Embedded Control and Remote Monitoring for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Harvesting Systems: A Review

Abstract

With fossil fuel sources diminishing and climate issues getting more and more serious each year, researchers around the world have been turning their attention to more sustainable and environmental friendly energy sources. While many new renewable energy sources emerge, solar remains as a popular and rapidly researched source. The efficiency and robustness of a solar energy conversion system is highly reliant on the continuous improvements and development in several aspects. Among others, is the monitoring and control system. The past few decades witness some rapid growth in the research and enhancements in embedded control and monitoring systems for photovoltaic solar systems. In this paper, a review on various developments of embedded monitoring and control systems for photovoltaic energy conversion systems is presented. The purpose of this article is to shed a better light on relevant techniques and methods. A number of research articles are reviewed and categorized based on the focus and mechanisms presented. A comprehensive study is carried out to reveal the improvement claims, outcomes, discoveries, and trade-offs of the techniques found in the literature, and a comprehensive conclusion is drawn at the end of the article.