CONSTRUCTION OF A PORTABLE SOLAR POWER SUPPLY FOR HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

Abstract

There’s an ever-increasing energy demand, especially from environmentally friendly sources. This has led to several innovations centered on developing sustainable, easily accessible, and portable power supply solutions. Renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy have taken center stage in providing solutions to this energy demand. Solar energy is harnessed using solar panels, which have to receive solar irradiation perpendicular to its surface at all sun hours of the day to maximize output. This study constructs a portable solar power system for home appliances to meet the urgent need for more environmentally friendly, and dependable energy sources. The setup consists of a solar panel for energy collection and conversion, a charge controller for regulating the rate of charge, a battery component for charge storage, an inverter component for converting solar energy into a form that electrical devices and home appliances can use and an Arduino phase for monitoring the voltage drop. The system was tested using a 300W household blender and a 300W household electric Kettle. From the result of this study, a total voltage drop of 0.30V was experienced over 600 seconds for the 300W electric blender, and a total voltage drop of 0.69V was recorded for a 300W electric kettle, thus making it suitable. This study shows that the portable solar power system can provide home appliances with a sustainable and continuous energy supply.