An Automatic Electronic Photovoltaic Heating System for Charging Thermal Energy Storage Tank

Abstract

Power generated by Photovoltaic modules can be directly used for heating. However, due to the intermittent nature of solar irradiance, such a PV heating system requires a controller which can automatically select the appropriate heating element which matches the maximum power point. In this study an electronic circuit was constructed using an arduino 2560 mega board, a current sensor, a voltage sensor, a SD card module and a real time clock that automatically selects a heating element according to the variation in solar irradiance. Both the current and voltage from the solar panels were measured and recorded in the SD card. The performance of the electric circuit was tested in heating 7 litres of thermal energy storage oil on different days. The experimental results showed that the thermal energy storage oil was heated to 208 degree Celsius in about 4 hours on a day of 5 sunshine hours and 160 degree Celsius in about 6 hours on a day of 3 sunshine hours. The heating efficiencies were 19% for oil TES system and 26% for water TES system.