2016 International Conference on Electrical Power and Energy Systems (ICEPES)

Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, India. Dec 14-16, 2016

Reference Based Maximum Power Point Tracking

Algorithm for Photo-Voltaic Power Generation
Prof. Dhaval Y. Raval Prof. Pratik J. Munjani Prof. Nasreen R. Mansoori
Assistant Professor Assistant Professor Assistant Professor
Atmiya Institute of Technology & Atmiya Institute of Technology & C.U.Shah Engineering College
Science Science Surendranagar.
Rajkot. Rajkot. [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected]

extract maximum power from PV Source.Perturb and Observe

AbstractDaily Increasing electricity demand let the world MPPT algorithm is most favorable, hill-climbing MPPT
think about alternative energy sources. Solar energy is one method. By ensuring maximum power extraction, MPPT
promising source of energy for future. Advanced solar material decouple PV source from the load. Due to this Decoupling,
provides efficient energy conversion. For maximum efficiency, storage sys. becomes essential for stand alone PV System [6].
solar system use Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm
like Perturb & Observe, Incremental Conduction etc. In stand-
This storage system include battery storage and power control
alone PV System as well as in grid connected PV system, strategies which increase cost of overall system. It is required
irradiance dependent output power should be controlled to increase/decrease injected power during several fault
properly with some advanced control strategies and storage condition in grid connected PV System [5].
devices. Proposed reference based MPPT can make PV System In this paper Reference based Maximum Power Point
to operate at any point of PV Curve to generate required power. Tracking(MPPT) Method is proposed, for small scale PV
Reference based MPPT technique has been simulated using System. Reference based MPPT extract maximum power
MATLAB/Simulink and results are investigated in this paper. during normal operation and it is also able to change power
extraction according to requirement to maintain power
KeywordsPV, Solar, MPPT, Perturb & Observe, Reference
based MPPT. balance between source and load.

I. INTRODUCTION II. TYPES OF SOLAR SYSTEM

Solar system can be categorized in two types:
Access to electricity is a basic requirement to support a
A. Standalone Solar System
growing economy. India owns 5th rank in the electricity
Standalone photovoltaic system is off-grid system, with
generation in world. Rapidly increasing demand of electricity
PV-source, DC-DC converter, Battery and inverter. It can
creates requirements of more generation of electricity. Out of
be used at remote area where electrical utility incapable to
total power generation of India, 60% is coal based power
supply its power [4].
plant, in which 55% of the unit violating air pollution
B. Grid Connected Solar System
standards which are already extremely lax [1]. Hydro power,
which serves 15.30% of total generation also has problems
like soil degradation, displacement of people [2]. Nuclear
power also has some serious issue like disposal of nuclear
waste, disposal of power plant etc. hence, to be in the race of
digitalization with other country, India should have to adept
strong steps towards renewable energy.
Solar energy is promising source of electricity for future.
Its environmental friendly nature and bulk availability make it
superior than other energy sources. As on 31 October 2015,
India has total 4579.24 MW grid connected solar plant, which
is expected to be increase in recent future [3]. Fig.1 Grid connected PV System
Solar PV System can be catogerized in two types (1) stand
alone PV System (2) Grid connected PV System. Stand alone Grid connected photovoltaic system is integrated with
PV System for remote area application includes PV Panel for power grid. In this system power grid function exactly
power generation, DC/DC conversion stage for power control like battery in standalone power system. All the excess
and sometimes DC/AC conversion stage for power energy is accepted by power grid as well as power grid
conversion to feed AC load. Due to non-linear charactersitics supply power to the load when PV system is unable to
of PV source its required to decople PV Source from load. fulfill demand.
Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm has been used to

978-1-5090-3662-2/16/$31.00 2016 IEEE 1

 I. MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING
Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm is used with
DC/DC converter or DC/AC Converter to linearize PV
source. Form the P-V Curve of Photovoltaic Cell shown in fig.
(2) it is clear that it has a non-linear characteristic.

