www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org DESIGN AND SIMULATION OF A PHOTOVOLTAIC-BASED ENERGY SYSTEM FOR MOBILE DEVICE CHARGERS AT PUBLIC PLACE KHUONG VINH NGUYEN 1 & NAM NGUYEN-QUANG 2 1 Senior Student, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2 Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ABSTRACT In modern times, the mobile devices and renewable energy have become so popular in our society. However, there was one important problem arises, that is the technologies cannot keep pace with technical development. The battery capacity of the mobile devices cannot satisfy the demand of customers. Therefore, a photovoltaic-based energy system for mobile device chargers is considered to be made. With the development of public transportation, that system is designed to be integrated into a bus stop for passengers’ convenience. The two main parts of the control board of the system which are the buck converter and the flyback converter ar e simulated with real electrical components’ parameters in LTspice free software. Although this design is based on Vietnam’s weather conditions, it can also be applied in other countries with some further adjustments. KEYWORDS: Photovoltaic-Based, Mobile Devices, Chargers, Simulation, LTspice INTRODUCTION In modern times, the mobile devices with connectivity have become so popular in our society. However, there was one important problem arises, that is the technologies cannot keep pace with technical development. The evidence is that together with the full range of utility applications on mobile devices, battery power supply for them has been the considerable problem. Although there have been many improvements in battery’s lifetime for the devices ment ioned above, but the fact that one cannot maintain a smartphone’s battery power for long time when he switches applications or surfs the web for entertainment. If he suddenly needs one emergency call or an email response and that smartphone already ran out of battery, it then brings him into a dilemma. Therefore, a photovoltaic-based energy system for mobile device chargers at public places is considered to be designed and built. CONTENT Survey of Actual Needs From 16 th February to 16 th May, 2014, a survey have been made by the authors in Vietnam for 291 people’s responses via Google Docs. The language used in that survey is Vietnamese. The target of the survey were people from age 16 to 40 for their opinion about their habits in using mobile devices. As the figure 1 has shown, there were 97 per cent of people in that survey were using mobile phones, smartphones. International Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Research (IJEEER) ISSN(P): 2250-155X; ISSN(E): 2278-943X Vol. 5, Issue 1, Feb 2015, 111-118 TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.