Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT)

Priyanshu Singhal
Electrical taskphase
Team SolarMobil
Udupi, India
priyanshusinghal9712@[Link]

Abstract—Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is a critical

technique used in photovoltaic (PV) systems to ensure optimal A. Cold Weather, Cloudy, or Hazy Days: PV modules
power output under varying environmental conditions. This report typically perform better in cooler temperatures, and
delves into the operational principles of MPPT and explores MPPT can effectively extract the maximum available
different algorithms, including Perturb and Observe (P&O), power during these times.
Incremental Conductance (INC), and advanced techniques such as
Curve Fitting and Hill Climbing. Emphasis is placed on the B. When the Battery is Deeply Discharged: If the battery's
comparative analysis of these methods in terms of efficiency, state of charge is low, MPPT can extract more current
adaptability, and implementation complexity. The study highlights to charge the battery efficiently.
the effectiveness of MPPT controllers in improving energy
efficiency and system performance, particularly under dynamically III. A MPPT SOLAR CHARGE CONTROLLER
changing irradiance and temperature conditions. It is a device that uses the Maximum Power Point Tracking
(MPPT) algorithm to optimize the current flowing from a
Keywords—Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT),
photovoltaic (PV) systems, Perturb and Observe (P&O), photovoltaic (PV) module to a battery.
Incremental Conductance (INC), energy efficiency, solar energy
optimization MPPT functions as a DC to DC converter. It takes DC input
from the PV module, converts it to AC, and then transforms
I. WHAT IS MPPT? it back to a different DC voltage and current. This process
ensures that the output matches the requirements of the
MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking is algorithm that battery, allowing for efficient energy transfer from the solar
included in charge controllers used for extracting maximum panel.
available power from PV module under certain conditions. Examples of DC to DC converters include:
The voltage at which PV module can produce maximum
power is called �maximum power point� (or peak power A. Boost Converter: This type of power converter has a DC
voltage). Maximum power varies with solar radiation, input voltage that is lower than the DC output voltage.
ambient temperature and solar cell temperature. In other words, the input voltage from the photovoltaic
Typical PV module produces power with maximum power (PV) system is less than the battery voltage in the
voltage of around 17 V when measured at a cell temperature system.
of 25°C, it can drop to around 15 V on a very hot day and it
can also rise to 18 V on a very cold day. B. Buck Converter: This power converter has a DC input
voltage that is higher than the DC output voltage. This
II. HOW MPPT WORKS means that the input voltage from the PV system is
The primary function of Maximum Power Point Tracking greater than the battery voltage in the system.
(MPPT) is to extract the maximum available power from a
photovoltaic (PV) module by ensuring it operates at the most The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm can
efficient voltage, known as the maximum power point. be applied to both types of converters, depending on the
In other words, MPPT continuously monitors the output of system design. Generally, for battery systems with a voltage
the PV module and compares it to the battery voltage. It equal to or less than 48 V, a buck converter is appropriate.
determines the optimal power that the PV module can Conversely, if the battery system voltage exceeds 48 V, a
produce to charge the battery and converts it to the ideal boost converter should be selected.
voltage to deliver maximum current into the battery. MPPT solar charge controllers are particularly beneficial for
Additionally, it can provide power directly to a DC load off-grid solar power systems, such as stand-alone solar power
connected to the battery. MPPT is particularly effective under systems, solar home systems, and solar water pump systems.
the following conditions: -
IV. MAIN FEATURES OF MPPT SOLAR CHARGE
CONTROLLERS

MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) solar

charge controllers are used in applications where
photovoltaic (PV) modules serve as the energy source. They
detect variations in the current-voltage characteristics of solar
cells, typically represented by the I-V curve.

