On the Use of an Arduino-based Controller to Control the Charging Process of a Wind Turbine

In order to avoid an excessive charging voltage which can damage power storage when converting wind energy using a turbine, it is necessary to control the charging voltage of the turbine generator. In the present study, a charging controller which uses an Arduino microcontroller, is designed. 3 (three) indicator lights are installed to indicate the battery charging process, power diversion to dummy load and battery power level. The performance of the designed controller is evaluated by simulating 3 cases. In this simulation, a battery with maximum voltage of 12.4 V is used. Case 1 is performed with input voltage equals the one set in Arduino which is 10 V. In this case, the battery is charged up to 10.8 V. In case 2, the input voltage is 13 V while the maximum voltage set in Arduino is also 13 V. In this case, the battery is charged up to maximum voltage of the battery. Moreover, the dummy load indicator is ON and charging indicator is OFF after the maximum charging voltage is reached because the electricity is flowed to the dummy load. In the final case, the input voltage is set to be 16 V while the maximum voltage set in Arduino is 13 V. In this case, the charging indicator is OFF and dummy load indicator is ON which means that the Arduino has successfully switched the power to be flowed to dummy load. From the 3 (three) cases, it can be concluded that the designed controller works perfectly to control the charging process of the wind turbine. Moreover, the charging time needed in each case can also be determined.