Linear open circuit voltage‐variable step‐size‐incremental conductance strategy‐based hybrid MPPT controller for remote power applications

Abstract

This study presents a novel hybrid maximum power point tracking (HMPPT) controller capable of harvesting maximum power from solar panels in a remote power park which can be used for applications such as outdoor uninterruptible power supply, cellular phone and laptop chargers. The proposed HMPPT controller combines two MPPT methods, namely the linear open-circuit voltage method and variable step-size incremental conductance method and it has a simple and robust way of tracking MPP based on the relationship between the solar panel characteristics and load line. A 100 W photovoltaic (PV) generation system with soft switched interleaved flyback (SSIFB) converter is built to implement the proposed HMPPT algorithm. The soft switching of flyback converters in the proposed PV-SSIFB system is achieved by zero voltage switchingpulse width modulation technique. The steady-state performance under various constant irradiations and transient characteristics for rapidly varying irradiations and load changes are investigated. The effectiveness of the controller in the recommended circuit is verified by the simulation results and validated using a prototype model. Both simulation and experimental results show several advantages, namely accuracy, high tracking speed, minimum power loss and increased adaptability for a wide range of irradiations and load.

Experimental assessment of maximum power extraction from solar panel with different converter topologies

“…In general, the soft‐computing based MPPT methods are more efficient, fast, and complex than classical methods. A comparison among these MPPT algorithms and methods based on type, efficiency, transient performance, complexity, speed, reliability, implementation constraint, memory and sensor requirement, necessity of tuning, percentage overshoot, and cost is tabulated in Table . Also, the maximum extracted power by MPPT algorithms under study is listed in Table .…”

“…A comparison among these MPPT algorithms and methods based on type, efficiency, transient performance, complexity, speed, reliability, implementation constraint, memory and sensor requirement, necessity of tuning, percentage overshoot, and cost is tabulated in Table 8. 41,44,45 Also, the maximum extracted power by MPPT algorithms under study is listed in Table 9. Although the converters are lossy, boost converter has shown maximum efficiency due to lower current value for same power requirement as compared with other 2 converter topologies.…”

Novel Step-Down DC–DC Converters Based on the Inductor–Diode and Inductor–Capacitor–Diode Structures in a Two-Stage Buck Converter

“…A lot of effort has been spent to propose new topologies and systems to interconnect PV generation in AC or DC grids with, respectively, microinverters [17][18][19] and microconverters (DC power optimizers) [20][21][22][23][24] which, in essence, are step-up converters since the PV panel output voltage is lower than the AC grid or DC bus voltages. The control aspects of this system and MPPT strategies are common subjects in the literature [20,[25][26][27].…”

A cost effective computational design of maximum power point tracking for photo-voltaic cell

“…A non-linear-based approach of computing MPPT was seen in the work of Taheri and Taheri [29] considering a model with two diodes. Study towards investigating effectiveness of step-sized based approaches of optimization was seen in the work of Tang et al [30] as well as Thangavelu et al [31]. The investigation was carried out considering performance of steady-state.…”