Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

An improved particle swarm optimization based maximum power point MARK

tracking algorithm for PV system operating under partial shading conditions
⁎
G. Dileep , S.N. Singh
Alternate Hydro Energy Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Uttarakhand 247667, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Concerns over environment and increased demand for energy have led the world to think about alternate energy
MPPT sources such as the wind, hydro, solar and fuel cells. Out of these photovoltaic (PV) generation systems (PGS)
PSO become increasingly important all over the world due to its availability, cleanness, low maintenance cost, and
Partial shading inexhaustible nature. The probability of partial shading conditions (PSC) is also high for large PGS. Under PSC,
Photo voltaic (PV) generation system (PGS)
the P–V curve of PGS exhibits multiple peaks, which reduces the effectiveness of conventional maximum power
point tracking (MPPT) methods. In this paper, an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) based MPPT
algorithm for PGS operating under PSC is proposed. Conventional PSO is modified to meet practical con-
sideration of PGS operating under PSC. Problem formulation, design details, and experimental results are dis-
cussed in detail. The proposed technique is independent of system, it is easy to implement, tracking efficiency is
high and performance under PSC is good. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by analyzing the
experimental results obtained from 110 W solar power generation systems.

1. Introduction a DC-DC converter along with an MPPT controller is inserted in be-

Renewable energy tracking becomes one of the interesting areas in
recent years due to increased energy demand all over the world and
issues related to the environment (Wu et al., 2016). Out of all renew-
able energy sources, solar energy has gained much more attention due
to its availability, cleanness and inexhaustible nature (Hu et al., 2016).
Tracking solar power is difficult due to non-linear current – voltage (I-
V) characteristics of panel with a unique maximum power point (MPP)
(Hiroshi, 2004). Power produced by PV panel varies with variation in
atmospheric conditions such as solar irradiation and cell temperature.
MPP of solar panel also varies with variation in atmospheric conditions.
So, in order to extract maximum power, PV panel must be operated at a
voltage corresponding to MPP (VMPP). Maximum power point trackers
are used to achieve this (Rezk and Eltamaly, 2015; Yousra et al., 2013;
de Cesare et al., 2006; Li, 2014). MPPT is an art of extracting maximum
power from PV panel and it is regarded as the critical component of a
PV system. The internal resistance of PV panel varies with variation in
atmospheric conditions but the load resistance remains the same.
Converter controlled with MPPT algorithm is used to achieve load
matching and extracting maximum power from PV panel (Hiroshi et al.,
2003; Salas et al., 2005). PV system with MPPT achieves load matching
and extracts maximum power thereby increases the efficiency of solar
power tracking. In order ensure that the PV system is operating at MPP,
tween load and PV module (Chowdhury and Saha, 2010; Mohammad
and Ali, 2011; Yu et al., 2004; Chen et al., 2014). Various MPPT al-
gorithms such as short circuit current based (Noguchi et al., 2002),
open circuit voltage based (Masoum et al., 2002), ripple correlation
control (RCC) (Casadei et al., 2006), slide mode control technique (Kim
et al., 2006), perturb and observe (P & O) (Chia et al., 2011) have been
already proposed. Conventional hill climbing methods are simple and
easy to implement but have problems such as oscillations of operating
point around MPP, requires more time to determine MPP, can be fooled
under quickly changing atmospheric conditions and it is not effective
under PSC’s (Castellano et al., 2015), which in turn reduces the overall
system efficiency. Linearization based MPPT (Ching et al., 1999) and
state space based MPPT (Solodovnik et al., 2004) techniques convert
nonlinear current and power equations to linear first and track MPP.
Temperature based MPPT (Mutoh et al., 2002) technique requires less
number of sensors to track MPP. Most of the MPPT techniques men-
tioned above fail to track MPP effectively under rapidly changing at-
mospheric conditions and under PSC’s.
To achieve the required voltage and current rating PV panels are
connected in parallel, series or combination of two. Few of the PV pa-
nels connected in PV generating system (PGS) may be placed in an area
where less solar irradiation is available due to shading of trees or large
buildings nearby. Depending upon the shading pattern, bypass diode

