Solar powered UAV for alternative power sources based on transformerless DC-DC converter

Solar energy is environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. Solar cells are able to convert solar energy into electrical energy. One application of solar cells is as an energy source on unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In its application, solar powered UAV are controlled through GCS (Ground Control Station). GCS is a control center at the ground side as a provider of facilities for controlling UAV. GCS consists of several equipment such as computer unit, real time monitoring system and others that require an AC power source. The flight of solar powered UAV was carried out in a large and isolated land field where there was no electric power source. Meanwhile, in the field there are abundant sources of energy in the form of sunlight. In order to be utilized such energy source, DC-DC converters that have high gain are required, as well as an inverter as a tool that converts DC to AC power. In this research DC-DC converter and single phase inverter with a voltage value of 220 V will be designed and implemented. The converter used is non-isolated and transformerless which in its implementation can produce a conversion ratio of 10 times with a duty cycle of 78.9%. By applying this topology, it can be obtained the converter output voltage of 240 V with an input voltage of 24 V. Average efficiency of converter test results is 89.44%.