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Evaluating the performance and efficiency of MPPT algorithm for PV systems

Article in International Journal of Engineering & Technology · September 2018

DOI: 10.14419/ijet.v7i4.13508

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 International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4) (2018) 2122-2126

International Journal of Engineering & Technology

Website: www.sciencepubco.com/index.php/IJET
doi: 10.14419/ijet.v7i4.13508
Research paper

Evaluating the performance and efficiency of MPPT

algorithm for PV systems
Adnan Hussein Ali 1 *, Ali Abdulwahhab Abdulrazzaq 1
1 Middle Technical University, Technical Instructors Training Institute, Baghdad, Iraq
*Corresponding author E-mail: aaddnnaann63@gmail.com

Abstract

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have an advantage of conversion sun's energy to electrical energy without regulation and lower efficien-
cy due to I-V nonlinear characteristics that exhibits in the PV cells. Essentially, There is a need to maximize power extraction from these
cells with a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques. The performance of MPPT Algorithm involves a presentation of the PV
system model with a most suitable method, Perturbation and Observation (P&O). The P&O implementation is done by MATLAB simu-
lating, which covers a PV cell connected to a controlled buck converter by MPPT algorithms. The achievement of the P&O algorithm
with a higher efficiency as well as be able to fast MPP tracking at the Constant irradiation condition as well as with variable irradiation.

Keywords: PV system; Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT); Perturb and Observe (P&O) Algorithm.

siders an electronic device which introduces between a PV panel

1. Introduction and the load as seen in Fig. 1-a [4]. MPPT devices may be gener-
ally integrating into converter power system that provides both
The Photovoltaic (PV) solar system has an application of Maxi- voltage and current regulation, conversion, and filtering to drive
mum power point tracking (MPPT) technique to maximize a pow- different loads, involving power grids, charging batteries, or mo-
er conversion at any conditions as well as wind turbines. This PV tors [5].
system occurs in various configurations with respect to their con-
nection to inverter schemes, external grids, battery banks, in addi-
tion to other electrical loads [1].
2. MPPT simple system
The PV panels can be considered as a good source of electrical
power, so that, their efficiency of conversion could not considered It is very important to power system operates at the high power
high. The conversion of sunlight energy with PV strength to elec- efficiency with PV generation by approving that, it is working at
trical power may be comparatively imperfect, with conversion maximum power continuously anyway of varying loads in addi-
efficiency typically in the 12 ~ 20% range, this range could drop tion to weather environments. An MPPT-PV stand-alone power
more over panel temperature adjustable, change of solar irradia- system typically contains of the PV array, load and DC/DC con-
tion in addition to load conditions [2]. Furthermore the depend- verter (Buck, Boost) switching (step-up, down), that performs as a
ence of the total energy generated usefully on environmental fea- powerful interfacing between the PV modules and the load as
tures such as solar irradiance and surrounding temperatures. So shown in figure 1-b.
that, the control unit for achieving maximum power from the out-
put of PV panels need an appropriate approach for the MPPT
technique to be qualified for providing a suitable duty cycle for
DC-DC converter.
The definitive destination of the solar power can't be problem at
any case, so, the MPPT essential problem deals with the efficiency
of power transfer of solar cell depend on sunlight amount which
drops on the solar panels in addition to the characteristics of elec-
trical load, changes in amount of sunlight leads to change in the
load characteristics that give high power transfer efficiency, hence
system efficiency optimization is accomplished if a change occurs
in the load characteristics for preservation of the power transfer at Fig. 1: MPPT-PV- A) MPP Tracker B) Proposed System.
maximum efficiency [3]. A load characteristic is referred
as maximum power point and the process of discovering such If a connection of load is directly to the solar panel, then rarely an
point be considered MPPT that saves the load characteristics there. operating point of the panel will be at maximum power. The im-
The MPPT system essentially comprises two fundamental ele- pedance which seen by the panel will drive the solar panel's oper-
ments, a switching power (DC-DC converter) accompanied by ating point. Therefore, by varying this impedance, the operating
control algorithm of an MPPT for operating a PV system so that to point may be moved to peak point. Since panels are DC devices,
transfer to the load a maximum accomplishing power. MPPT con- there must be utilizing of DC-DC converters for transforming the
Copyright © 2018 Ali Abdulwahhab Abdulrazzaq, Adnan Hussein Ali. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
International Journal of Engineering & Technology 2123

