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Solar Energy Conversion System with Maximum Power Point Tracking

Article · January 2018

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 Journal of Instrumentation Technology & Innovations
ISSN: 2249-4731 (Online), ISSN: 2347-7261 (Print)
Volume 8, Issue 3
www.stmjournals.com

Solar Energy Conversion System with Maximum Power

Point Tracking
Gourav Kant Sharma*, Ashish Kumar Singhal
Department of Electrical Engineering, Sagar Institute of Technology, Science & Engineering, Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India

Abstract
This paper presents an algorithm that help to track the maximum power point of the solar PV
module automatically. Perturb and observe algorithm is most popular algorithm. In this
algorithm a slight perturbation is introduced. Due to this perturbation, the power of the
module changes. If the power increases due to perturbation then the perturbation is continued
in that direction. After the peak power is reached the power at the next instant decreases and
hence after that the perturbation reverses. The simulation results for conventional three and
five voltage source converter (VSC) along with the proposed cascaded H-bridge multilevel
converter (CHBMLC) topology based wind energy conversion systems, i.e., Three phase
Seven Level and Three phase Three Level has been obtained through MATLAB simulation
software, a widely used power system transient analysis tool.

Keywords: Maximum power point tracking, PV module, MATLAB, bandwidth, Voltage source
converter

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: [email protected]

INTRODUCTION application. The modular wind turbine-

The demand for electric power is increasing at alternator sets and cascaded multi-level
a very fast rate in all aspects of the human life. inverter sets suit the distributed wind energy
However the global mainstay of energy at conversion system interface to the medium
present, e.g., fossil fuel reserves is decreasing voltage grid. The proposed arrangement of
and hence there is an urgent necessity of high power applications are made by using
generating energy without depending on fossil different factors like equal distribution of
fuels and without disturbing the ecosystem. switching stress and power losses, reduced
This has encouraged the investigation on the power ratings of the inverter, redundancy and
development of alternative sources of power high quality of inverter output voltage. The
generation. Among these the wind energy cascaded topology with phase shifted multi
conversion systems have become a focal point
carrier unipolar PWM has the features of
in the research of renewable energy sources
increasing the effective switching frequency
due to the rapid advances in the size of wind
generators, turbines as well as the and reducing the ripple magnitude. [4,5] An
development of power electronics, multilevel algorithm has been proposed for generating
converter technology, control and their references for VSC in current control mode in
applicability in wind energy extraction. [1-3] order to inject real power together with
reactive and harmonic compensation. The
A wind energy conversion system based on the application of a method for current tracking
cascaded H-bridge multilevel converter under wind power transfer to the grid leads to
(CHBMLC) topology has been proposed to be the higher bandwidth and improved tracking
used for the grid interface. This includes the characteristics
application of grid compensation. The equal
voltage H-bridge modules have been proposed MODELLING OF SOLAR PV
to be used to build a suitable three-phase MODULE
voltage source converter (VSC) topology for In electrical terminology Modeling of
any medium voltage distribution system Photovoltaic cell means representing with its

JoITI (2018) 15-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 15
Solar Energy Conversion System with Maximum Power Point Tracking Sharma and Singhal

equivalent circuit. PV cell can be represented tracking is not possible so automatic tracking
in three equivalent circuits. is preferred to manual tracking. An automatic
tracking can be performed by utilizing various
A solar cell can be operated at any point along algorithms.
its characteristic current-voltage cure, as
shown in Figure 1. Two important points on In model I. the PV cell is represented with a
this curve are the open circuit voltage (Voc) current source in parallel with a diode. The
and short-circuit current (Isc). The open- current source generated the photo current Iph,
circuit voltage is the maximum voltage at zero which is directly proportional to the solar
current, whereas the short-circuit current is the irradiance E. The p-n transition area of the
maximum current at zero voltage. Because a solar cell is equivalent to a big diode which is
silicon, solar cells typically produce only also integrated in the Figure 2.
about 0.5V. A number of cells are connected
in series in a PV module. A panel is a The V-I equation of the simplified equivalent
collection of modules physically and circuit could be derived from Kirchhoff’s
electrically grouped together on a support current law.
structure. An array is a collection of panels. I  I ph  I D  I ph  I s  expV / m  vT   1
[6]
With
A plot of power (P) against voltage (V) for this Iph Photo current
device shows that there is a unique point on ID Diode current
the I-V curve at which the solar cell will IS diode reverse saturation
generate maximum power. This is known as current
the maximum power point (Vmpp, Impp). [7] m Diode “ideality factor” m=1 5
vT Thermal Voltage vT= (k.T/e)
With the help of a dc/dc converter the peak k constant of Boltzmann
power is reached by adjusting its duty cycle so k 1.380658*10–23 Jk-1
that the resistance corresponding to the peak T absolute temperature, [T] =K
power is acquired. Now question arises how to (Kelvin)
vary the duty cycle and in which direction so E charge of an electron
that peak power is reached. Whether manual e=1.6021733*10–19 A
tracking or automatic tracking? Manual

