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Abstract: Output of PV systems is a nonlinear function optimisation (ACO) [18], particle swarm optimisation
of environmental parameters like temperature, (PSO)[15] etc. The basic concepts behind all these
irradiance and shading. To extract maximum energy methods are related to perturb and observe (P&O)
from PV arrays and to increase its overall efficiency, algorithm or incremental conductance (IC) algorithm
maximum power point tracking control is inevitable. In approaches only.
this paper, a modified perturb and observe technique P&O method has advantage of less complexity in
based on three-point weight comparison (TWC) with computation and ease of implementation as it is based
variable step size is proposed in order to overcome the on simple hill climbing approach to track maximum
demerits of traditional perturb and observe and TWC power point (MPP) [11]. But at the same time it suffers
approaches. The modified TWC method (MTWC) is from drawbacks of wastage of energy due to oscillation
adaptive to load changes and solar radiation. of output power around MPP even under steady state of
illumination as it fails to determine whether it has
Keywords: Maximum power point tracking, three point reached MPP or not. The demerit of this method is that
weight comparison method, boost converter, state-space it shows poor dynamic performance under steep change
model. in solar irradiance. But higher efficiency can be
achieved by using predictive and adaptive hill climbing
INTRODUCTION approach to P&O algorithm [2].
The dynamic performance of P&O method can
Now-a-days whole world is suffering from energy be improved by introducing variable step-size for
crisis. The rising price of conventional energy has perturbation. If the perturbation is very small, it would
compelled us to move towards non-conventional take more time to reach MPP making the algorithm
sources of energy among which solar energy is the best inefficient, and on the other hand if it is large enough
one. Hence, it is the need of to develop an efficient then MPP couldnt be tracked efficiently. Hence, a
system for conversion of solar energy to other useful system with large step-size perturbation is introduced in
forms like - electricity as it can be easily extracted and the beginning, which keeps on decreasing uniformly
at the same time can easily be converted into other until operating point reaches MPP as presented in
forms of energy. [3].Same concept is also reported in fuzzy logic
Photovoltaic technology is costly owing to its controller (FLC) based MPPT. However, determining a
high cost of storage devices and poor efficiency which suitable factor by which step-size perturbation could be
can be improved by its operations in grid connected modified is a challenging task as it depends upon the PV
mode and incorporating MPPT methods to increase its system configuration and the purpose of the specific
conversion efficiency. Experimental data shows that application.
MPPT with efficiency of 85% can increase the An algorithm based on TWC method has been
harnessed energy by 17% [1]. This may be a physical recognised in [4, 8] to increase the efficiency of MPP
method to track the sun in order to get maximum tracking. However, it is observed that very little work
perpendicular sun-rays or a maximum power point has been done using TWC approach. In this paper, an
tracking (MPPT) method to make output resistance as attempt has been made to modify the existing TWC as
seen from the array terminals equal to the input reported to make it more adaptive to changes in load
resistance. condition and insolation level to achieve MPP more
In case of changing insolation a technique is efficiently.
required which can initiate a control mechanism to The rest of the paper is organised as follows: In
immediately track the changes to reduce the energy loss. Section 2modelling of photovoltaic system is presented.
This is provided by MPPT algorithms. The most widely The existing TWC algorithm and the proposed MTWC
used algorithms are incremental conductance (IC) [12], algorithm along with SIMULINK model of the studied
perturb & observe (P&O) [11], modified perturb & system are presented in Section 3.Results and
observe (MPO) [13], three-point weight comparison discussions are made in Section 4 and finally
(TWC) [4, 8], constant voltage (CV) [14], extremum conclusions are drawn in Section 5.
seeking control (ESC) [17], curve fitting [16] and many
others based on expert systems such as fuzzy logic
control (FLC) [9], neural network (NN) [10], ant colony
146
PV SYSTEM MODELLING 2
4 T
,
Eg 1.17 4.37 u 10 (9)
PV Array T 636
For analysis purpose, one-diode model of solar cell has 1 1
Rs R s (Tr , Go ) K G K TS (T Tr ) ,(10)
Go
been considered in this paper as shown in Fig-1.
However, two-diode model is more appropriate and G
gives better accuracy over wide range of variation of K (T Tr )
temperature and insolation. The working of a PV cell is Rsh Rsh (Tr )e TSh . (11)
governed by equations (1-14) [5-7].
