UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA CRUZ

BASKIN SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

CE 185: TECHNICAL WRITING, WINTER 2015

Document Specification
Christina Sio
February 25, 2015
I.

II.

Introduction
a. Topic: The topic of my final project is a report on how to design a basic solarpowered system composed of a small solar panel connected to rechargeable
NiMH batteries and a microcontroller.
b. Purpose: The purpose of my final project is to elaborate on the design decisions
that went into choosing the appropriate components and putting together a
circuit to harvest and store solar energy. This essentially comprises the power
portion of my senior design project.
c. Intended Audience: The intended audience of my final project will be my
professors and fellow students in academia, as well as future employers, beginning
electrical engineers, hobbyists, and anyone who is considering building their own
home solar energy system.
Technical Discussion Outline
a. Energy Considerations
i. Power Budget
1. Power consumption of system components
ii. Energy Budget
1. Daily energy requirements of system components
2. How long can the system sustain itself without recharging?
3. How can we reduce the amount of power components are
consuming?
4. How much longer can the system be sustained using renewable
energy?
b. Component Selection
i. Microcontroller
1. Input/Output ports
2. Analog-to-Digital Conversion
3. Internal Comparator
4. PWM output
ii. Solar Panels
1. Size vs. power output vs. cost
2. Measuring light intensity
a. Best case vs. worst case vs. average case
3. Optimum angle

iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

a. Fixed vs. adjustable

b. Geographic location
4. Plotting the I-V characteristic curve
a. Fill factor
b. Efficiency
c. Maximum power point
5. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)
Rechargeable Batteries
1. Battery Chemistries
a. Lead-acid
b. NiCd
c. NiMH
d. Lithium Ion / Polymer
2. Battery management
a. Trickle Charge vs. Fast Charge
b. Charging characteristic curve
i. Voltage
ii. Temperature
c. Charging termination methods
i. Voltage
1. -V (negative voltage slope)
2. 0V (zero voltage slope)
3. V/t (decreasing positive voltage
slope)
ii. Temperature
1. T (cell temperature vs. ambient
temperature)
2. T/t (cell temperature over time)
iii. Issues when connecting a load
d. Discharge characteristic curve
e. Self-discharge rate
3. Teslas battery management system
DC/DC converters
1. Linear regulators vs. Switching regulators
a. Efficiency, heat, and power dissipation
2. Buck, boost, and buck-boost converters
Diodes
1. Ideal Diodes vs. Schottky Diodes vs. Standard Diodes
2. Diode-ORing vs. PowerPath Selection
Resistors, Capacitors, Inductors
1. Voltage Division using Resistors
a. Same ratio, different magnitude
2. Ripple Voltage
3. Ripple Current

vii. Surface mount components

1. PCB sizing
2. Packaging types

III.

IV.

c. System Design
i. Basic considerations
ii. First iteration
1. Switching on and off
a. Power FETs
2. Regulating
a. Linear regulators
3. Monitoring
a. ADC
iii. Second iteration
1. Battery Management
a. Charge Controling & Monitoring
i. One magical IC
2. Regulating to two rails
a. DC/DC converters
i. Buck-boost to 3.3 V
ii. Buck to 3.3 V
iv. Third iteration
1. Switching between three power sources
a. Ideal diodes
2. Charge controller
a. Fast and slow charge
3. Regulating to two rails
a. Same as above
Proposed Research
a. Research sources
i. Application Notes & Datasheets
1. Texas Instruments
2. Linear Technology
3. Microchip
4. Energizer
5. Maxim Integrated
Style Guide
a. The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr.