Protótipo de um sistema fotovoltaico para utilização em veículos

Abstract

In Brazil, the majority of the goods transported across the contry are carried by land routes, with drivers being at the forefront of this sector. Given the size of the country, this implies long journeys, which can last for days. Due to the lack of infrastructure of resting stops, drivers need to sleep and prepare their own food in the truck. Currently, there are several devices that can bring more comfort to these workers, such as a refrigerator to assist in transporting food and electronic devices to assist in entertainment during mandatory stop times. However, these devices demand an extra charge from the battery, which often does not have enough capacity, running out of charge to start the engine. One solution is to leave the vehicle's engine idling so that the battery maintains its charge. On the other hand, the fuel consumption increases, resulting in a unfeasible strategy from an economical perspective, in addition to the emission of greenhouse gases, degrading the environment. Thus, this work aims to develop a study on the use of a small photovoltaic system, which can be coupled to a truck, in order to provide the necessary power to supply such equipment. In order to emulate the photovoltaic system that would be mounted on a vehicle, a prototype was assembled, using solar panel, charge controller, battery and simulation load. A microcontroller is in charge of measuring the current generated by the panel during the day, and the battery voltage value, in order to obtain a trend of energy generation. With the generation curve from the measurements, it was possible to determine the maximum load power value that can be supported by the system.