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dileepmon2@gmail.com (G. Dileep).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2017.10.027
Received 14 December 2016; Received in revised form 25 September 2017; Accepted 9 October 2017
0038-092X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
G. Dileep, S.N. Singh Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015

Nomenclature I current
Id diode current
List of abbreviations IMPP current corresponding to MPP
Io load current
ANN artificial neural network Iph photo generated current source
GMPP global maximum power point PV generating system ipv solar cell generated current
GP global peak PV generating system Is dark saturation current of diode
INC incremental conductance based MPPT technique Isc short circuit current of PV panel
LP local peak PV generating system k Boltzmann constant
MPP maximum power point (Knee of P-V curve) L inductor
MPPT maximum power point tracking of PV generating system Pbest local best of all individual best
PGS PV generating system PMPP maximum output power of PV panel
P&O perturb and observe based MPPT technique PPV PV panel generated power
PSC partial shading condition Q MOSFET switch
PSO particle swarm optimization q charge of the electron
PV photovoltaic panel r1 and r2 uniformly distributed random numbers
STC standard test conditions RS series resistance of solar panel
Rsh shunt resistance of solar panel
List of symbols T solar cell temperature
u output of controller
a diode ideality factor V voltage
C capacitor VMPP voltage corresponding to MPP
C1 cognitive coefficient of PSO Voc open circuit voltage of PV panel
C2 social coefficient of PSO vpv solar cell generated voltage
D diode ω inertial weight of PSO
Gbest global best of all individual best

incorporated in the PV module and system configuration, the output
power of PV string varies. Due to the uneven solar irradiation falling on
different panels of the same string, PV characteristics of entire string
gets modified and multiple power peaks occur. It becomes very difficult
to track peak power from a set of peaks using conventional MPPT al-
gorithms. Normal hill climbing algorithms may stick at local maxima
rather than global maxima which in turn reduce overall system effi-
ciency. This led researchers to work on conventional MPPT algorithms
and introduce a new technique to track global maximum under these
conditions. Carannante et al. (2009) proposed a system dependent
MPPT algorithm to track power under PSC by considering voltage
factors of previously analyzed global maximum power point (GMPP).
Kobayashi et al. (2006) proposed a two-stage MPPT algorithm in which
operating point is moved near to GMPP using load line in the first stage.
In second stage, convergence of operating point to GMPP is done. When
GMPP lies on left of load line proposed method was found to be in-
effective. Ahmed and Miyatake (2008) proposed a variable step based
P & O MPPT technique in which step size determined by Fibonacci se-
quence. Proposed method doesn’t track GMPP under all conditions.
Renaudineau et al. (2011) proposed a two-stage MPPT algorithm in
which a scanning process is done to find GMPP in the first stage fol-
lowed by P & O technique for convergence to GMPP. This technique
requires more time to find GMPP since all MPP’s are determined and
compared to find GMPP. Lei et al. (2011) developed an extreme seeking
control algorithm to find GMPP based on the findings obtained by
analysis of PV module under various PSC. Proposed technique is effi-
cient and tracks GMPP under different test condition, but the method is
system dependent, not universal. ANN based MPPT technique proposed
Syafaruddin et al. (2009) uses a 3-layered ANN network trained with
PSC data’s to determine GMPP voltage. This method tracks GMPP ef-
ficiently and quickly but it is system dependent. Femia et al. (2008)
proposed a method in which each PV panel in the string connected to
separate DC-DC converter with MPP trackers. The efficiency of tracking
is superior but the cost of implementation is on the higher side.
Chowdhury et al. proposed an adaptive perspective PSO to find GMPP;
the proposed technique is cost effective. Miyatake et al. (2011) pro-
posed a novel technique to track GMPP using PSO, their technique
provided better results under various PSC’s but is limited PGS with
multiple converters.
These MPPT algorithms have good performance under various PSC;
however, these methods are only suitable for systems that consist of
multiple converters. However, for PGS, the use of one central high-
power single-stage electronic converter is very common for economical
reasons and the relative simplicity of the overall system. This paper
aims to develop an accurate and system independent MPPT algorithm
for centralized-type multimodule PGS operating under PSC. The PSO
method has been successfully employed to solve different engineering
optimization problems. According to these investigations, the PSO
method is a simple and effective metaheuristic approach that can be
applied to optimization problems having many local optimal points.
Consequently, it will be adopted in this paper to realize the MPPT al-
gorithm which is suitable for centralized PGS under PSC.
In this paper, the standard version of PSO will be modified to meet
the practical consideration of PGS under PSC. Detailed design proce-
dures which take the hardware limitation into account will be pre-
sented first, and a 75 W prototype will be implemented to demonstrate
the validity of the proposed MPPT algorithm. Experimental results
show that the proposed MPPT technique can obtain the GMPP in all test
cases no matter where the GMPP locates. The tracking efficiencies in all
Fig. 1. Single diode five parameter model of a solar cell.

