• State
  • Locked Locked
  • Replies 12 replies
  • Subscribers 84 subscribers
  • Views 2911 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Support feedback
Options
Options
Related

This thread has been locked.

If you have a related question, please click the "Ask a related question" button in the top right corner. The newly created question will be automatically linked to this question.

SolarExplorer_PVBattChg_F2803x

Jabari Hodge
Prodigy 90 points

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CONTROLSUITE, SFRA

Hi good day, I am currently doing a final year project in Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of the West Indies. I purchased the SOLAR EXPLORER KIT (TMDSSOLARPEXPKIT) and I am highly interested in the "Implementation of the Photovoltic Battery Charging System using C2000 Microcontrollers on Solar Explorer Kit" example project. But I am not locating the "SolarExplorer_PVBattChg_F2803x" file anywhere in "ControlSUITE" or even on the web. This file is needed when the "software setup" section. Can you please send me this file please, I am in great need of it. Thank you so much in advance for your help

  • 0
    Guru 192875 points
    Hi Jabari,

    This file is not available in controlSuite. Can you let us know about which software setup section are you talking about.

    Regards,
    Gautam
  • 0
    Prodigy 90 points

    It is not available on "control suite" but I was able to find a zip file that included it, in one of the forums. Can you provide me with a explanation  of the C-code for the "SolarExplorer_PVBattChg_F2803x" example code please.

  • 0
    Prodigy 150 points
    Were you able to use the kit for your project? Did you understand the code/is it working for your application? I ask because I am in a similar condition
  • 0 in reply to Nnaedoziem Aririele
    Prodigy 90 points
    Hi Nnaedoziem Aririele,

    I am using the kit for my project, I believe i understand the code a lot better now and it is working for my application. I am only getting the code to work using the on board emulator.

    I have some problems:

    1. I do not understand how to can connect an actual solar panel to the Kit ( where exactly do you put the connections).

    2. And I want to insert another stage within the charge cycle ( absorption stage: which is time dependent), right now the charge cycle only incorporates two stages: Bulk and Float.

    Regards,
    Hodge
  • 0 in reply to Jabari Hodge
    TI__Mastermind 43730 points
    www.google.com/url

    Was the document related to the project,

    1. Instead of the PV emulator you can use a panel (make sure it does not exceed the rating of the power stage, refer to controlSUITE documents for the HW). We use disconnect the banana cable from PV emulator output , and connect it to the PV + and and GND to PV-
    2. You can look at the reference code and modify accordingly.
  • 0 in reply to Manish Bhardwaj
    Prodigy 90 points
    Hi Manish Bhardwaj

    Thank you so much for your help, I got the PV panel to work with the board. I ran into one more problem :

    When i am running the code using the PV panel, for some reason the Duty4A variable does not seem to start ( I have to connect the system to the panel emulator first to get the Duty4A variable to move from zero, then connect the PV panel).



    I also would like to add another micro controller to the system to communicate with the control card (master):

    How can I do this, are there any document referring to communication with this board?
    I am seeing a TX and RX output on the board in [M7] section ( where you connect your computer to), can I connect to that?
    What features does the micro controller must have ( must it use RS422/RS485)?
    And how does the addressing work for this system?

    If you can send me documents that would help me with this because there are no software documents for this board online.
  • 0 in reply to Jabari Hodge
    TI__Mastermind 43730 points
    Jabari,

    We have an SCI connection through the FTDI chip that is in the M7 module, the same chip also serves as the JTAG connection.

    When you connect your PC to the USB connector , you can see a serial port also enumerate looking at the HW ports.

    How you use this HW port is entirely upto you. We do use the port for GUIs , unfortunately however that code is not available to be shared.
    So you will need to create something on your own.
  • 0 in reply to Manish Bhardwaj
    Prodigy 90 points
    Hi Manish,
    Thank you for your reply, I am currently working on the GUI.
    I would just like t ask one more thing. What lead acid battery do you think would be best applicable for this system and why. If you can send a link to where I can purchase this battery as well.

    My 50W Panel
    Impp= 3.3A
    Isc=3.5A

    Thank you so much in advance

    Regards,
  • 0 in reply to Jabari Hodge
    TI__Mastermind 43730 points
    I tested with this

    www.amazon.com/.../B00BHM8Q0G

    however i need to warn you my objective while doing this was just basic examples, and i did not look into the fact if this is the most optimal solution
  • 0 in reply to Manish Bhardwaj
    Prodigy 90 points

    Hi good day again Manish Bhardwaj, 

    I would like to know what control turning technique did you used in order to obtain the gains for the PID controller for the "Vpnl" and the "Vbatt". Below show the snippet of code which has the gain values:

    // Coefficients for Outer Voltage Loop

    // PID coefficients & Clamping - Current loop (Q26)

    Dmax_Vpnl  = _IQ24(0.95);

    Pgain_Vpnl = _IQ26(2.5);

    Igain_Vpnl = _IQ26(0.00005);

    Dgain_Vpnl =_IQ26(0.0);  

    // Coefficients for Outer Voltage Loop

    // PID coefficients & Clamping - Current loop (Q26)

    Dmax_Vbatt  = _IQ24(0.95);

    Pgain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.5);  

    Igain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.00005);  

    Dgain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.0);  

    // Coefficients for Outer Voltage Loop // PID coefficients & Clamping - Current loop (Q26) Dmax_Vpnl  = _IQ24(0.95); Pgain_Vpnl = _IQ26(2.5); Igain_Vpnl = _IQ26(0.00005); Dgain_Vpnl =_IQ26(0.0); 

  • 0 in reply to Manish Bhardwaj
    Prodigy 90 points

    Hi good day again Manish Bhardwaj, 

    I would like to know what control turning technique did you used in order to obtain the gains for the PID controller for the "Vpnl" and the "Vbatt". Below show the snippet of code which has the gain values:

    // Coefficients for Outer Voltage Loop

    // PID coefficients & Clamping - Current loop (Q26)

    Dmax_Vpnl  = _IQ24(0.95);

    Pgain_Vpnl = _IQ26(2.5);

    Igain_Vpnl = _IQ26(0.00005);

    Dgain_Vpnl =_IQ26(0.0);  

    // Coefficients for Outer Voltage Loop

    // PID coefficients & Clamping - Current loop (Q26)

    Dmax_Vbatt  = _IQ24(0.95);

    Pgain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.5);  

    Igain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.00005);  

    Dgain_Vbatt = _IQ26(0.0);  

  • 0 in reply to Jabari Hodge
    TI__Mastermind 43730 points

    Jabari,

    I did this design while still new to control, so i used an empirical approach. Also  i had not transient or performance target to meet thus i just empirically tuned it, and it worked reasonably with the demo i was putting together.  I remember seeing current signal on oscilloscope and checking the step response etc. 

    I would recommend that you use SFRA to the code and verify the control loops bandwidth that way. It may not be straightforward to begin with but it would help you long term. 

    -Manish