Performance evaluation of maximum power point tracking approaches for PV array under PSC with differential converters

Abstract

One of the most important issue in the operation of a photovoltaic (PV) system is extracting maximum power from the PV array, especially in the partial shading condition(PSC).In this paper a PV array mathematical model with different MPPT techniques in a standalone model is validated. The characteristics of PV array are highly non-linear as they depend on temperature and irradiation. Therefore it is important to extract the optimum possible power from PV panels with control algorithms. The reduction of total efficiency of PV generation conversion is due to partial shading. PV array along with boost converter and MPPT controller are simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment. When there are changes in climatic conditions, the parameters of capacitance and inductance of the DC-DC converter will change to attain optimal efficiency. This paper presents different MPPT techniques like Perturb & observe, Incremental conductance, fuzzy logic methods to extract the optimum power from the PV panel. This paper proposes a differential power converter to overcome the PV partial shading problem along with INC control algorithm and fuzzy logic controller.