International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE)

Vol. 8, No. 1, February 2018, pp. 141~149

ISSN: 2088-8708, DOI: 10.11591/ijece.v8i1.pp141-149  141

A Simplified Design and Modeling of Boost Converter for

Photovoltaic Sytem

Arjyadhara Pradhan, Bhagabat Panda

School of Electrical Engineering, KIIT University, India

Article Info ABSTRACT

Article history: The Photovoltaic standalone system is gaining its high importance mostly for
rural application like pv water pumping, solar lighting, battery charging
Received Aug 30, 2017 etc.Considering environmental effects and scarcity of fossil fuel the trend has
Revised Dec 20, 2017 developed towards the use of more and more renewable energy.In this paper
Accepted Jan 4, 2018 a basic circuit of boost converter is designed in MATLAB/Simulink with
constant dc source voltage. However a comparative study has also been done
Keyword: for the converter connected with pv system directly with the converter
connected with mppt tracking technique. Perturb and Observance (P&O)
Converter algorithm is implemented for providing the necessary duty pulse and makes
Fuzzy the system operate at maximum power point.The boost converter connected
Irradiance with PV system without mppt operates at any other point other then the
Knee point maximum power point and hence the output voltage decreases.But with mppt
Snubber the proposed system performs better.
Copyright © 2018 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science.
All rights reserved.

Corresponding Author:
Arjyadhara Pradhan,
School of Electrical Engineering,
KIIT University,
KIIT Road, Bhubneshwar, Odisha, India.
Email: aryaa.dharaa@yahoo.com

1. INTRODUCTION
The over dependence of renewable energy like coal, oil, gas causes global warming and
environmental degradation which greatly affects the world population. In comparison to other renewable
energy photovoltaic source is a biggest source of contribution to world electricity generation [1], [2]. Solar
power can be utilized in two ways solar photovoltaics and solar thermal. Due to varying weather condition
the output of the panel always varies depending on irradiance and temperature. As a result of which a
constant dc voltage cannot be supplied to the load. Hence boost converters are used to boost up the variable
dc voltage to fixed dc as desired by the load. But in case of ac load an additional inverter is used to convert
dc voltage to ac voltage [3], [4]. The output performance of the solar cells in terms of efficiency depends on
various factors like temperature, soiling, shading which reduces the performances. Hence maximum power
point tracking is the solution for operating the PV system at a unique point called knee point which provides
the maximum power irrespective of any weather or load conditions [5]. Various authors have suggested
different types of MPPT techniques. Some are like Perturb and observance method, Incremental
condcuctance method, constant voltage method, shortcircuit current, fuzzy logic method and ANN
method [6]. Among all this methods P and O technique is simple and most widely used. The Inc method
operates more successfully during the changing weather conditions but at the same time the complexity of the
circuit also increases [7-10]. The other methods are also used depending on their computational time and
system requirement.
For MPPT implementation a dc-dc converter is needed in the system. When the load reuirement is
higher voltage we can go for either boost converter or buck-boost converter or cuk converter but simple boost
converter is more efficienct due to less complex circuitry in comparison to other converters. S.Daison et al

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142  ISSN: 2088-8708

has designed a converter with a floating switch in active state which can isolate the input from the PV panel
under the condition when the ac unit is in off state. This efficiency of this converter is found to be around
95.3%. However this increases the complexity in the circuit [11]. This paper represents the design of boost
converter to get increased voltage.As shown in Figure 1 a photovoltaic system is used to supply the step up
converter and further the boost converter is connected to the load. The necessary duty pulse to the converter
switch is obtained from mppt unit by using Pand O algorithm.

Figure 1. Representation of Boost converter connected with solar pv system in block diagram

2. BOOST CONVERTER: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE

Boost converter is a highly efficient power electronic device in which the input voltage is stepped up
without the use of transformer. But in the process of step-up the total power input to the system is maintained
fixed to that of the output of the system which is achieved by reducing the current. The process of energy
transfer is carried out by various elements like inductor, power switch, diode and filtercapacitor. The
electronic switch taken here is mostly power MOSFET but studies also shows that IGBT can also be used for
switching purpose. Generally for simple design circuits pulse width modulation techniques are used for
switching purpose. There are two different modes of operation of Boost converter i.e Continuous conduction
mode, CCM and Discontinuous conduction mode, DCM. Figure 2 shows the basic diagram showing the
working of boost converter