Fig. 1: Photovoltaic Characteristics.

JoITI (2018) 15-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 16
Journal of Instrumentation Technology & Innovations
Volume 8, Issue 3
ISSN: 2249-4731 (Online), ISSN: 2347-7261 (Print)

PERTURB AND OBSERVE METHOD RESULTS

In this algorithm, a slight perturbation is The simulation of solar PV module
introduced. The power of the module changes characteristics, perturb & Observe (P & O)
due to this perturbation. If the power increases algorithm of Maximum power point tracking
then the perturbation is continued in that (MPPT), cascaded H-Bridge multilevel
direction. After the peak power is reached the inverter and Cascaded H-bridge multilevel
power at the next instant decreases and hence inverter is associated with PV model along
after that the perturbation reverses (Figure 3). with MPP tracking is done on the
MatLab/Simulink.
When the steady state is reached the algorithm
oscillates around the peak point. In order to Characteristics of Solar PV Module
keep the power variation small the IV and PV characteristics of Solar PV model
perturbation size is kept very small. The is shown in the Figure 5 and Figure 6.
algorithm is developed in a particular manner Open circuit voltage (Voc) = 22.22 V
that it sets a reference voltage corresponding Short circuit current (Isc) = 5.45 A
to the peak voltage of the module (Figure 4). Current at Pmax = 4.95A
A PI controller is moving the operating point Voltages at Pmax=17.2 V
of the module to that specific voltage level. It Diode “ideality factor” m=2
can be seen that there are some power loss Thermal Voltage = vT= (k.T/e)
because of this perturbation also it fails to Constant of Boltzmann k= 1.380658*10–23 Jk-1
record the power under fast varying Charge of an electron e=1.6021733*10–19 As
atmospheric conditions. But still this algorithm Insolation= 800W / M 2
is very simple and popular. [8-10]

Fig. 2: PV ideal Model.

JoITI (2018) 15-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 17
Solar Energy Conversion System with Maximum Power Point Tracking Sharma and Singhal

Fig. 3: Perturb and Observe.

Fig. 4: Perturb and Observe Algorithm.

JoITI (2018) 15-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 18
Journal of Instrumentation Technology & Innovations
Volume 8, Issue 3
ISSN: 2249-4731 (Online), ISSN: 2347-7261 (Print)

Fig. 5: I-V Characteristics of PV Module.

Fig. 6: P-V Characteristics of PV Module.

JoITI (2018) 15-20 © STM Journals 2018. All Rights Reserved Page 19
 Solar Energy Conversion System with Maximum Power Point Tracking Sharma and Singhal

CONCLUSION 6. Hohm DP, Ropp ME. Comparative Study

Power output of module improves with the of Maximum Power Point Tracking
MPPT system. It is observed that the module Algorithms Using an Experimental,
gives the peak output power up to 82 watts. Programmable, Maximum Power Point
Solar PV module is modeled, and simulations Tracking Test Bed. IEEE, 2000. 1699–
are obtained for verification of its PV 1702p.
characteristics. Buck converter is designed and 7. Mohammad AS Masoum, Hooman
operated as MPP tracker when Photovoltaic is Dehbonei, Ewald F. Fuchs. Theoretical
connected to the three-level inverter and five- and Experimental Analyses of
level cascaded multilevel inverter. Photovoltaic Systems with Voltage- and
Current-Based Maximum Power-Point
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Perturbation and Observe Maximum Gourav Kant Sharma, Ashish Kumar
Power Point Tracking Algorithm for PV Singhal. Solar Energy Conversion System
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