Where n is number of solar cells, m is diode ideality
factor, Rs is series resistance (), Rsh is the shunt
resistance (), ILis photo-generated current (A), q is
electronic charge (= 1.609 ), IO is diode
saturation current (A), K is Boltzmanns Constant
(1.38 J/K), T is absolute climatic temperature
(K), Irr is reverse biased saturation current at reference
temperature (A), R is load resistance (), VD is voltage
drop across diode (V), ID is diode current (A), Ish is shunt
current (A), Tr is reference temperature (298K), Ki is
short-circuit current temperature coefficient (A/K), KTsh
is temperature coefficient for shunt resistance (/K), KTs
is temperature coefficient for series resistance (/K), KG
is illumination coefficient for series resistance (-
Fig.1 Single diode equivalent model for single solar W/m2) , G is insolation (W/m2) , GO is standard
cell.
irradiance condition (1000W/m2) , Eg is band gap
voltage of semiconductor (=1.12eV for Si cells), Isc is
From Fig.1, the output voltage (V) and output current (I)
can be given as: short-circuit current at reference temperature &
irradiance per cell (A), Voc is open-circuit voltage at
V VD IR , (1) reference temperature and irradiance per cell (V) and VT
is thermal voltage at room temperature.
I I L I D I sh , (2)
Output power from PV cell is given as
E (V IR s ) V IRs
I L I o (e 1) .(3) E (V IRS ) V IR S
Rsh P VI L VI o (e 1) V .(12)
R
sh
Where,
The I-V &P-V characteristics for a single solar cell
IL I L (Tr )(1 K i (T Tr ) , (4) under different conditions are shown in Fig.2 (a) and
Fig 2(b), respectively.
G In solar panels a number of solar cells are arranged in
I L (Tr ) I sc , (5) series and parallel. Hence, equations for PV arrays can
G
0 be obtained in terms of equations of a solar cell. If NS be
the number of cells in series and Np be the number of
3
qEg 1 1 such strings in parallel, then equation for the PV array
T m mK Tr T can be given as:
I0 I rr e , (6)
Tr E (V IRs ) N p (V IRs )
I panel N p I L N p I o (e 1) . (13)
q V R sh
E T , (7)
mKT m Here,
1 I
qV panel
oc I , (14)
mKTr N
p
I I e 1 , (8)
rr sc
V
panel
V , (15)
N
s
147
4
2
3.5 400 W/m
3
I-V 2
600 W/m
Icell (A) / Pcell (W) 2
2.5 800 W/m
2
2
1000 W/m
P-V
1.5
0.5
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Vcell (V)
(a)
4
3.5
340 K
I-V
3 320 K
Icell (A) / Pcell (W)
2.5 300 K
2
280 K
P-V
1.5
0.5
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Vcell (v)
(b)
Fig.2 I-V and P-V characteristics of a solar cell at different (a) insolation levels (at 298K) and (b) temperatures (at
1000W/m2).
60
2
P-V 1000 W/m
50
800 W/m2
Ipanel (A) / Ppanel (W)
40
600 W/m2
30
20
10
I-V
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vpanel (V)
Fig.3 P-V and I-V characteristics of solar panel (at 298K).
Where Vpanel is panel output voltage and Ipanel is panel provided by the manufacturer in the specification sheet.
output current. The value of Rs is very small (generally < 1). Equation
Generally, value of Rsh is very large (in the order for output power (Ppanel) for the panel can be derived as:
of K), hence for practical applications the third term of
E (V IRs )
eqn (13) is neglected. Now, the only unknown Ppanel V panel {N p I L N p I o (e 1)} (16)
parameter in eqn (13) is Rs. Its value can be calculated
from eqn (13) using the fact that when Vpanel is taken I-V&P-V curves of the modelled PV panel with
aspanel output voltage at MPP (Vmax) then Ipanel will be different values for solar insolation and temperature are
panel output current at MPP (Imax). These values are together presented in Fig. 3. It may be observed from
148
Fig. 3 that I-V&P-V curves for panel show the same MATLAB/SIMULINK model of the considered PV
nature as that of a PV cell but the magnitude of power panel is shown in Fig.4 and its parameters details are
and open-circuit voltage has increased. listed in Table.1.
As environmental conditions such as insolation level Equation (17) can be expressed as:
and temperature change, internal resistance of PV panel x
X >A@>X @ >B@I g , (18)
also changes. The model was simulated to study the
149
(a)
80
280 K
70 290 K
300 K
MPP
60
310 K
320 K
330 K
50
340 K
Ppanel (W)
40
30
20
10
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vpanel (V)
(b)
Fig.5 Locus of MPP for varying (a) insolation level (at 298K) and (b) temperature (at 1000W/m 2).
Rin
V
I
>C @>A@
1
>B@ , (20)
Fig.6 Circuit diagram of boost converter.
2
(1 d ) R LOAD . (21) Parameter Values
Rc1 11.23 m
From eqn (21) it may be observed that Rin can be
controlled by varying the duty-cycle (d). In Fig.6, a C1 76.8 mF
Rc2 9.44 m
practical boost converter is modeled considering the
internal resistances of capacitors C1 and C2 and inductor C2 74.8 mF
L. The model is developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK RL 18.92 m
and its parameter details are mentioned in Table. 2. The L 4.2912 mH
purpose of capacitors C1 and C2 is to reduce the effects Diode threshold voltage 0.7 V
of fluctuation at input and output terminals of the boost Diode ON resistance 190
converter. MOSFET ON resistance 20 m
Switching frequency 5 kHz
Table.2 Parameter details for boost converter
150
Load line for a fixed load remains unchanged until duty- continuously in order to track MPP. If d increases then
cycle (d) of the converter is changed. I-V curves as in Rin will decrease and vice versa as given by eqn (21).