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G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
Fig. 2. PV array (a) under uniform insolation (b) under partial shading (c) IV and PV curves.
test cases are higher than 99.90%. The proposed MPPT algorithm is
simple, accurate and system independent. Proposed method is validated
by implementing experimental set up in the lab with a Single ended
primary inductor (SEPIC) converter fed by solar array simulator and
software for control action is developed using an OPAL-RT micro-
controller. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents single
diode model of a PV module, effect of PSC on PGS is described in
Section 3. Overview of conventional PSO algorithm is presented in
Section 4, improvement and application of PSO to MPPT problem are
explained in Section 5. Section 6 presents and discusses the experi-
mental results, with conclusions in Section 7.
2. Characteristics of a PV cell
PV cell can be represented using an ideal model, single diode four
parameter model, single diode five parameter model or a two-diode
model. The ideal model is the simplest and a loss less model of a PV cell,
but it does not represent a PV cell accurately. Two-diode model re-
presents PV cell accurately than other models but the complexity is
high, hence mathematical analysis is difficult. Hence, single diode five
parameter model shown in Fig. 1 is used to represent PV cell. Single
diode model of solar cell is nonlinear but it is less complex as compared
to the two diode model hence mathematical analysis is easy.
The I-V characteristics of single diode four parameter model of a PV
cell can be represented by Eq. (1),
q (vpv + R s ipv )
(vpv + Rs ipv )
ipv = Iph−Io ⎜⎛e akT −1⎟⎞−
⎝ ⎠ Rsh
where, Rs and Rsh are series and shunt resistance of PV cell respectively,
Io is diode saturation current, Iph is the current source, a is diode ide-
ality factor, q is electric charge of the electron, vpv and ipv are the PV
generated voltage and current respectively, k is Boltzmann constant and
T is the temperature in °C.
3. Effect of PSC’s on PGS
To achieve the required voltage and current rating sometimes PV
panels are connected in parallel, series or combination of two. Few of
the PV panels connected in PGS may be placed in an area where less
Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015
solar irradiation is available due to shading of trees or large buildings
nearby. Series configuration of PV modules is shown in Fig. 2(a). Bypass
diodes are connected across PV modules to avoid the formation of hot
spots due to absorption of energy by shaded PV modules from non-
shaded PV modules. PV array exhibits a unique MPP as shown in curve
1 of Fig. 2(c) when all modules are exposed to uniform solar irradiance
as shown in Fig. 2(a). When any one of the modules in the array is
shaded as shown in Fig. 2(b) PV array exhibits multiple peaks as shown
in Fig. 2(c). Depending upon the shading pattern, bypass diode in-
corporated in the PV module, and system configuration output power of
string varies. Due to uneven solar irradiation falling on different panels
of the same string, characteristics of entire string gets modified and
multiple power peaks occur. Out of these multiple peaks, one will be
GMPP or global peak (GP) and other are local peaks (LP). Due to the
occurrence of multiple peaks, it’s difficult to apply conventional MPPT
algorithms to track GMPP.
4. Overview of PSO algorithm
In 1995 Kennedy and Eberhart developed PSO, a population based
swarm intelligence algorithm to optimize engineering problems with
local optimal points. PSO is an optimization technique developed based
on the social behavior of bird flocking and it is used to find the best
solution in an n-dimensional space for an optimization problem.
Population of particle called as cooperative agents are used to find the
optimum solution. Each particle or agent in a population follows two
fundamental rules for finding the optimal solution, it follows the best
(1) performing particle and the best solution found by the particle itself.
Hence all particles in the population converge towards the best solu-
tion. Particle positions in a population is adjusted using Eq. (2),
x ik + 1 = x ik + ∅ik + 1 (2)
where ∅i is velocity component which is calculated as in Eq. (3),
∅ik + 1 = ω × ∅i + c1 × r1 × {Pbesti−x ik } + c2 × r2 × {Gbest −x ik } (3)
where, ω is the inertia weight, r1 and r2 are uniformly distributed
random variables within [0, 1], c1 is the cognitive coefficient and c2 is
the social coefficient, Pbesti is the best position of ith particle and best
