A Comparative Study Between a Perturb and Observe Based Passivity and a Classical Perturb and Observe Based PI for the Thermoelectric Generator

Abstract

A thermoelectric generator is silent and reliable, can be used to convert a temperature gradient to electricity based on the principles of Seebeck effect and vice versa. Very maximum power point tracker (MPPTs) are widely used in thermoelectric systems in order to extract the maximum available power for varying load and a given temperature difference. The perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithm are one of the most widely used due to ease of implementation. However, the operating point oscillates around the MPP that increase the loss of energy in the power of the TEM. Many improvements of the P&O algorithm have been proposed in order to reduce the oscillations. Therefore, in this paper, a P&O MPPT technique based on PI controller has been used for achieving the Maximum Power Point of a thermoelectric system. Performance of this technique is compared against the P&O based passivity control one through simulations.