Data brief
For further information contact your local STMicroelectronics sales office.
August 2011 Doc ID 022089 Rev 1 1/4
4
STEVAL-ISV009V1
300 W photovoltaic converter demonstration board
based on the SPV1020
Features
■ PWM mode DC-DC boost converter
■ Duty cycle controlled by MPPT algorithm with
0.2% accuracy
■ Operating voltage range: 0-40 V
■ Overvoltage, overcurrent and overtemperature
protection
■ Built-in soft-start
■ Up to 98% efficiency
■ Automatic transition to burst mode for
improved efficiency during low solar radiation
■ SPI interface
■ RoHS compliant
Description
The STEVAL-ISV009V1 demonstration board is
based on the SPV1020, which is a monolithic DC-
DC boost converter designed to maximize the
power generated by photovoltaic panels
independent of temperature and amount of solar
radiation.
The optimization of the power conversion is
obtained with embedded logic which performs the
MPPT (max power point tracking) algorithm on
the PV cells connected to the converter.
One or more converters can be housed in the
connection box of the PV panels, replacing the
bypass diodes and, thanks to the fact that the
maximum power point is locally computed, the
efficiency at system level is higher than that of
conventional topologies, where the MPP is
computed in the main centralized inverter.
For a cost effective application solution and
miniaturization needs, the SPV1020 embeds the
power MOSFETs for active switches and
synchronous rectification, minimizing the number
of external devices necessary. Furthermore, the
4-phase interleaved topology of the DC-DC
converter eliminates the need for electrolytic
capacitors, which would severely limit lifetime.
It works at a fixed frequency in PWM mode,
where the duty cycle is controlled by the
embedded logic running a “perturb & observe”
MPPT algorithm. The switching frequency,
internally generated and set by default at 100
kHz, is externally tunable, while the duty cycle can
range from 5% to 90% with a step of 0.2%.
Safety of the application is guaranteed by
stopping the drivers in case of output overvoltage
or overtemperature.
STEVAL-ISV009V1
www.st.com