position of all particles is expressed by Gbest .
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G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
Fig. 3. Flow chart of conventional PSO.
Flow chart of conventional PSO algorithm is illustrated in Fig. 3 and
operating principles of conventional PSO algorithm is described as
follows,
Step 1 (Initializing PSO): Number of particles is defined and parti-
cles are uniformly distributed over n-dimentional space of the op-
timization problem. Social coefficient, cognitive coefficient and in-
ertia weight are defined, the initial velocity is chosen randomly.
Step 2 (Evaluation of fitness function): The fitness function which is
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Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015
to be optimized is evaluated for each particle. Evaluation of fitness
function is done by substituting candidate solution to objective
function.
Step 3 (Updating global and individual best): Fitness value corre-
sponding to present position of the particle is compared with in-
dividual and global best values, and it is updated if present fitness
value is greater than individual and global best values.
Step 4 (Updating velocity and position of particles): Each particles
velocity and position are adjusted using Eqs. (2) and (3).
Step 5 (Checking for convergence): The process is terminated if
convergence criteria is met else iteration number is increased by 1
and go to step 2.
5. Improvement and application of PSO to MPPT
PSO algorithm described in Section 4 is now applied to realize
MPPT controller for a PV system to track peak power effectively under
PSC and varying atmospheric conditions. The standard version of PSO is
improved to increase the tracking speed, tracking accuracy and ro-
bustness. Convergence speed and tracking accuracy are improved by
decreasing inertial weight and cognitive coefficient linearly from larger
value to smaller value and increasing social coefficient linearly from
relative smaller value to larger value. Inertia of agents are determined
by ω , if it is too large convergence will be quick but there is a chance of
overshoot. If it is too small, convergence will slow, but direction of
moment of the agent can be quickly changed. Hence, by decreasing ω
from relative larger value to lower with iterations improves the con-
vergence speed, tracking accuracy and motion of agents in the
searching space. c1 determines the searching speed of each agent
without the cooperation of other agents. Agents may convergence to
local maxima if it is too large. Convergence of the agents to the oper-
ating point will be slow if it too small. Similar to ω , c1 is also varied from
relative larger value to lower value to ensure that agents move towards
Gbest with minimum time. The searching speed of agents with the co-
operation of other agents is determined by c2 . If it is small, agents tend
to converge at different points and the convergence speed is low. If it is
large the range of search region will be restricted and agents tend to
converge at some point near MPP. So, in order to track Gbest accurately
and precisely with minimum time, c2 is varied from relatively smaller
value to larger value with iterations. GMPP can be easily determined
under any atmospheric condition by choosing more agents, but it in-
creases the overall convergence time. A major concern in MPPT ap-
plication is to achieve faster convergence with minimum time. The
standard version of APSO algorithm is modified to meet practical
consideration of MPP problem. Block diagram of the proposed system is
shown in Fig. 4. As shown in Fig. 4, Chroma 62150 H-600 S Solar array
simulator in SAS mode is connected to the load through SEPIC con-
verter and an OPAL-RT OP5060 controller has been used to implement
MPPT algorithm.
Flowchart of the proposed APSO based MPPT technique is shown in
Fig. 5 and operating principles of proposed APSO MPPT technique can
be described as follows:
Step 1 (Selection of parameters): Duty ratio, D of DC-DC converter is
selected as the particle position. Power extracted from the PV panel PPV
is defined as the objective function to be maximized. Number particles
in the population are chosen carefully, if large number particles are
chosen tracking accuracy increases but tracking speed reduces. As the
number of particles increases, computation time also increases.
Population size is chosen in such a way that it ensure good tracking
speed and accuracy. Generally population size is made equal to the
number of series connected PV cells.
