A real-time MCU-based wireless system for remote monitoring of PV devices

The aim of this paper is to propose a system for an online checking of the conditions in which a photovoltaic (PV) plant is functioning. Its structure consists of a central core, i.e. a microcontroller (MCU), and sensors, in particular a power meter for sensing current and voltage and a temperature one; a DC-DC converter and some rechargeable batteries complete the setup. The whole system has to be intended as a 'sensing box' to be applied to the back of any PV device whose characteristics we have to acquire. The whole system is managed through a strategy developed in MATLAB environment. In particular, a mathematical method has allowed not to include any irradiance sensor in the setup since it has made possible to analytically calculate (and not to sense) the quantity irradiance. Thanks to a PV simulator it has been possible to test the method on several simulated PV modules with different characteristics and to prove the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Finally, a graphical interface has been included to facilitate the acquisition phase for the user.