Solar Electric Charge Controller and Portable Power Supply Project

Our project is a device that will allow a solar panel to efficiently recharge a DC battery. This is accomplished by operating the solar panel at an optimal power level regardless of the battery voltage

Description

The controller will vary the voltage across the panel to find and maintain the maximum power point. The circuitry also monitors the battery voltage level and charges the battery using pulse width modulation techniques. The device consists of a boost DC-DC converter, a microcontroller, a current sensing microchip, a Liquid Crystal Display for data output, and a serial computer interface for programming and data collection.