2.

10 Maximum Power Point Tracking 115

2.10.1 MPPT Techniques

Over the past decades many methods to find the MPP have been developed. These
techniques differ in many aspects such as required sensors, complexity, cost, range
of effectiveness, convergence speed, correct tracking when irradiation and/or
temperature change, hardware needed for the implementation or popularity,
among others. Some of the most popular MPPT techniques are:
1. Perturb and Observe (hill climbing method).
2. Incremental Conductance method.
3. Fractional short circuit current.
4. Fractional open circuit voltage.
5. Fuzzy logic.
6. Neural networks.
7. Ripple Correlation Control.
8. Current Sweep.
9. DC-link capacitor droop control.
10. Load current or load voltage maximization.
11. dP/dV or dP/dI Feedback control.
Among several techniques mentioned, the Perturb and Observe (P&O) method
and the Incremental Conductance (InCond) algorithms are the most commonly
applied algorithms. Other techniques based on different principles include fuzzy
logic control, neural network, fractional open circuit voltage or short circuit current,
current sweep, etc. Most of these methods yield a local maximum and some, like the
fractional open circuit voltage or short circuit current, give an approximated MPP,
rather than an exact output. In normal conditions the V-P curve has only one
maximum. However, if the PV array is partially shaded, there are multiple maxima
in these curves. Both P&O and InCond algorithms are based on the “hill-climbing”
principle, which consists of moving the operation point of the PV array in the
direction in which the power increases. Hill-climbing techniques are the most
popular MPPT methods due to their ease of implementation and good performance
when the irradiation is constant. The advantages of both methods are simplicity and
requirement of low computational power. The drawbacks are: oscillations occur
around the MPP and they get lost and track the MPP in the wrong direction during
rapidly changing atmospheric conditions.

[Link] Perturb and Observe

In the P&O method only one voltage sensor is used to sense the PV array voltage
and hence the cost of implementation is less. The algorithm involves a perturbation
on the duty cycle of the power converter and a perturbation in the operating voltage
of the DC-link between the PV array and the power converter. Perturbing the
duty cycle of the power converter implies modifying the voltage of the DC-link
116 2 Application of MATLAB/SIMULINK in Solar PV Systems

between the PV array and the power converter. In this method, the sign of the last
perturbation and the sign of the last increment in the power are used to decide the
next perturbation. As can be seen in Fig. 2.48, on the left of the MPP incrementing
the voltage increases the power whereas on the right decrementing the voltage
decreases the power. If there is an increment in the power, the perturbation should
be kept in the same direction and if the power decreases, then the next perturbation
should be in the opposite direction. Based on these facts, the algorithm is
implemented as show in the flowchart in Fig. 2.49 and the process is repeated
until the MPP is reached. The operating point oscillates around the MPP.

7 50
180 180 VOC 45
6 MPP
160 160 MPP 40
5 ISC 140 140 35

Voltage [V]
Power [W]
Current [A]

120 120 30
4
100 100 25
3 80 80 20
2 60 60 15
40 40 10
1
VOC 20 20 5
0 0 0 0
ISC
0 10 20 30 40 50 6 4 2 0
Voltage [V] Current [A]

Fig. 2.48 PV panel characteristic curves

Fig. 2.49 Flowchart of the perturb and observe algorithm

The time complexity of this algorithm is very less but on reaching very close
to the MPP it doesn’t stop at the MPP and keeps on perturbing on both the
directions. To avoid such a condition, an appropriate error limit can be set or a
wait function can be used to stop the increase in time complexity of the algorithm.
However the method does not take account of the rapid change of irradiation level
(due to which MPPT changes) and considers it as a change in MPP due to
perturbation and ends up calculating the wrong MPP. To avoid this problem we
can use incremental conductance method.

[Link] Incremental Conductance

The incremental conductance algorithm uses two voltage and current sensors
to sense the output voltage and current of the PV array. In incremental conduc-
tance method the array terminal voltage is always adjusted according to the MPP
voltage it is based on the incremental and instantaneous conductance of the
PV module.
Figure 2.50 shows that the slope of the P-V array power curve is zero at
The MPP, increasing on the left of the MPP and decreasing on the Right hand
side of the MPP. The basic equations of this method are as follows.

dI I
¼ At MPP
dV V
dI I
> Left of MPP ð2:11Þ
dV V
dI I
< Right of MPP
dV V

where I and V are P-V array output current and voltage respectively. The left hand
side of equations represents incremental conductance of P-V module and the right
hand side represents the instantaneous conductance. When the ratio of change
in output conductance is equal to the negative output conductance, the solar array

Fig. 2.50 Basic idea of P

Right

dP
>0
dV dP
<0
dV
V
118 2 Application of MATLAB/SIMULINK in Solar PV Systems

will operate at the maximum power point. This method exploits the assumption
of the ratio of change in output conductance is equal to the negative output
Instantaneous conductance. We have,

P ¼ VI

Applying the chain rule for the derivative of products yields to

∂P=∂V ¼ ½∂ðVIÞ =∂V ð2:12Þ

At MPP, as ∂P=∂V ¼ 0
The above equation could be written in terms of array voltage V and array
current I as

∂P=∂V ¼ I=V ð2:13Þ

The MPPT regulates the PWM control signal of the DC – to – DC boost converter
until the condition: (∂I/∂V) + (I/V) ¼ 0 is satisfied. In this method the peak power
of the module lies at above 98 % of its incremental conductance. The Flow chart of
incremental conductance MPPT is shown in Fig. 2.51.
In both P&O and InCond schemes, the speed of occurrence of MPP depends
on the size of the increment of the reference voltage. The drawbacks of these

Fig. 2.51 Flow chart for incremental conductance algorithm

1000 W/m2
800 W/m2 MPP (700.2,12310.0)
12000 600 W/m2
400 W/m2
MPP
10000 MPP (681.5,9545.3)

8000
Power [W]

MPP (657.3,6865.6)

6000

MPP (623.3,4299.9)
4000

2000

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
Voltage [V]

Fig. 2.52 P-V curve depending on the irradiation

techniques are: The first drawback is that they can easily lose track of the MPP if the
irradiation changes rapidly. In case of step changes they track the MPP very well,
because the change is instantaneous and the curve does not keep on changing.
However, when the irradiation changes following a slope, the curve in which the
algorithms are based changes continuously with the irradiation, as can be seen in
Fig. 2.52, so the changes in the voltage and current are not only due to the
perturbation of the voltage. As a consequence it is not possible for the algorithms
to determine whether the change in the power is due to its own voltage increment or
due to the change in the irradiation.
The other drawback of both methods is the oscillations of the voltage and
current around the MPP in the steady state. This is due to the fact that the control
is discrete and the voltage and current are not constantly at the MPP but oscillating
around it. The size of the oscillations depends on the size of the rate of change of
the reference voltage. The greater the oscillation, higher is the amplitude of the
oscillations. However, speed of the MPP occurrence also depends on this rate of
change and this dependence is inversely proportional to the size of the voltage
increments. The traditional solution is a trade off: if the increment is small the
oscillations decrease, then the MPP is reached slowly and vice versa, so a compro-
mise solution has to be found.

[Link] Fractional Open-Circuit Voltage

The near linear relationship between VMPP and VOC of the PV array, under varying
irradiance and temperature levels, has given rise to the fractional VOC method.

V MPP k1 V OC ð2:14Þ