Development of a modular compensator that achieves improvement in the amount of power generation of a solar cell system by equalizing electrical characteristics

Abstract

Interest in photovoltaic systems, which are a renewable energy technology that transforms the energy from the Sun into electricity using photovoltaics, or solar panels, is on the rise. With non-renewable energy sources such as coal and fuel recognised as finite, the importance of improving renewable sources, such as solar energy, is more and more pressing. Unfortunately, there are still many challenges and drawbacks associated with photovoltaic systems, which is why research in this area is of the utmost importance. Dr Masatoshi Uno is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Ibaraki University, Japan. He has a multitude of research interests spanning switching power converters, cell equalisers, life evaluation for supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries and the development of fuel cell systems. Dr Masatoshi Uno's work seeks to enable photovoltaic systems to deliver impressive power at low cost and complexity and overcome the challenges associated with traditional photovoltaic systems.