21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 4-8 September 2006, Dresden, Germany

NEW ALGORITHM APPLIED TO MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING WITHOUT BATTERIES V. Salas, E. Olas, A. Barrado and A. Lzaro Electronic Technology Department/Universidad Carlos III de Madrid Avda. de la Universidad, 30 28911 Legans (Madrid) vsalas@ing.uc3m.es ABSTRACT: The object of this paper is the presentation of a new algorithm to obtain the maximum power point from a photovoltaic generator, always with the nominal load conditions being suitable. It can be applied to any standalone systems without batteries. This algorithm only uses one parameter of measurement, the current photovoltaic generator. In order to test the algorithm, a low cost 50 WP 12 V PV converter prototype was built, with implemented digital control, located in Madrid, Spain. With the purpose of obtaining a compact and more reduced design of the converter, integrated inductive components (IIC) were used from the Ferroxcube manufacturer. Two analyses are performed: theoretical and experimental under real irradiance. Firstly, simulations were made with Matlab and corroborated by Mapple to test the algorithm based on the buck converter continuous mode operation. After that, measurements were taken for three different loads: 20 W and 50 W dc halogen lamps and dc motor. Numerous measurements were made under different sky conditions. Keywords: see enclosed list of keywords (section 2.2) 1 INTRODUCTION characteristic and its production depends mainly on the irradiance (intensity and spectral), solar geometry (incidence angle), ambient temperature, wind direction and velocity, atmospheric pressure and humidity. Thus, in order to maximize the transference of power of the generator to the motor, the motor-pump group and PV generator should be designed in such a way that their I-V curves intercept in the point closest to the maximum power point of PV generator. Nevertheless, the maximum power point is reached only a few times during a year. To solve this problem it is possible to insert a DC/DC converter between the photovoltaic generator and the motor-pump, which can control the search for the MPP (maximum power point), for any temperature and solar irradiation level at all times. These converters are normally termed MPPT (Maximum power point trackers). 2 MAXIMUM ALGORITHMS POWER POINT TRACKING

The energy production of the photovoltaic (PV) systems is the parameter that judges the efficiency of these systems. Generally, photovoltaic (PV) systems can be divided into three categories: stand-alone, gridconnection and PV hybrid systems. For places that are far from a conventional power generation system, standalone photovoltaic power supply systems, also known as off-grid solar electric systems, have been considered a good alternative. In turn, stand-alone systems can be divided into systems with or without batteries. Precisely, these systems will be the subject of this article. In any case, they produce power without access to utility. Photovoltaic cells are also being used in developing countries. Photovoltaic panels can power a b/w TV, a radio, a fan or be used for water pumping systems. In particular, a photovoltaic water pumping system consists, in general, of a PV generator, a system motorpump, a power conditioning system for interconnecting the PV generator and the motor, and an accumulation system in addition to a well and pipes. Connecting the PV generator and the motor-pump is done to insure that the motor input power is equal to the output PV power. Consequently, the resulting operating point of the connection between a PV generator and a motor-pump subsystem is obtained by finding the cut off point of I-V characteristics each other. One of the factors that determines the daily efficiency in a PV pumping system and which is necessary to take into account in its design, are the changes throughout the day of irradiation and from the given. climatology These variations are determined by the daily cycle of sunrise and sunset and by moving it to the right (if temperature is increasing) and left (if temperature is dwindling) of the maximum power point from the photovoltaic generator; thus, it is a factor to take into consideration particularly in systems that operates under fixed voltage. Additionally, the capital cost of the photovoltaic generator is high and, also, it has a nonlinear

Assuming that there is no battery present in the system, in order to tie the bus voltage at a nearly constant level, a simple control can be applied, as in references [1] and [2]. Thus, the feedback of the photovoltaic voltage (current) and the comparison with a constant voltage (current) can be used to continuously adjust the duty cycle (D) of a DC/DC converter, to operate the PV panel at a predefined operating point, close to the maximum power point, Figure 1.

