Tracking Solar Power to Increase Efficiency
Red Rover runs on solar power, but its solar panels generate constantly changing power levels as the Sun rises or sets in the sky, and as the robot changes directions. To get a consistent power supply, the team is constructing a custom Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) to track the peak power operating point of the solar panels.
The maximum power point of the solar panel depends on the varying amount of sunlight, and consequently the MPPT must constantly track and update the operating point of the solar panel in order to draw the maximum amount of power available. So far, the MPPT is sensing a voltage level to be used for the power calculation, and a boost converter controlled by a PWM (pulse width modulation) signal has been implemented to control the output voltage of the system.
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