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The classic Photovoltaic system maximum power point tracking technique cannot concurrently take into account the dynamic response speed and steady-state accuracy when the light intensity changes. To address this issue, a new composite variable step MPPT control algorithm is developed in this study. Based on the three-stage variable step incremental conductance method, the algorithm adds the Kalman filtering algorithm to pre-process the photovoltaic cells output signal, and uses a new calculation approach to adjust the variable step coefficient. As a result, the perturbation step can be automatically modified according to changes in the external environment, which resolves the issues with poor dynamic reaction speed when the classic variable step algorithm started and the light changed. Compared to conventional MPPT control algorithms, the improved MPPT strategy can be easily realized using a hardware control system since it has a simplified control logic and requires less data to be calculated. In this study, the hardware circuit of the enhanced MPPT control algorithm is built using the ESP32 as the primary control chip. This chip can be utilized in conjunction with the Internet of Things to enable remote monitoring of the solar power system's operational state. According to test results, the algorithm can instantly detect the maximum power point in all lighting circumstances with tracking accuracy of up to 99.6% and a reduction in dynamic response time of the system to 0.12 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study on the thermoelectric power generation for industrial waste heat recovery applied in a hot-air blower, an experimental thermoelectric generator (TEG) bench with the hexagonal heat exchanger and commercially available Bi2Te3 thermoelectric modules (TEMs) was established, and its performance was analyzed. The influences of several important influencing factors such as heat exchanger material, inlet gas temperature, backpressure, coolant temperature, clamping pressure and external load current on the output power and voltage of the TEG were comparatively tested. Experimental results show that the heat exchanger material, inlet gas temperature, clamping pressure and hot gas backpressure significantly affect the temperature distribution of the hexagonal heat exchanger, the brass hexagonal heat exchanger with lower backpressure and coolant temperature using ice water mixture enhance the temperature difference of TEMs and the overall output performance of TEG. Furthermore, compared with the flat-plate heat exchanger, the designed hexagonal heat exchanger has obvious advantages in temperature uniformity and low backpressure. When the maximum inlet gas temperature is 360 °C, the maximum hot side temperature of TEMs is 269.2 °C, the maximum clamping pressure of TEMs is 360 kg/m2, the generated maximum output power of TEG is approximately 11.5 W and the corresponding system efficiency is close to 1.0%. The meaningful results provide a good guide for the system optimization of low backpressure and temperature-uniform TEG, and especially demonstrate the promising potential of using brass hexagonal heat exchanger in the automotive exhaust heat recovery without degrading the original performance of internal combustion engine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]