Step 2 (Initializing PSO): In PSO, placing particle from the selected
G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
population in fixed position or distributing randomly in free space is
possible. Position of particles can be placed around GMPP if informa-
tion about GMPP is known. Generally, GMPP of a PV curve occurs
nearly 80% of open circuit voltage. Hence, the particles are placed at
fixed positions equidistantly placed in a search space with a maximum
and minimum limits, Dmax and Dmin respectively.
Step 3 (Evaluation of fitness function): Maximizing extracted power,
PPV is the goal of proposed MPPT technique. Panel voltage and panel
current corresponding to each duty cycle (each position of the particle)
are sensed, filtered using digital filters and fed to OPAL-RT controller.
From which fitness function, extracted power is calculated for evalua-
tion.
Step 4 (Updating global and individual best): Present fitness value of
ith particle is compared Pbesti then replace it with present value. Best
fitness value from all selected particle is set as global best Gbest .
Step 5 (Updating velocity and position of particles): Velocity and
position of each particle in the total population is updated after the
evaluation process. Eq. (3) of conventional PSO are modified in this
proposed technique in order to increase the tracking speed and accu-
racy. Inertial weight, social coefficient, cognitive coefficient are made
variable in modified PSO MPPT algorithm.
Eq. (3) can be modified as,
∅ik + 1 = ωk × ∅i + c1k × r1 {Pbesti−x ik } + c2k × r2 {Gbest −x ik }
Term ωk × Vki,j have control over convergence behavior of PSO and
this term forces the particle to move in the same direction early it
moved. To improve the tracking efficiency inertial weight is made de-
creasing with time so that its effect on velocity decreases with increase
in iterations. Inertial weight is set to a large value initially with time its
value decrease so that tracking becomes more accurate and quick.
Inertial weight is modified as shown in Eq. (5) to make it vary linearly,
( n+ ωmin)
ωk = ωmax −
nmax
where, n max is total number of iterations, n is the present iteration
count, ωmax and ωmin upper and lower bound of ωk .
Values of c1 and c2 are modified as given in Eqs. (6) and (7), initially
both the value are set large as the progress value of c1 decreases and
value of c2 . c1 is made to decrease linearly and c2 is made to increase
linearly with time, so that the particle will move towards global best.
Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015
Fig. 4. Block diagram of the proposed system.
( n+ c1min)
c1k = c1max−
nmax (6)
( n+ c2min)
c 2k = c2max +
nmax (7)
Were c1max , c1min , c2max , c2min are upper and lower bounds of c1 and c2
respectively.
Step 6 (Checking for convergence): When maximum number of
iterations are reached or when the variations in velocity is within
the limit convergence criteria is met and the present Gbest value is
chosen as GMPP.
Step 7 (Reinitialization): In case of solar power tracking, maximum
power generated from the panel varies with atmospheric conditions.
So, particles must be reinitialized to find new GMPP under varying
atmospheric condition. When conditions mention in Eq. (8) is sa-
tisfied reinitialization is done in the proposed technique.
PPV ,new−PPV ,last
⩾ ΔP
PPV ,last (8)
Due to changes in the environmental conditions, the objective
function also changes during real time operations. In such cases, to
(4) obtain the new GMPP the agents must be reinitialized. If reinitialization
process is no carried out properly, Pbest and Gbest cannot be updated
automatically for the change in operating point due to change in en-
vironmental conditions. As a result, operating point may stuck at some
point, stopping search fro new GMPP. An additional constrain given in
Eq. (8) has been added to avoid this problem.
6. Experimental results
To verify the theoretical results of proposed APSO based MPPT
technique, a 75 W prototype experimental setup with parameters
(5)
shown in Tables 1 and 2 has been implemented. APSO based MPPT
technique has been realized in the laboratory using an OPAL-RT
OP5060 controller. A 0–50 Ω, 5 A rheostat has been used to absorb the
power generated from PV panel. Chroma-62150 H-600 S Solar array
simulator in SAS mode has been used to validate proposed algorithm.
“SHADOW I-V CURVE SIMULATION” function has been used to pro-
gram various I-V curves to verify the capability of proposed algorithm
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G. Dileep, S.N. Singh Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015

