Web-enabled Data Logging System for Photovoltaic Inverter

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) panel is a typical device used to convert solar energy to electricity via an inverter. Taking the advantage of solar energy to generate power is now not limited to industrial level as a solar farm, but is also for local power generation in domestic home. People could install small-scale solar panel at the roof to supply power for his electronic devices, or sell the extra power back to the electrical grid. However, in general, solar power generating system integrated with web-enabled application still has room for further development. The objective of this project is to design a web-enabled data logging system so that user can remotely access the operation status of the PV inverter. An ARM-based data logging board has been redesigned upon its previous version. Its size was reduced in half and bugs found were fixed. The logged data is temporarily recorded and transmitted to the Linux server board through serial communication protocols for updating to database. Client applications which are android application and website have been implemented to allow users to access the PV inverter data from a mobile device or a PC. Data on both platforms are presented in graph for easy appreciation.