Figure 1 Voltage-feedback with PWM modulation

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21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 4-8 September 2006, Dresden, Germany

The disadvantages of this configuration are the same as for the method of direct connection (photovoltaic generator + load profile). That is, the system is not able to adapt to changeable environmental conditions, such as irradiance and temperature. Other methods using one variable control can be distinguished as well, [3], [4]. Pertaining to this group are the open-voltage photovoltaic generator, the open-voltage photovoltaic cell as well as the short circuit current method. However, in these methods the photovoltaic maximum power is not obtained with exactness. Other possible methods, [5], [6], [7], are the two variables methods that use the voltage measurements, VPV, and current, IPV of the photovoltaic output power. Among others, the Differentiation, Perturbation and Observation (P&O) and the Conductance Incremental (C.I.) methods can be cited. These truly obtained the maximum power from the PV generator, however two variables are used. Nonetheless, for PV water pumping a method can be presented that only uses one variable. 3 DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW METHOD

Figure 3 Original I-V characteristic from photovoltaic generator and DC motor

Keep in mind then that it can be demonstrated that input power converter, Pin, against duty cycle, D, and the P*Buck versus D present the same maximum points for the same duty cycle values, where P*Buck= I/D. Also, P* has the same maximum as (P*)2. Thus, if the maximum value is obtained for P* it is the same as for (P*)2. For the demonstration of the method a single exponential model of the electrical characteristics of a monocrystalline PV array and an experimental generic PLOAD-VLOAD, ILOAD-VLOAD and RLOAD-VLOAD 12 V DC motor load characteristic, Figure 7, can be used, Figure 1. Then, the nonlinear PV array can be modelled [8] as IPV = f(VPV, IPV), equation 1, and rearranged to obtain IPV as a sole function of VPV, IPV = f(VPV), which can be used in the expressions for the power converters. In our case, this first analysis will be based on the buck converter with the known equations (2) to (4), where V0 = output voltage and D = duty cycle switch mode converter [9].

Figure 2 presents the general scheme of a stand-alone system without batteries where the following elements are distinguished: PV generator, DC/DC converter and load profile (formed by a fan, DC motor).

Figure 2 General scheme of a photovoltaic stand-alone system without batteries If the load is connected directly to the PV generator the operating point is the result of the intersection between the load and PV generator, Figure 2. However, a DC/DC converter is placed between the load and PV generator. The operating point should be analyzed in a different way. That is to say, there is a different operating point for every duty cycle of the switch of the DC/DC converter. The problem is finding it.. It can be approached from two points of view: from the PV generator point of view, Figure 3, IPV-VPV photovoltaic generator characteristic is static whilst the ILOAD-VLOAD is varied, for any duty cycle. Then, the operating point is moved. As observed in the aforementioned Figure 3 there exists an operating point for which the power is maximum. A similar judgment can be made from the load point of view, Figure 4. In this case, the ILOADVLOAD characteristic is static whilst the IPV-VPV photovoltaic generator characteristic is varied for any duty cycle. In any case, both methods give the same results.

Figure 7 Experimental PLOAD-VLOAD, ILOAD-VLOAD and RLOAD-VLOAD DC motor load characteristic

Then the operating point is obtained by intersection among IPV-VPV from the photovoltaic generator, and ILOAD-VLOAD from the load characteristic, experimentally obtained, Figure 7, for a 12 V DC motor.

I PV (VPV , I PV ) = I L I o (e
(1)

VPV + I PV R s ) mv t

1)

VPV + I PV R s R sh

V0 =

t on VPV T (2)
I PV = V0 P * D (3)

Pin = VPV I PV = V0
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21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 4-8 September 2006, Dresden, Germany

P * Buck =

I PV D (4)
2 I0 R

Firstly, the correct operating converter was tested. After that, different wave forms were gathered, Figure 10.

