Maximizing efficiency of solar-powered systems by load matching

Solar power is an important source of renewable energy for many low-power systems. Matching the power consumption level with the supply level can make a great difference in the efficiency of power utilization. This paper proposes a source-tracking power management strategy that maximizes the panel's total energy output under a given solar profile by load matching. The power efficiency was validated by extensive measurement. Compared to a conventional solar powered system, our load matching strategy improves the power utilization by 132% for a portable system performing image processing and wireless communication tasks.