Table 1
Parameters of the PV module.

Parameters of the PV panel used

Maximum power (Pmpp) 56.75 W

Open circuit voltage (Voc) 21 V
Voltage at maximum power (Vmpp) 14.56 V
Short circuit current (Isc) 5A
Current at maximum power (Impp) 3.898 A

Table 2
Parameters of the converter.

Specification of implemented SI-SEPIC converter

Input voltage (Vin) 4–21 V

Rated output voltage (Vo) 50 V
Rated output current (Io) 2.2 A
Rated output power (Po) 75 W
Switching power (fs) 50 kHz

Fig. 5. Flow chart of improved algorithm.
under various PSC’s. Hall Effect current sensor and voltage sensor was
used to sense input current and voltage to SI-SEPIC converter. Voltage
and current sensors are inserted at output terminals of solar array si-
mulator to sense the generated voltage and current. Sensed values are
then fed to OPAL-RT controller for MPPT operation. FOD 3180 driver IC
has been used for providing isolation between the control circuit and
power circuit, and to amplify the PWM pulses generated by the con-
troller. PWM signal generated from the controller is fed to the gate of
the MOSFET switch through the driver circuit. The proposed APSO
MPPT technique was developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment and
is compiled and downloaded into OPAL-RT controller. Experimental
setup of the proposed system is shown in Fig. 6 (see Table 3).
Two different shading patterns are used to the test correctness of
proposed method; experimental results of these methods are shown in
Figs. 7–14. Fig. 7 shows the I-V curve and P-V curves of shadow pattern
1 with operating point at right of GMPP prior to tracking. With oper-
ating point at right to GMPP as shown in Fig. 7, MPPT tracker is made
ON and tracking is carried out. I-V curve and P-V curves of shadow
pattern 1 after tracking GMPP are shown in Fig. 8. The measured
tracking efficiency is 99.91% as shown in Fig. 8, and average output
power is 42.43 W as shown in Fig. 9. As shown in Fig. 10, average value
of voltage and current are 14.569 V and 3.891 A respectively, and it
requires 1.9 s to track GMPP.
Fig. 11 shows the I-V curve and P-V curves of shadow pattern 2 with
operating point at right of GMPP prior to tracking. I-V curve and P-V
curves of shadow pattern 2 after tracking GMPP are shown in Fig. 12.
The measured tracking efficiency is 99.91% as shown in Fig. 12, and
average output power is 56.64 W as shown in Fig. 13. As shown in
Fig. 14, the average value of voltage and current are 16.195 V and
3.612 A respectively, and it requires 2.2 s to track GMPP. By varying the
load resistance, initial position of the operating point is fixed at dif-
ferent points on right and left side of GMPP in P-V curve and GMPP
tracking has been carried out. It was found that the proposed method
tracks GMPP effectively under various shading conditions irrespective
of the position of the operating point on P-V curve.
Two different patterns of P-V and I-V characteristic curves shown in
figures were used for programming solar array simulator for experi-
mental validation of the proposed method. As shown in the figures,
initial position of the operating point was varied by varying the load
resistance and GMPP tracking was carried out. Time taken for tracking
the GMPP and tracking were recorded for each experiment. Average
tracking speed of the proposed APSO based MPPT technique was found
to be 2.1 s and average tracking efficiency was found to be above

