Real-time maximum power point tracking method based on three points approximation by digital controller for PV system

Abstract

This paper proposes the new method based on the availability of three points measurement and convexity of photovoltaic (PV) curve characteristic at the maximum power point (MPP). In general, the MPP tracking (MPPT) function is the important part of all PV systems due to their powervoltage (P-V) characteristics related with weather conditions. Then, the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and low pass filter (LPF) are required to measure the voltage and current for MPPT by the digital controller, which is used to implement the PV power conditioning system (PCS). The measurement and quantization error due to rounding or truncation in ADC and the delay of LPF might degrade the reliability of MPPT. To overcome this limitation, the proposed method is proposed while improving the performances in both steady-state and dynamic responses based on the detailed investigation of its properties for availability and convexity. The performances of proposed method are evaluated with the several case studies by the PSCAD/EMTDC® simulation. Then, the experimental results are given to verify its feasibility in real-time.