impedance of one circuit to the other load. By varying the DC-DC

converter duty ratio results in changing an impedance that of the Id = Isat (eqVd/kT -1) (5)
panel. The panel (I-V) curve can significantly vary with atmos-
pheric conditions variation like temperature and radiance. Thus, it where Id is the diode current (A), Vd is the diode voltage (V). For
is not practical the duty ratio to be fixed with these dynamically our simulation, a solar array that could output greater than 100W
moving operating conditions [7]. of power was selected. This panel has characteristics of V oc of
22V with Isc of 8.4 A. The voltage at maximum power Vmp is
3. Characteristics of PV system 17.5V while the current at maximum power Imp is 7.7A. By plug-
ging these values into the P = IV, 135 W can be achieved P out from
the solar array at full solar illumination.
Several models had been established for describing the current- If the incident illumination of the PV solar array is varying in
voltage (I–V) characteristics of solar cells with various operating addition to the output resistance, A Power versus Voltage and
conditions. The single-diode and double-diode models are a com- Current versus Voltage graphs can be extracted to find the MPP of
monly represented by the behavior of a solar cell [8]. the solar array, as shown in figure 3. The MPP is the peak of the
The PV panel is constituted by a PV set cells fixed serially and Power versus Voltage graph.
parallel for generating a normal maximum electrical power that
depends on the conversion efficiency of semiconductor photo-
energy organizing the cells. A PV cell may be considered like a
generator of a photo-current Iph relying on external factors such as
working temperature or direction of the panel. PV cells are cur-
rently denoted by the one-diode model, figure 2-a as well as a
double-diode model, figure 2-b, in which are also represented the
various parameters of the model [8].
The one diode model equation of describing currents is

Icell = Ipv = Iph - ID - ISH (1)

The supplied current Iph by the cell is

Iph=Ipv + Isat (2)

Fig. 3: Power Vs Voltage & Current vs Voltage Graghs from PV Panel
The double diodes of the PV panel model are shown in figure 2-b. Model.
Subsequently, the output current Icell can be denoted by
4.2. Perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm
Icell = Iph - Id1 - Id2 – Ish (3)
Many MPPT algorithms have been designed and implemented in
Where Iph is the light incident generated current from the panel. MATLB SIMULINK. The used algorithm is the improved perturb
Also, the diffusion current through the diodes Id1, recombination and observe (IP&O) technique. The simulation test of the IP&O
mechanisms current Id2, and Ish, the current through Rsh which has been done in the system by using a resistive load for verifying
represents the panel loss, are given in Equation (4) [9]. its improvement in comparison with the conventional P&O tech-
nique. The P&O algorithm for finding the MPP is commonly uti-
lized in commercial applications. This technique employs current
Id1 = Isi (4) and voltage sensors for measuring the output of a solar array. The
P&O algorithm can be considered the easy and cheapest in im-
For i = 1, 2 plementation, generally, due to its dependence on passive compo-
nent circuits to evaluate the voltage and current. MPPT algorithm
Ish = desires such measurements that are the only outside data sources
to control whether increasing or decreasing the duty cycle D. A
Where Isi is the diodes reverse saturation current, the diode’s ide- comparison has been made between input power with that of a
ality factor is ni, and the thermal voltage Vt = k/Tq the of the pan- former input power which measured so as to control if to change
el. the duty cycle for continuing tracking the MPP [10].
The P&O algorithm inspects the previously calculated input power
with any change of the duty cycle, which happened in a specified
period of time. Now, if the recently measured input power has a
greater value than the previously measured input power besides
the new input voltage has a greater value than the old input volt-
age, P&O algorithm has decreased D to move closer to the peak
power. Otherwise, when the input voltage has less value than pre-
viously calculated then this algorithm will increase D if greater
input power exists [11]. Another condition when a new measuring
power with less value than formerly measured besides the new
Fig. 2: A) PV Cell Equivalent Circuit B) PV Panel, Double-Diode Model. voltage with greater values than the old one, D will be decreased
for convergent to an MPP. In conclusion, when the power and
voltage are less valuable than formerly measured, then D will be
4. Circuit topology & DC-DC converter oper- decreased by P&O algorithm, all these can be described by a flow
ation chart in fig 4.

4.1. Solar array

For a component of solar array, a model of the array is produced

which is depend on diode equation:
2124 International Journal of Engineering & Technology

indicates the input to the low-pass filter in part (a). The average
output voltage can be calculated in terms of switch’s D using Vo =

(6)

where, Vo is the DC output voltage, with switching period Ts, vo(t)

is the instantaneous output voltage as a function of time, ton is the
on duration of the switch per switching period, and V d represents
DC input voltage.

4.4. Load

Active load Simulation is very complex, so that in order for opti-

mizing the buck converter besides MPPT algorithm through simu-
lation, a using of resistive load which remains constant during
each test. The Duty cycle D of the buck converter can be adjusted
by an MPPT controller to match the MPP of the array, thus, opti-
mizing output power. The efficiency assessment of the buck con-
verter can be made by exploring the output voltage.

