An internet of things to maximum power point tracking approach of solar PV array

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the emerging trends and has great potential to bring advances in electrical engineering and renewable energy. It is estimated that by 2020, IoT will be a $20 trillion industry. Hence, this paper proposes the method of incorporating IoT in solar energy and photovoltaic research at the laboratory level. The proposed method includes IoT’s divine application in (a) MPPT tracking; (b) partial shading; (c) security switch for turning ON Arduino’s serial monitor; and finally, (d) building up the direct communication between professor (sitting in the cabin) and the research scholar performing experiment (in the laboratory which is at some particular distance from the professor’s cabin). The whole setup is based on the newly developed Indian microcontroller-BOLT (An Internet of Things platform) launched on 21 February 2016.