Design & Construction of Microcontroller Based
maximum power point PWM Charge Controller for
Photovoltaic Application
Gazi Mohammad Sharif, S. M. Mohaiminul Islam, Khosru Mohammad Salim
School of Engineering and Computer Science, Independent University, Bangladesh.
email: gsharif@gmail.com
Abstract: Photovoltaic cell converts solar energy directly
into electricity. This paper describes a design of a charge
controller to get the maximum power by using the Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) technique. In this paper PWM is
controlled by the PIC Microcontroller. The work of the
paper is to charge a 12 volt battery by using a 50 watt solar
panel with maximum power. In this paper how maximum
power can be achieved from solar panel to charge the
battery through PWM signal generated by microcontroller
is discussed and the experiments by taking voltage and
current’s values in different time interval are shown. Finally
the experimental results are illustrated in this paper.
1. Introduction
Photovoltaic production becomes double every two years,
increasing by an average of 48 percent each year since
2002. For this reason it becomes the world’s fastest-
growing energy technology [1]. Photovoltaic efficiency is
very important for solar application. There are three ways
to increase the efficiency of a photovoltaic (PV) system.
The first way is to improve the solar cell’s efficiency. The
second method is a solar panel tracking system to increase
the efficiency of a PV system. Progress of solar panel
tracking systems has been continuing for a number of
years now. The third way is to maximize the energy
conversion from the solar panel. The paper focuses on
maximum power point PWM charge controller for
photovoltaic application. When a solar panel is under an
open circuit is able to supply a maximum voltage and
there is no current, whereas under a short circuit is able to
provide a maximum current with no voltage. In either
case, the amount of power supplied by the solar panel is
zero. The target is to develop a method whereby
maximum power can be obtained from the voltage and
current multiplied together.
Fig.1 Illustration of a V-I Curve for a Solar Panel [2]
The “maximum power point” is demonstrated by through
the voltage-current (VI) curve in Figure 1, the “knee” of
the curve is the vital point [2].
The technology for solar photovoltaic battery charge
controllers increased dynamically. PWM charging is very
famous for its useful application. In previous days simple
on-off regulators were used to limit battery out gassing
when a solar panel produced overkill power. On the other
hand, as solar systems developed it is clear now how
much these simple devices hampered with the charging
process. In previous, when the on-off regulators were
used early battery failures, increasing load disconnects
happened very frequently. For this reason, user
frustrations were grown. In recent times PWM has played
a significant role in solar battery charging. PWM solar
chargers use the technology related to other modern high
quality battery chargers. When the battery voltage reaches
the regulation set point, the PWM algorithm slowly
reduces the charging current to avoid heating and gassing
of the battery, however the charging continues to return
the maximum amount of energy to the battery in the
shortest time. For that a superior charging efficiency,
quick recharging, and a healthy battery at full capacity are
got. The new way of solar battery charging guarantees
many benefits for PWM technique. By using this
technique it is possible to recover lost battery capacity
and to increase the charge reception of battery. These
includes the maintaining high average battery capacities
(90% to 95%) compared to on-off regulated state-of-
charge levels that are typically 55% to 60%. The other
benefits are balancing drifting battery cells, reducing
battery heating, gassing and automatically regulating for
battery aging, voltage drops and temperature effects in
solar systems [3]. In this paper a charge controller is
designed to get the maximum power by using the PWM
technique. This PWM technique is employed by the PIC
Microcontroller. Here a 12 volt battery is charged by
using a 50 watt solar panel with maximum power through
the PWM charge controller circuit. The hardware designs,
software implementation, prototype construction, flow
chart of the program are discussed here. How maximum
power can be achieved from solar panel to charge the
battery through PWM signal generated by microcontroller
is explained and the experiments by taking voltage and
current’s values in different time interval are also
described. voltage through its one pin and digitizes it. It compares
the digitized value with the stored value of 14 volt. If it
2. Hardware design and implementation matches, microcontroller maintains the pulse. But if the
A PWM Charge controller circuit is designed and getting voltage is greater than 14 volt, decreases the pulse
developed to sense the voltage of the solar panel. This is a width, hence voltage will be increased and vice versa.
half bridge circuit. A half bridge circuit diagram is shown
in fig 2. When there is enough sun shine, the panel voltage
is around 20 volt. When the battery is charged, the voltage
of the solar panel falls down. But the circuit will maintain
the required voltage of solar panel by the program in
microcontroller. The required voltage is determined from
the experimental results. These experiments are done
before designing the software and hardware.

Fig. 2 Half Bridge Circuit

Fig 3 shows the PWM charge controller circuit which is
mainly responsible for getting the maximum power. A
PIC microcontroller is the heart of the circuit. It senses
the voltage of the solar panel and increases or decreases
its pulse width for maintaining the required voltage for
the maximum power.
Fig. 4 Flow Chart of the PWM Charge Control program

3. Prototype, construction and experimental

results
A 50 watt solar panel was used for the experiments. The
picture of solar panels is shown in fig 5. In a shiny day,
the voltage and current were measured in different time
interval using a voltmeter and an ammeter. Voltages and
currents were measured from 12 pm to 4 pm in a day.
Two wires (one is positive and another is negative) of the
solar panel are connected with a Heater coil which was
used as a load here. The wires and the load are connected
in series with an ammeter.

Fig. 3 The constructed PWM Charge Controller Circuit

Fig 4 shows the Flow Chart of the PWM Charge Control
program. According to the flow chart a program is written
in assembly language and loaded the program in to the
microcontroller. Here, the microcontroller initially set a
pulse which is appropriate for 14 volt at where the
maximum power point was achieved from the
experiments before. Microcontroller gets the solar panel’s
 Fig. 5 Solar panel used for experiments
Then different voltages from 18 volt to 11 volt are
measured using a voltmeter by changing the load.
The flows of current were changed according to the
change of voltages. Voltage and current are shown in
figure 6.
Fig. 6 voltage and current are shown
The formula of power is; P = V*I. By calculating the
voltages and currents, different powers were
obtained. These are plotted in Microsoft excel. Fig 7
shows the graph which is maximum power tracking
curve. From this curve, it is assumed that the
maximum power obtained is 32 watt at 14 volt when
the current was 2.28 ampere. So it was important to
know the maximum power before software design,
because microcontroller increases or decreases the
pulse width according to the voltage whether it is less
or greater than 14 volt, the target is to stable the
voltage to 14 volt.
Fig. 7 Maximum Power Tracking Curve
A 12 volt battery was charged during the experiments and
the charging current was observed. Figure 8 shows the
picture of the charging current when the battery is charged.
The battery can be charged efficiently by ensuring the
maximum power point for photovoltaic application.
Fig. 8 Charging current is measured when the battery is
charged
4. Conclusions
The PWM charge control technique presented in this paper
shows the assurance for charging the battery with the
maximum power. Though the voltage of photovoltaic cell
and the voltage of battery are different, the maximum
power can be attained during battery charging from the
photovoltaic cell through this technique. The voltages of
the solar panel are different in different time and days.
This depends on the solar cell’s consumed sun light. When
the sky is cloudy or there is no enough sun light, the
voltage of the solar panel becomes low. In that case, by
increasing the pulse width, the battery is charged with
maximum power. For this reason, the battery is charged
quickly and efficiently.
 References
[1] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics
[2]Robert Weissbach, Isaac Aunkst, AC 2007-1213: A
MICROCONTROLLER-BASED SOLAR PANEL
TRACKING SYSTEM, American Society for Engineering
Education, 2007
[3]Why PWM, Morning Star Corporation, USA,
www.morningstarcorp.org