5. Simulation results & discussion

5.1. Power efficiency

In order to estimate the power efficiency (ƞ), the maximum power

must be wanted to know under the given circumstances which the
solar array may produce. From integrating the measuring output
power and the maximum power, the MPPT efficiency (ƞ MPPT) can
be calculated by

Fig. 3: Flow Chart of P&O Algorithm.

Ƞ MPPT = (7)
4.3. Buck converter
The output waveforms are comparing from each run to achieve a
The buck converter is considered as a switched mode power sup- greater thoughtful about how P&O algorithm reacts to different
ply, which means it offers digital control by PWM of a switch and changes in solar array irradiance. Any changes in the temperature
results in a linear response in output voltage. Buck converter con- or in the irradiation immediately lead a change of the available
tains two switches, a diode and transistors, in addition to an induc- power, inducing a displacement of the operating point from the
tor for continually maintaining a voltage on the output capacitor. It maximum power point, which has for significance a degradation
is commonly used in a too high level input voltage and desires to of the efficiency of the considered PV system, also notice that the
be lowered to suitable levels. The principle of buck converter is a controllers of MPPT are very sensitive with these variations.
step down converter which produces an output voltage with lower
average values than the DC input voltage V d. Its application main- 5.2. P & O algorithm at constant irradiance
ly focuses in regulated DC power supplies as well as DC motor
speed control as explained in figure 5 [12]. This is a first simulation run that used an input to the solar array
with constant irradiance by MATLAB model. The input voltage
shows an obtaining the steady state value after 1 msec, while the
input current oscillates quite a few till the constant amount, the
input power has the same behaviour of voltage and current as it
deals with them, as illustrated in fig. 6 which has the efficiency of
constant irradiance. The output voltage indicates an amount of
ripple at a response curve, which can be measurable, whereas the
output current displays small overshoot at the initial response
before MPPT controlling, then a PWM of the gate which is con-
trolled by MPPT fetch it closer to the MPP, as shown in fig. 7
which also contains the output power that could be remained con-
stant after 2 msec onward due to a above constant MPP voltage
and current. Finally, with regard to the efficiency of the converter,
it can be seen that it reaches a steady state of 95% shortly after 1
msec and furthermore it remains almost totally flat to the end of
the simulation time.

Fig. 5: DC_DC Buck Converter A) Simple Diagram, B) Vo and Frequency

Spectrum of Output.

The Voi waveform shown in part (b) is represented as a function of

switch position. This Voi waveform is the switching output that
International Journal of Engineering & Technology 2125

Fig. 6: Irradiance and Input Sources of Voltage, Current, and Power at

Constant Irradiation.

Fig. 8: Irradiance and Input Sources of Voltage, Current, and Power.

Fig. 7: Efficiency and Output Voltage, Current, and Power at Constant

Irradiation.

5.3. P & O with variable irradiance

The second stage includes a run of the MATLAB model via an

input of variable irradiance to the solar array. The changes in irra-
diance are tracked by both the source and output voltage, current,
and power. Figure 8 displays the source voltage which changes
with the irradiance steps, while the current response shows a little
start-up overshoot occurs with every change in irradiance, during
the operation, there was a tendency of the source current oscillat-
ing a bit If the MPPT controller was in operation, and finally the
input power is a result of voltage and current responses.
Figure 9 shows the output response for all parameters, the effi-
ciency of the converter shot to over 100%; this caused a little slow
down in the input power. Normally, it can be said that despite the
sudden changes in irradiance, the efficiency did not go below 80%
as illustrated in figure 9-a, the output voltage, current, and power
follows the input sources for tracking the input irradiance changes,
In comparison to the input power, the output power remains rela-
tively close in magnitude.

Fig. 9: Efficiency and Output Voltage, Current, and Power.

 2126 International Journal of Engineering & Technology

6. Conclusion
A comparative simulation of MPPT algorithm had been executed [5] A. J. Abid1, F. M. Al-Naima, and Adnan H. Ali, Comprehensive
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operation of DC-DC Converters. Simulation was implemented [6] H. Islam, S. Mekhilef, N. Binti Mohamed Shah, T.K. Soon, M.
with MATLAB-Simulink environments. The efficiency simulation Seyedmahmousian, Performance Evaluation of Maximum Power
Point Tracking Approaches and Photovoltaic Systems, Energies
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ble irradiance. The actual data gathering runs were done in first fication of different (MPPT) Techniques. Renew. Sustain. Energy
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face requirements of certain timing, its response is faster and can fects on PV systems, A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 2016,
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