Since the emergence of photovoltaic powered systems, lead/acid batteries have been the preferred energy storage solution thanks to their low price and high robustness to abusive operation. However, limited shelf-life and low energy density are two important drawbacks of this technology which hinder the development of very small scale photovoltaic standalone systems. NovéaÉnergies is a French manufacturer of such systems used for lighting of off-grid isolated areas. In partnership with the French National Institute for Solar Energy (INES) and the Institute of Electronic and Telecommunications of Rennes (IETR), this project aims to develop an alternative energy storage system economically competitive while exhibiting a better lifespan and energy density. We show in this paper that lithium ion (Li-ion) technology and particularly cells using lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 -LFP) cathode material, exhibit pricing and robustness features which make them a viable alternative to Valve Regulated Lead/Acid (VRLA) batteries which are mainly used today in small photovoltaic standalone systems.
A new Power Line Communication (PLC) solution over a DC powerline is presented for remote management of batteries. This solution rely on the well known Controller Area Network (CAN) protocol and is designed to be directly compatible with existing CAN controllers. The presented PLC-CAN system is a low complexity and low cost solution suitable for short and low power DC bus used in small scale autonomous systems. Simulations of the communication channel over the frequency range [0.5 -10] MHz are conducted to validate the concept's feasibility. Experimental measurements on prototypes are then presented and show achievable data rates of 116 kbit/s.
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