Designing and implementing a multi-function board to increase the operation time of mobile robots using solar panels

Abstract

Today, the use of mobile robots and autonomous vehicles has increased due to their use in various industries, and their performance and duration of operation largely depend on the amount of energy consumed and their batteries. One of the ways to increase the operation time of robots is the use of solar panels that can charge their batteries while moving, but the amount of energy received from solar panels reduces their efficiency due to factors affecting them, such as the angle of the sun, weather conditions, and their use in mobile robots alone is not recommended. In this research, we introduce an electric circuit with very low losses to increase the received power of solar panels and increase their efficiency, which is able to supply the power of the robot through solar panels when the sunlight and the angle of radiation are suitable and charge the batteries through the maximum power point controller (MPPC), and by reducing the amount of energy received from the panels by changing the energy source to the battery, the duration of the system’s dependence on the battery has decreased, which increases the duration of the mobile robots.