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 An MPPT solar charge controller is essential for any operating point power. This is done till final sum becomes
solar power system that aims to extract the maximum power zero, if not than more calculations are required [Salas, 2006].
from PV modules. It ensures that the PV module operates
C. Open-Circuit Voltage method
close to its maximum power point, allowing it to draw the
highest available power. In this method the ratio of PV array’s maximum power
MPPT solar charge controllers enable users to voltage (VMPP) to its opencircuit voltage (VOC) is
utilize PV modules with a higher voltage output than the approximately constant as given by eq. (4).
operating voltage of the battery system. For instance, if the
PV module is positioned far from the charge controller and The Open-Circuit method is implemented using the flowchart
battery, the required wire size must be significantly large to as shown in fig. 1. The PV array is temporarily isolated using
minimize voltage drop. With an MPPT solar charge from MPPT then VOC is measured. After that VMPP is
controller, users can connect a PV module rated for 24 or 48 calculated according to eq. (4), finally the operation voltage
volts (depending on the controller and PV modules) to a 12 is set to the maximum voltage point. This process is repeated
or 24-volt battery system. This capability reduces the wire periodically.
size needed while ensuring the PV module’s full output is
retained.
MPPT solar charge controllers simplify system
design while maintaining high output efficiency.
Additionally, they can be integrated with various energy
sources. The output power from the PV modules is used to
control the DC-DC converter, enhancing overall system Advantage of this method is that it is simple and cheap.
performance. Disadvantage is that it is difficult to choose an optimal value
V. MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING ALGORITHMS of constant K1. The literature [Salas, 2006 & Eltawil, 2013],
reports K1 values ranging from 0.73 to 0.80 for
MPPT algorithms are necessary in PV applications because Polycrystalline PV modules.
the MPP of a solar panel varies with the irradiation and
temperature, so the use of MPPT algorithms is required in D. Short-Circuit Method
order to obtain the maximum power from a solar array. This method is similar to Open-Circuit Voltage method, in
Among all the algorithms P & O and Inc Con algorithms are this current in MPP (IMPP) is linearly proportional to Short-
most common as they have the advantage of an easy Circuit current (ISC) given by eq. (5). The value of K2 is
implementation. In normal conditions the P-V curve has only considered to be around 0.85 [Salas, 2006].
one maximum point, so it is not a problem. However, if the
PV array is partially shaded, there are multiple maxima in The way of determining K2 is more complicated than any of
these curves. fixed value. The flowchart, advantages and disadvantages are
A. Curve Fitting method similar to that of Open-Circuit Voltage method.
The curve-fitting method is an offline method where PV E. Hill Climbing Techniques
module characteristics, all data and manufacturing details are P & O and Inc Con algorithms operate on Hill Climbing
required, mathematical model and equations describing the Principle, in which operating point of the PV module moves
output characteristics are pre-decided. PV module in the increasing direction of power [Morales, 2010].
characteristic is given by eq. (1), where a, b, c and d are 1) Perturb and Observe (P&O) method
coefficients determined by sampling m values of PV voltage P&O is an iterative method. It senses the panel operating
VPV, PV current IPV and output power PPV [Salas, 2006]. voltage periodically and compares the PV output power with
Once these coefficients are calculated, the voltage at which that of the previous power; the resulting change in power
power becomes maximum is obtained by eq. (2). (∆PPV) is measured. If ∆PPV is positive, the perturbation of
the operating voltage should be in the same direction of the
increment. However, if it is negative, the system operating
point obtained moves away from the MPPT and the operating
The advantage of this method is its simplicity. Disadvantage voltage should be in the opposite direction of the increment
is that it requires prior and accurate knowledge of physical [Salas, 2006], perturbation should be reversed to move back
parameters. It requires large memory as number of towards the MPP. This process continues till dPPV/dVPV=0
calculation is more and Speed is less. regardless of the irradiance and PV module’s terminal
voltage. Fig. 1 shows the P-V characteristics of PV module.
B. Differential Method
In this method, eq. (3) must be solved very fast in order to
provide accurate operating point.

Disadvantage of this method is that it requires more

calculation time as after calculating eq. (3) parameters, sum
+ is calculated and a comparison of this sum to an equal
perturbation on the opposite side of the operating point or the
 The advantages of this algorithm, as stated before, are
simplicity and ease of implementation. However, P&O has
limitations that reduce its MPPT efficiency. One such
limitation is that as the amount of sunlight decreases, the P–
V curve flattens out. Another limitation of P&O is that it
oscillates around the MPP, as this method becomes unstable
with rapid change in atmospheric conditions such as
irradiance and temperature. The oscillation can be minimized
by reducing the perturbation step size. However, a smaller
perturbation size slows down the MPPT. A solution to this
conflicting situation is to have a variable perturbation size
that gets smaller towards the MPP [Esram, 2007].
2) Incremental Conductance (Inc Con) Method.
The disadvantage of P&O algorithm, of oscillating the
operating point around MPP is removed by Inc Con method
by comparing the instantaneous panel conductance
(IPV/VPV) with the incremental panel conductance
(dIPV/dVPV). The voltage of MPP is tracked to satisfy
dPPV/dVPV=0, which is MPP [Bhatnagar, 2013].

Fig. 1: I-V and P-V characteristics of PV module with MPP.

A scheme of the algorithm is shown in Fig. 2, according to

which PV module output voltage VPV and output current The Inc Con method is based on the fact that dPPV/dVPV =
IPV are sensed. Then power is calculated P(n) and compared 0 or dPPV/dVPV = - I/V at the MPP, dIPV/dVPV < -I/V or
with the power measured at the previous sample P(n-1) in dPPV/dVPV < 0 if the operating point is on the right of the
order to calculate ∆P. Then according to the sign of ∆P and P-V curve and dIPV/dVPV > -I/V or dPPV/dVPV > 0 if the
∆V, MPP is tracked which is summarized in Table I, operating point is on the left of the P-V curve in Fig. 1 .
calculations are done according to I-V characteristics in Fig. A scheme of Inc Con algorithm is shown in Fig. 3. In this
1. algorithm, present and previous values of PV module voltage
and current are sensed and are used to calculate the values of
dIPV and dVPV. The calculation of Inc Con algorithm is
given in Table II as per the I-V curve shown in Fig. 1.

The advantage of the incremental conductance method,

which is superior to those of the other MPPT algorithms, is
that it can calculate and find the exact perturbation direction
for the operating voltage of PV modules. Also it is easy to
implement, has high tracking speed and highly efficient.
Disadvantage is that it requires complex control circuits .
VI. CONCLUSION
Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) plays a vital role in
enhancing the efficiency of photovoltaic systems by ensuring
they operate at their maximum power point. Among various
algorithms, P&O and Incremental Conductance (INC)
methods remain popular due to their simplicity and
adaptability to varying conditions. Advanced methods,
including Curve Fitting and Hill Climbing, provide greater
accuracy but often require more complex implementation.
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