Design & control of low cost solar tree for optimizing a PV system

Abstract

This concept shows the design and control of a solar tree PV system for charging cell phones, supplying electricity for street lighting on open urban areas and charging of electric bike on the road side when the charge is decaying. Based on the above applications, a 7 feet height-tree was built. It has three section of branches, each branches contains 5 sub stem over which leaves made of acrylic with solar panels on the top (1.5 feet × 1feet) mounted. The energy storage capacity is 30 Amp. It has 2 USB ports to connect mobile devices and two 12V-300 W electrical outlets to connect those devices to the electricity. The solar tree was designed according to the environmental conditions of Gunupur, Odisha and for optimizing the output power a flow chart with programming developed. The result was compared with the C language programme. At the last, the PV system's availability to satisfy the energetic requirements was verified. Due to population growth and energy demands, the solar energy is the 2nd best source of non conventional energy which is cause pollution free in nature. By using the concept of the series and parallel connection of panel with the help of sub branch of the main stem the efficiency of the system can be improved. As compared to normal PV system in area point of view the Solar tree becomes more efficient. There is no systematic stimulation for usage of solar panels, purely relying on individual cases of installation on different types of objects. Solar tree may be very much helpful for creating awareness about solar resource. This concept elaborates the possibility of building a solar tree in GIET campus odisha, India, covering technical, social and economic aspects. Benefits and potential drawbacks are elaborated, while special emphasis is given to the specifics of its utilization due to the geographical position of odisha and corresponding number of sunny hours/days per year.