A Sensorless MPPT Structure for Low Cost Solar Energy Harvesting in Wireless Sensor Networks

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is necessary for efficient solar energy harvesting. In the context of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), MPPT often makes use of sensors to aid in calculating the maximum power point voltage of solar panel. However, existing methods are susceptible to changes in environmental conditions and system parameters and are unable to handle the complex and dynamic application scenarios for WSNs. In this paper, a sensorless MPPT structure is proposed which uses the solar panel for energy harvesting itself as the sensor and employs simple circuit structure and control flow to execute MPPT. Experimental results show that in terms of energy harvesting efficiency, the proposed structure performs better than existing ones.