ANALYSIS OF BIOINSPIRED MPPT TECHNIQUES FOR A PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM APPLIED TO LPWA DEVICES
Smart Grids (SGs) are one of the recent solutions for the growing energy demand in the world. However, its development and implementation present some challenges that need to be overcome for its full success. One of these challenges is how to efficiently supply energy to Low Power Long Range (LPWA) wireless communication devices that perform the important functions of monitoring and remote control of the electricity distribution network. In this context, the present work aims to characterize the MF (photovoltaic module) as the adopted energy source, and then make a comparison through computer simulation of the performance of bioinspired and low complexity techniques, PO (Disturb and Observe), PSO (Particle Swarm Optimization) and FPA (Flower Pollination Algorithm) used for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) of a low power photovoltaic system used to power LPWA devices. For this analysis, an equivalent circuit model was developed for the adopted photovoltaic module, whose parameters were determined through the use of an iterative method. Additionally, measurements were performed on a system for supplying energy to LPWA devices, composed of a photovoltaic module and an energy converter, for different operating conditions, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal. Finally, with the application of the data obtained, there was an increase in battery life for both transmission and reception of data by the LPWA device.