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G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
Table 3
Parameters of the proposed algorithm.
Parameters of the implemented algorithm
Number of particles (N)
Number of iterations
Minimum duty cycle (dmin)
Maximum duty cycle (dmax)
Sampling time (Ts)
Minimum value of inertial coefficient (ωmin)
Maximum value of inertial coefficient (ωmin)
Minimum value of cognitive coefficient (c1min)
Maximum value of cognitive coefficient (c1max)
Minimum value of cognitive coefficient (c2min)
Maximum value of cognitive coefficient (c2max)
Fig. 7. I-V and P-V characteristics when operating point at right of MPP (Shadow pattern 1).
Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015
Fig. 6. Experimental Setup of the proposed system.
99.90%. MPP tracking was carried out by conventional PSO based
MPPT technique, method proposed by Nguyen and Low (2010) and
method proposed by Patel and Agarwal (2008) to compare the results
with method proposed in this paper. The convergence criteria for all the
methods are all set as 0.3%. Same P-V and I-V characteristics were used
5 for the experiment. Average tracking speed of conventional PSO based
30 MPPT technique was found to be 2.7 s and average tracking efficiency
0.1 was found to be 99.81%. Average tracking speed of method proposed
0.9
by Nguyen and Low (2010) was found to be 2.53 s and average tracking
0.2 s
0.1
efficiency was found to be 99.85%. Average tracking speed of method
1.0 proposed by Patel and Agarwal (2008) was found to be 2.42 s and
1.0 average tracking efficiency was found to be 99.87%. When compared to
2.0 conventional PSO method, method proposed by Nguyen and Low
1.0
(2010) and Patel and Agarwal (2008), the proposed APSO based MPPT
2.0
technique increases the tracking speed and improves tracking accuracy,
without any additional software and hardware requirement.
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G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
Fig. 8. I-V and P-V characteristics when operating point at MPP (Tracking from right, shadow pattern 1).
7. Conclusion
A system independent, adaptive PSO based MPPT algorithm for
centralized-type PGS operating under PSC, which improves the tracking
speed, tracking accuracy is presented in this paper. The standard ver-
sion of PSO is modified to meet the practical consideration of PGS
operating under PSC. The problem formulation, design procedure, and
parameter setting method, which takes the hardware limitation into
account are described and explained in detail. Experimental results
show that the average tracking efficiency of proposed technique is
greater than 99.90%. Two different shading patterns were utilized to
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Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015
Fig. 9. PV power when MPP tracking is from right (Shadow
pattern 1).
Fig. 10. PV current and voltage when MPP tracking is from
right (Shadow pattern 1).
experimentally validate the effectiveness of proposed method.
According to experimental results, the proposed method can obtain the
GMPP in all the test cases no matter where the GMPP locates.
Experimental results also show that the proposed method can success-
fully detect the shading pattern changes and reinitialize the MPPT
process. The tracking efficiencies in three test cases are all higher than
99.90%, with average tracking speed of 2.1 s. The proposed technique
boasts the following advantages:
(1) Compared to other GMPP searching methods, the tracking effi-
ciency of the APSO-based MPPT algorithm is very high.
G. Dileep, S.N. Singh Solar Energy 158 (2017) 1006–1015

Fig. 11. I-V and P-V characteristics when operating point at right of MPP (Shadow pattern 2).

Fig. 12. I-V and P-V characteristics when operating point at MPP (Tracking from right, shadow pattern 2).

(2) PSO-based method is a good candidate for MPPT algorithms, as it is
easy to implement and converges to the desired solution in a rea-
sonable time.
(3) The proposed method is system independent.
Immediate future work is to apply these algorithms for a Grid
connected PV system. A large number of conventional and non-
conventional sources may be connected to a utility grid. Different dy-
namics may be introduced to utility grid while connecting a PV system
to it. Grid may become unstable if the PV system is not properly con-
trolled. But, solar irradiance and temperature has effect on the dy-
namics of PV system. An extensive research study must be carried out
on dynamic stability of the PV system when it is connected to utility
grid along with other conventional power sources.

1014
G. Dileep, S.N. Singh
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