Figure 2. Basic diagram showing the working of boost converter

3. BOOST CONVERTER: OPERATION ANALYSIS

The DC-DC step up converter opearates in two modes.The basic difference in both the modes is the
flow of inductor current. In the first mode the current through the inductor flows continuously where as in the
second mode the current through the inductor comes to zero for an interval of time before the next turn on of
the switch (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Again the CCM mode operates in two ways i.e TURN ON mode (Mode
1) and TURN OFF mode (Mode 2). During mode 1 the power switch is made ON as depicted in Figure 3. As
a result with the turning on of the switch the supply current input to the circuit follows a path through the
inductor connected in series and the power switch. In this mode the energy gets stored in the Inductor where
as the resistive load as shown in the Figure 3 is supplied by the capacitor current. Mode 2 operation starts as
power switch is switched OFF. In this mode as the switch is turned off no more current will flow throught
this path where as the current will take the path through inductor, diode, capacitor and resistive load. Figure 4
shows the path of flow of current during turn off process. Again during this period the energy which was
store in the inductor during on time gets discharged to the resistive load.Thus the voltage at the terminal is
higher than the supply voltage as the name suggest step up or boost converter.
In the CCM mode the current flowing through the inductor never comes to zero. Hence value of
Inductance can be calculated by the given equation as shown below:

(1)

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Figure 3. Turn ON/OFFoperation

Figure 4. Turn OFF operation

In the Equation (1) Lmin is the minimum value of inductance, so while calculating the value of
inductance of inductor care should be taken that the value is more than the minimum value. Ro represents is
the resistance of the load and Fs the switching frequency. Similarily the capacitance least allowed valuei.e.
Cmin is given by the relation:

(2)

From the Equation (2) Vrf is the voltage ripple factor which is given by the expression

(3)

Figure 5. Waveforms at Continuous conduction mode Figure 6. Waveforms at Discontinuous conduction

of Boost converter mode of Boost converter

Figure 5 and Figure 6 represents the waveforms of voltage and current in the operation of boost
converter in CCM and DCM mode. In DCM mode from Figure 6 it is clearly seen that the current through
the has finite value during negative inductor voltahe but goes zero during the time period of zero inductor
voltage.
A Simplified Design and Modeling of Boost Converter for Photovoltaic Sytem (Arjyadhara Pradhan)
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4. PROPOSED SYSTEM
A basic step up dc-dc converter is designed operating in continuous state. Initially this work shows
modeling of a simple boost converter with fixed dc input voltage to study the stepping up function of the
converter and its various parameters calculation procedure.In the second approach the converter is given
supply from the pv system without the use of constant dc source. In both the cases the duty pulses are given
from PWM pulse generator. Finally the Boost converter is modeled with a pv panel as input and Maximum
power point tracking system i.e Perturb and Observance method for providing the necessary duty pulse to the
converter switch.

4.1. Selection of Power switch

As shown in Figure 2 the power switch considered must be having higher voltage and current rating
than the input. Hence in this system the IGBT is used for switching purpose. For the design purpose the
values of internal resistance taken is 1000mΩ and the snubber resistance is taken as 105 Ω.

4.2. Selection of Diode

In this system forward biased diode is considered. The various other characteristics required for the
selection of diode are like fast switching, sufficient peak and average current handling capacity, less forward
voltage drop [15].Thus the value of resistance of diode is set as 0.001Ω and snubber resistance as 500 Ω.

4.3. Parameter Calculation

In this paper five basic parameters are calculated for the modelling of the proposed system.The data
under consideration are Output voltage Vo is 164 volt, Input voltage Vin as 43 volt, Output current Io is
1 ampere, switching frequency (Fs): 25kHz, Voltage ripple factor 5% and as per IEC standard the current
ripple factor must remain within 30% hence for this study it is choosed as 20%.

4.3.1. Duty Cycle (D)

(4)

(5)

4.3.2. Ripple Current (ΔIO)

(6)

4.3.3. Value of Inductor (L)

(7)

(8)

4.3.4. Load Resistnace (Ro)

(9)

(10)

4.3.5. Capacitance (C)

(11)

4.4. PV System and MPPT Technique

The PV system is designed in such a way that 12 channels are conneceted in series with each six
number of solar cells in series connection to give a total output voltage of 43.2 volt. The short circuit current
of each solar cell is 7.34 ampere and the open circuit voltage is 0.6 volt. The solar irradiance value taken is

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1000 watt/m2. The system produces a maximum voltage of 240 watt. The MPPT system uses Perturb and
Observance algorithm as shown in Figure 7. This methos is simple, easy to implement and low cost hence
used in this system. In this approach the instantaneous values of voltage and current are recorded and then the
output power is calculated. Then the operating point is perturbed by a small amount. If the power increases
then it checks weather change in voltage is positive, if yes it increments the duty cycle or else it moves in the
opposite direction.

Figure 7. Algorithm of Pand O method

5. MODELLING AND SIMULATION

The design of the proposed system is done using MATLAB using various blocks of Sim
powersystems. In the below shown Figure 8 represents the simulation design of a constant dc source fed step
up converter with simple resistive load. IGBT switch is used as power switch for circuit on and off process.
The necessary gate pulse for trigerring the circuit is provided by pwm pulse generator. In Figure 9 the
converter is connected to the solar system made of series connected solar cells. Figure 10 represents clearly
the proposed model of the step up converter connected with pv system and the MPPT control unit. Figure 11
and Figure 12 shows the subsystem for pv system and mppt control unit.

