. problem. At present, the development of photovoltaic energy depends to a large extent on incentive mechanisms, policy proposals, and capital investment models for “microcredit”. However, there is no doubt that solar PV will one day be equivalent to fossil fuel prices. From a system perspective, large-scale deployment of solar installations will change the mode of energy distribution because it will involve many factors such as grid operation, load handling, and other practical issues. This means that the promotion and application of photovoltaic energy is at or near its turning point, and the latest development of semiconductor technology has the potential to promote this transformation.

Today's most advanced solar power system consists of a relatively simple set of components. When everything is running as expected, its conversion efficiency is about 10-15%. A wide range of digital and high-performance mixed-signal (HPMS) semiconductor technologies are forming a new system architecture. These new architectures have been optimized in design to adjust the efficiency drop caused by environmental changes, while optimizing the power of the system by monitoring and correcting the operating characteristics of the various components.

It is extremely important to install a solar energy system that can deliver more power to the grid. There are two reasons: First, solar photovoltaics that are generated but not transmitted to the power grid do not bring about consumer benefits. Second, each kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy saved by increasing operating efficiency is equivalent to reducing the release of new installations to the atmosphere. Solar panel emissions per kWh.

NXP Semiconductors has been committed to improving energy conversion efficiency through the development of software and hardware technologies. In addition, NXP continues to study algorithms for dealing with the environmental changes experienced by solar panels and the nature of photovoltaic modules.

NXP also supplies a variety of ultra-low-power microcontrollers, drivers, MOSFETs, and other components to meet the needs of solar technology development, and solar technology offers higher performance and efficiency than competing technologies.

Energy Loss 1: Environmental Impact

In general, people are very concerned about the improvement of energy conversion capability of photovoltaic cells, mainly because the efficiency of a typical commercial photovoltaic cell is still limited to only 10-20% (depending on battery technology). However, the final efficiency of the entire system is more important, and it will be affected by many common factors, such as uneven distribution of shadows on the panel, or foreign objects such as leaves, dust or bird droppings falling on the panel.

In most of today's system architectures, solar panels in series form the basic energy harvesting part of the system, each generating a nominal DC voltage of about 30 volts. Since the panels are in series, their voltages add up. A typical configuration may have 10 panels, each generating 30 volts, so the total voltage is about 300 volts. In some systems, this voltage is stored in the battery and converted to AC by the inverter or used directly as DC. In the vast majority of residential and solar farm configurations, the use of batteries is ignored and the inverter outputs AC power and is connected directly to the grid.

There is a crucial assumption here that all panels operate with the same efficiency. However, it is not. First, the difference in production will cause the photovoltaic cells in the panel to have slightly different current output. More important are environmental factors such as shadows and dirt. Some of the dirty, shadowed panels or failed photovoltaic cells cannot collect as much light as possible, thus producing less energy and lower current. The difference between the batteries/panels results in a significant reduction in the output power of the system. If a panel is shaded by 10% of the area, the output power of the entire panel will be reduced by more than 30%.

Energy Loss 2: Insufficient Information

The conversion efficiency of a photovoltaic cell depends on a number of variables, including the light intensity, the temperature of the cell, the operating point, and the theoretical peak efficiency of the cell. As long as you understand these variables, you can determine the best operating point for the entire solar panel. We can use sensors, microcontrollers, and other integrated circuits to monitor and adjust the operating voltage—the variable most likely to be controlled by the system designer—and achieve greater than 10-15% energy gain under certain conditions. This is just one example of how ICT can improve the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation. In addition, it can also add additional features such as improving the security level, simplifying the installation, and making maintenance easier and more convenient.

The photovoltaic power generation industry has not been developed. The most cost-effective and energy-efficient solar energy system architecture has not yet been formed. Distributed power management system seems to have been recognized by the industry. However, one of the most important questions is whether to allow energy to be transmitted in the system in the form of DC voltage, or whether the output of each panel can be converted from DC to AC using micro-converter technology. Regardless of how the system architecture competes, NXP is ready to take the lead.

Among these two unique ways to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation, optimizing design and improving semiconductor performance are particularly important, and NXP has made significant contributions in these areas. The company recently introduced the MPT612, a low-power integrated circuit that implements the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) function to optimize the power extraction efficiency of solar applications. Taking battery charging as an example, when the MPT612 is running NXP's patent pending MPPT algorithm, it extracts more than 30% more energy from a solar panel than a conventional controller.

Win by design and performance

In the design field, NXP's DC/DC converters for panels are a major innovation. The NXP "Delta Converter" equalizes the voltage difference between the solar panels. The other solution on the market is to process all the power generated by photovoltaic panels, and the NXP Delta Converter distributes the voltage difference between adjacent panels equally by using the principle of energy exchange. When there is no voltage difference, the converter is inactive. The advantages of this product include lower energy consumption during conversion and higher reliability due to the converter not working continuously.

With its years of experience in high-reliability electronic products and high-voltage semiconductors, NXP has developed and is developing a series of semiconductor products that have the potential to advance the solar industry:

Microcontroller performing maximum power point tracking;

Wireless and power line communication chips for communication between panels;

High-voltage drivers for DC/AC converters, low-voltage drivers for DC/DC converters;

Controllers, Power MOSFETs, and High and Low Voltage Drivers for DC/DC and DC/AC Converters

Innovative channel function diodes;

GaN MOSFETs, which perform high-frequency switching and have very limited conduction and switching losses, save more power than traditional IGBT-based power solutions;

These innovative products are the result of NXP’s commitment to developing high-performance mixed-signal technology for decades. In summary, high-performance mixed-signal technology combines analog and digital technologies, giving design engineers multiple choices for developing products that will dominate over the next decade.

In-depth substance

Semiconductor process technology makes it possible to design high-performance mixed-signal chips. NXP has three processes related to the solar system architecture: the EZ-HV process, which produces small devices that can operate at 700 volts; the ABCD9 and CO50 PMU processes, which set new performance benchmarks up to 120 volts for current conversion applications, and will The introduction of superior DC/DC converters; and the previously mentioned GaN process can produce power MOSFETs with extremely low conduction and switching losses.

By integrating chips and devices developed with high-performance mixed-signal (HPMS) design and process technology, the efficiency of solar panels will be greatly increased, the economic break-even time will be shortened, and solar photovoltaics will also be used as alternative energy sources for residential and industrial applications. Widely accepted.

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