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0-7803-4057-4/97 $10.00 01997 JEEE 582 16th International Conferenceon Jhermoelectrics (1997)
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Configuration of the photovoltaickhermoelectric hybrid The energy management system with state-of-charge
system determination
Computer simulations made at Fraunhofer ISE have The EMS is based on the electricity-saving micro-
shown that in Central Europe, the size of the PV generator can controller, H8/337 from Hitachi. It has a very low power con-
lbe reduced to a third of that needed for an exclusively PV sumption of less than 40 mW. The EMS is divided into a mi-
system, if only IO% of the annual demand is met by the auxil- cro-controller and a power unit (fig. 4). This means that it can
iary generator [I]. Further, the overall system reliability is be adapted flexibly to different power requirements. In addi-
higher for a hybrid system, as the redundancy means that if tion, it has a convenient operating system, with which the user
one energy supply breaks down, the load can be supplied can call up the system state onto the LC display with various
temporarily by the other alone. The following diagram (fig. 2) menus. The system can also be simply configured and
illustrates the basic configuration of a repeater station. parametrised via the user interface. The EMS is thus open for
The photovoltaic hybrid system consists of two solar gen- many customer-specific settings. Further, care was taken to
erator arrays of different size, with a total power of 1100 W. use standard components such as the 12C bus and to develop
The battery has a capacity of 480 Ah112 V. The typical power the software in the high-level language C.
drawn by a solar mobile telephone repeater is simulated by a
permanent load of 50 W in the experimental system.
energy management
Fig. 2: Basic configuration of the energy supply for a repeater Fig. 4: Micro-controller unit of the EMS.
station.
The central decision quantity for the energy management
A modified thermoelectric generator from the Canadian is the state of charge of the battery. It is determined with an
company, Global Thermoelectric, model 5120 (120 W), is adaptive state-of-charge method developed at Fraunhofer ISE.
used as the auxiliary generator (fig. 3). This is based on a current balance, which is recalibrated when
A micro-controlled energy management system (EMS), the fully charged state of the battery is recognised. The recali-
newly developed at Fraunhofer ISE, ensures fully automatic bration is necessary, as errors in the current measurement and
operation with minimal consumption of fossil fuel and appro- balance can occur over longer periods and allow the value of
priate battery operation management. the state of charge to drift. During recalibration, the state of
charge is reset to 100% and the loss current for the battery is
recalculated. The fully charged state is recognised when first
the battery voltage exceeds the equilibrium voltage for a long
period, second the battery current is within the range of the
loss current and third the change of the battery current with
time is almost zero.
To control the battery, the EMS includes deep discharge
protection and a guard against overcharging, which is inde-
pendent of the state-of-charge determination. The solar gen-
erators can be controlled by the EMS in groups and sequen-
tially. The decision to switch the load or the TEG on or off
depends on the battery's state of charge.
Economic viability of the photovoltaic/thermoelectric e one 120 W TEG with a 5.8 kWh battery
hybrid system * one 2 kVA gasoline generator
0 one 2 kVA gasoline generator with a 5.8 kWh battery
The economics of the photovoltaichhermoelectric hybrid
e one 2 kVA gasoline generator with a 5.8 kMrh battery and
system (770 Wpeaksolar generator; 5,8 kWh industrial battery;
120 W TEG; 50 W permanent output) has been analysed. The 750 Wp PV
0 one 3 BVA diesel generator
most important economic parameters are listed in table I:
In a first step, the sensitivity of the most cost relevant pa- The following figure 6 shows the cost comparison based on
rameters are calculated based on the annuity method. the annuity method with a 4% real interest rate. The pure
7.23 DMkWh in the reference case is within the range of fossil-fuelled generator systems (gasoline, diesel) have not
costs for autonomous power supplies. 23% of the annual costs been included in the figure due to their enormous O&M costs,
are related to staff for operation and maintenance (O&M). as the engines must be overhauled every 250 or 500 operation
Although TEG’s are very reliable, most of the annual costs are hours, respectively. These options are of relevance, if much
spent on O&M. The largest cost reduction can be achieved by more electricity is consumed.