Figure 8. Model of basic converter (Boost) in Figure 9. PV system connected boost converter
Simulink without mppt

A Simplified Design and Modeling of Boost Converter for Photovoltaic Sytem (Arjyadhara Pradhan)
146  ISSN: 2088-8708

Figure 10. Proposed model in Simulink Figure 11. Simulink model of the MPPT system
using Pand O technique

6. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

The analysis has been carried out to verify the operation of boost converter with the parameters
calculated as above and compare the performance of the proposed system i.e the converter with the
controlled pulses (mppt) and that the system without mppt. Figure 12 shows the output voltage waveform of
the simulation as shown in Figure 8 for resistive load. With the calculated parameters of the Inductor,
capacitor, load resistance and appropriate choice of voltage and current ripple factor it is found that the
output voltage across the resistive load is 164 volt with fixed dc input voltage taken as 43 volt. Hence the
designed step up converter steps up the dc voltage.

Figure 12. Output voltage waveform of simple boost converter

Figure 13. Waveforms of capacitor current, voltage across capacitor and input voltage for the simulation as
shown in Figure 8

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(a) (b)

Figure 14. (a) IV curve for thge PV system, (b) PV curve for the system

Figure 15. Output voltage waveform of converter as Figure 16. Output voltage waveform of the proposed
shown in Figure 9 model as representated in Figure 10

Figure 17. Duty pulses generated using P and O technique

Figure 13 shows the capacitor voltage, capacitor current, fixed dc input voltage and compares the
nature of the waveform with that of figure 5 shown for continuous conduction mode. Figure 14(a) and
Figure 14(b) shows the pv and iv curve of the photovoltaic module designed considering 72 solar cells in
series. Figure 15 shows the output voltage of the converter i.e. is 130.1 volt for the system designed without
using mppt. Figure 16 represents the output voltage waveform of the designed model as proposed i.e the
boost converter connected with pv and mppt system. From the figure the voltage is found to be 164 volt for a
resistive load. Figure 18 shows the duty pulses generated as per the simulation shown in Figure 12.

A Simplified Design and Modeling of Boost Converter for Photovoltaic Sytem (Arjyadhara Pradhan)
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7. CONCLUSION
The basic function of boost converter to step up voltage from a lower fixed value to a higher value
can be used for various photovoltaic standalone as well as grid connected applications. In grid system use of
inverter is required to convert dc to ac. But here in this study fundamental circuit is considered for simplicity
in design and to make the system less complex. Detailed analysis of the Boost converter was done in this
paper. The basic boost converter was designed as per the calculated parameters. PWM pulses are used for
switching the circuit. In the proposed model using mppt control algorithm the output voltage is more then the
converter design connected with PV without mppt. As mppt technique helps to track the maximum power
point making the system to operate at the unique point all the time irrespective of the load and weather
conditions. But in the converter without mppt can get the input voltage from PV at any other point other than
mpp point. Hence the system efficiency decreases. Further it is suggested that various other mppt methods
can be implemented in the proposed system to get better results.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks and gratitude to Electrical department, KIIT University to give me opportunity to
conduct all kind of tests in software and library facility to refer good books and journals for completing my
work successfully.

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BIOGRAPHIES OF AUTHORS

Arjyadhara Pradhan is currently working as Assistant Professor in School of Electrical

Engineering, KIIT University, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. She is continuing her Ph.D in KIIT
University. She has completed her M.Tech in the area of solar pv sytem with the focus on
maximum power point tracking. She was awarded with the "Institutional award" for best paper
from Institution of Engineers, Odisha in the year 2012. Her broad working area is Solar
Photovolatics and renewable energy systems. She has published 16 papers both in International
and national journals. She has also published papers in 30 International and national conferences
and among them 6 nos of IEEE conference. She has guided 3 M.Tech students and 12 B.Tech
students. She is a life member of various professional bodies like SESI, IE, ISTE, ISLE, ISC.

Bhagabat Panda is working as Associate Professor in School of Electrical Engineering, KIIT

University. He has completed his Ph.D from Utkal University, Vanivihar. His M.Tech is from
VSSUT Burla. His working area is power quality and Hybrid energy systems. He has published
a number of papers in international journal and conferences. He has produced one Ph.D Scholar
and guided 20 M.Tech students. He has one ongoing project from The Institute of Engineers,
Kolkata. He has organised many National seminars in the University. He has been associated
with life time members of various important bodies like IEEE, SESI, IE, ISTE.

A Simplified Design and Modeling of Boost Converter for Photovoltaic Sytem (Arjyadhara Pradhan)