Fig. 7(a) show that its intersection with load line (i.e. The corresponding panel output powers are shown on P-
operating point) changes continuously due to varying V curves in Fig. 7(b).
insolation level and temperature. Thus, d must be varied
5
4.5
2
2.5 600 W/m , 310 K
LOAD LINE
2
1.5
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vpanel (V)
(a)
70
2
1000 W/m , 310 K X: 16.01
60 2 Y: 57.14
1000 W/m , 298 K
2
800 W/m , 298 K X: 15.7
50 2 Y: 54.45
800 W/m , 290 K
600 W/m2, 290 K X: 13.44
Y: 39.73
2
Ppanel (W)
40
600 W/m , 310 K
X: 13.15
Y: 38.37
30
X: 10.2
Y: 23.11
20 X: 9.906
Y: 21.69
10
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Vpanel (V)
(b)
Fig.7 Effect of changing environmental conditions on (a) Operating Point with constant load-line (on I-V curves) and
(b) Corresponding Power (on their respective P-V curves) of PV panel.
MPPT ALGORITHMSAND SIMULINK MODEL to change in power observed (with proper weightage +
or - sign). Working of the existing TWC algorithm is
Existing TWC algorithm shown in Fig.9 [8].
From the algorithm shown in [8], it can be deduced that
In P&O method, output power from PV panel after for each decision, the control variable is perturbed thrice
perturbation is compared with that of operating point (for A, B, C separately) which takes longer time for
prior to perturbation, in order to determine the step-size computation and hence, makes it slower. The proposed
and direction of successive perturbation. In the TWC modified TWC (i.e. MTWC) algorithm tries to
algorithm, instead of comparing the powers at two overcome this demerit.
different points as in case of P&O, powers at three
consecutive points are compared as shown in Fig.8 [8].
Fig.8 shows the different possible cases corresponding
151
However, if operating point lies in the right of MPP,
then the perturbed power is assigned to point C and
transferred to point A and point B in subsequent steps
(as P1i and P2i respectively) as shown in Fig.9. When the
operating point reaches MPP, the perturbed power is
assigned to point A and is fed back to both of the points
- point B and point C simultaneously in subsequent
steps so that the operating condition can be directly
changed from case (b) to case (e) without disturbing the
operating point (which is already at MPP).
The logic behind the proposed algorithm is
shown as flowchart in Fig.13.
Start
Fig.8 Possible cases in the direction of step-size Feed Value of Vmax & Dmin
perturbation in TWC method.
Read V
Proposed Modified TWC Algorithm
RAMP
PULSES
Start X
N Return
P(A)>P(C) M=M-1
Y Z
M=M+1
Y D=Di-Dm,
Ki=1
Y K=0
M=2 X N
N Y D=Di+Dm,
Ki=-1
K=0
Y
M=-2 Y N
N D=Di, K=0
Z Return
153
Depending upon the result of comparison and value perturbation and hence no any modification is required.
stored in K, a dummy variable M (representing direction The values of M other than 2 and -2 correspond to either
of further perturbation) is incremented or decremented. case (b) or case (e) and therefore, Di is either
If value of M becomes equal to 2 which is possible for incremented or decremented by Dm to make the initial
case (a) and case (d), Di is increased by Dm, when the operating point as the current one. This loop is repeated
direction of previous perturbation was towards right (i.e till MPP is reached.
Ki=1) from origin as shown by arrow in Fig.9. Further, The MATLAB/SIMULINK model for the
if M attains the value of 2 with initial perturbation along whole PV system is shown in Fig.14. Here, I and V
left (i.e. Ki=-1), then Di is increased by thrice of value inputs are used to calculate power at the recently
of Dm to flip the assigned values of powers to point B perturbed operating point, represented as P1 whereas P2
and point C and invert the direction of next perturbation. represents previously perturbed power. Both of these
Similarly, if M becomes -2 (which represents case (c) powers P1 and P2along with D and K are fed back to the
and case (f)) with Ki being -1, then Di is decreased by same block as P1i, P2i and Di and Ki with some delay
Dm and by thrice of Dm if Ki is 1. The value of Ki being (=sampling time set for the system).
0 indicates that MPP was achieved in the previous
40
CONCLUSION
Fig.16 Variation of output power of the panel with D In the present work, a PV array system is modeled and
(=1-d). simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. Efficacy
of the modified TWC algorithm as proposed is tested in
45
tracking MPP for a particular operating condition.
Results obtained are quite promising for its application
as one of the efficient MPPT algorithm in PV array
44
43
system.
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