P0 = Pin =

P0 = Pin = P * buck R (6) Ip P * buck = D (7)

Therefore, if the input power converter, Pin, versus duty cycle, D, and (P*Buck)2 versus D are plotted, Figure 8, by means of simulations made by Matlab and corroborated by Mapple, based on buck converter continuous mode operation, it can be seen that both functions present the same maximum points for the same duty cycle values.
30 2.25 25 2.2

I P0 = p R D (5)

Figure 11 Photovoltaic output power (W) and irradiance (W/m2), both against local time
Secondly, measurements under real irradiance were recorded by a 34970A Agilent data logger every 30 seconds. As an example, Figure 11 shows experimental results gathered using the new algorithm. It refers to a variable day (partly cloudy). It evaluates the photovoltaic array output power (W) and irradiance (W/m2), both against local time. As observed, the system is not unstable and operates successfully even in cases of rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. Also, as the tracking efficiency is not able to be fully quantified since is not possible to know exactly how the MPPT works all the time at the maximum power point, photovoltaic array output power (W) has been plotted, in Figure 10, versus irradiance (W/m2), to show how well the device tracked. As might be expected, the photovoltaic output power is almost proportional to the irradiance. 5 CONCLUSIONS

PV output power generator (W)

20

15

2.1 10

2.05 5 PV power (I_PV/D)^2

0 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1

Duty Cycle (D)

Figure 8 Photovoltaic output power (W) and (IPV/D)2 with respect to duty cycle (D)
4 DYNAMIC EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

With the intention of testing the method, a low cost 50 W 12 VDC photovoltaic converter prototype was built, Figure 9, with implemented digital control, and located at 40 30 of latitude, in Legans, Madrid, Spain. That converter was inserted in a set-up consisting of one I55 Isofoton module, DC/DC converter and a load (dc motor or halogen lamps). To facilitate a compact and more reduced converter design, integrated inductive components (IIC) were used, from the Ferroxcube manufacturer.

(I_PV/D)^2

2.15

Based on the results presented, the following conclusions may be made: a low cost MPPT converter, based on a buck DC/DC converter with digital control implementation, has been proposed which incorporates a novel method for maximum power point tracking. In this case, the current from the PV panels is the only control variable. Such a maximum power point tracker can be used in many applications in developing countries, which have PV stand-alone systems without batteries. With the intention of obtaining a compact and more reduced design of the converter, integrated inductive components (IIC) were used in addition to surface mount electronic components.

Figure 9 Experimental DC/DC converter used to probe the new method The method was implemented by means of an algorithm for which the maximum power was obtained from PV generator every time. This algorithm was programmed in a PIC. To test the suitability of the method numerous experimental tests were made, under different sky conditions. .

The two analyses performed, the theoretical, by simulations, and the experimental under real irradiance, proved that the algorithm presented operates successfully even in cases of rapidly changing atmospheric conditions as well as different sky conditions. 6 REFERENCES

[1] A. Luque and S. Hegedus, Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2359

21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, 4-8 September 2006, Dresden, Germany

[2] J. Henna and B. Gillet, Handbook on Solar Water Pumping. IT POWER in association with Sir. W. Hacrow & Partners, 1984. [3] H.D. Maheshappa, J. Nagaraju and M. V. Murthy, An improved maximum power point tracker using a step-up converter with current locked loop, Renewable Energy, vol. 13, n 2, pp. 195-201, 1998. [4] Ch. Hua and Ch. Shen, Comparative study of peak power tracking techniques for solar storage system, in IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition (APEC98), Vol. 2, 1998, pp. 679-685. [5] Z. Salameh and Daniel Taylor, Step-up maximum power point tracker for photovoltaic arrays, Solar Energy, Vol. 44, n 1, 1990, pp. 57-61. [6] Al-Atrash, H.; Batarseh, I.; Rustom, K.; Statistical modeling of DSP-based Hill-climbing MPPT algorithms in noisy environments Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, 2005. APEC 2005. Twentieth Annual IEEE Volume 3, 6-10 March 2005 Page(s):1773 - 1777 Vol. 3 [7] K. H. Hussein, I. Muta, T. Hoshino, M. Osakada, Maximum Photovoltaic Power Tracking: an Algorithm for Rapidly Changing Atmospheric Conditions, IEE Proc. Generation, Transmission and Distribution, Vol. 142, N 1, Jan. 1995, pp. 59-64. [8] J.C.H. Phang, D.S.H. Chan, J.A. Phillips, Accurate analytical method for the extraction of solar cell model parameters, Electronics Letters, 20 (10) (1984). [9] R.W. Erikson, Fundamentals of Power Electronics, Chapman & Hall, New York, 1997.

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