Fig.4 Flow-chart of P&O MPPT

Fig.2P-V Curve of Blue-chip energy ASP-410M Perturb and Observe algorithm change virtual impedance
Increasing load impedance can increase the voltage of DC/DC Converter according to operating point of PV cell.
across PV cell terminal. With increase in voltage, output For boost converter as an example, in
power of PV cell increase linearly until breakdown occur in region, duty cycle is decreased to increase input side
antiparallel diode of PV cell. To ensure maximum power impedance and hence input side voltage increase and in
output PV Should be operated at Maximum Power Point region, Duty cycle is increased to
voltage . decrease input side impedance and hence input side voltage
Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm ensure that decrease.
operating voltage of PV Source always remain at III. REFERENCE BASED MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING
irrespective to load impedance. Power flow from
Proposed reference based MPPT algorithm can be useful
DC/DC or DC/AC Converter is controlled to hold input in Stand-alone PV System to maintain power balance between
voltage at . generation and load without any energy storage devices. It is
also used in grid connected PV System to change power
II. PERTURB AND OBSERVE MPPT METHOD generation during low voltage condition. To change the power
Perturb and Observe MPPT is widely used hill climbing according to reference, PV operating voltage has been
Method [7]. In P&O Method input current and voltage has controlled. PV Curve has two regions, from 0 V to  . V,
been sensed to calculate instantaneous power. Algorithm PV power rise linearly and from  .V to  .V, PV power
takes further steps according to change in instantaneous fall exponentially (fig 5).
power. Basic phenomena of P&O are described graphically in
fig (3).
Exponential
Linear Change in Fall in
power
Shift Power [ This region
Shift towards power towards [ Power should be change by should be
Increment power varying voltage within this avoided ]
Increment region ]

Fig.5 Reference based MPPT Methodology

Reference based MPPT track the provided reference power

by perturbing PV System input voltage in appropriate
direction. Operation of reference based MPPT can be
classified based on provided reference. If the reference is
Fig.3 P&O Maximum Power Point Tracking greater than  (fig 6)

Fig.6 Reference based MPPT Algorithm

is provided, then it will extract irradiation dependent I. SIMULATIONS AND RESULTS

maximum power from PV System. If the reference lower than
For Blue-chip energy ASP-410M solar module parameters
is provided, MPPT change the PV Voltage to track the
is given in table 1. Blue-chip energy ASP-410M PV Module
reference power.  to  W is available on both side of is used to form PV Array of 10 in series and 3 in parallel for
the curve but for better performance evaluation, voltage range 10.9 Kw PV System which is shown in fig (8).
should be bounded within linear region (0 V to V).
Table 1PV Cell Parameters
For reference lower than , care should be taken to
ensure that operating voltage should be in linear region. To PARAMETERS RATING
extract power lower than , PV Curve has been divided Maximum power [ ] 410.108 Watt
into 4 parts as shown in below fig (9). With , Current at maximum
8.15 Amp
curve mainly divided into two parts region below and power point [ ]
region above further these parts can be divided into Voltage at maximum
50.32 Volt
region below and region above . To get power power point [ ]
nearer to provided reference in region 1, 2 and 4 operating Short-circuit current  ] 8.77 Amp
voltage should be decrease and in region 3 operating voltage Open-circuit voltage  ] 61.06 Volt
should be increased. It makes operating point to fluctuate Ideality Factor [A] 2.564
between region 1 and 3, nearer to provided reference. Flow Number of cell in one
96
chart of reference based algorithm is shown below in fig (7). module [ ]
Temperature Coefficient at 0.004


short circuit
at open circuit -0.225


Series resistance [ ] 0.322
Parallel resistance  ] 330.13

Fig. 7 Flowchart of Reference based MPPT Algorithm Fig. 8 Reference based MPPT Algorithm

3
 For 1
& 
Reference Lower Decrease operating
than  voltage

Increase Operating Voltage 
For 3 Decrease operating
 voltage

Fig.9 Reference based MPPT operation below Pmpp

Boost converter is used as a virtual impedenace for PV

A. Simulation of DC/DC Conversion stage: with Perturb and
System to extract maximum power when operated with
Observe MPPT
MPPT Algorithm. Parameters of boost converter is provided
in below table. For perturb and observe MPPT algorithm, voltage and
current is sensed and instantaneous value of power is
Table 2Boost Converter Parameters
calculated. Perturbation is provided by memory block in
BOOST CONVERTER Simulink and Program file has been written for observation
PARAMETER VALUE REMARKS and perturbation purpose.
35.250
Inductor
H
Output
2000F
Capacitor
Load 50 -
Max Duty
0.8 -
Cycle*
Min Duty
0.15 -
Cycle*

Fig. 10 DC/DC Conversion Stage

Updating Duty Cycle

Measurement Perturbation Observation (Operating Direction)

Fig.11 Perturb and Observe MPPT

4
 Operating Voltage Observation
(To ensure operating point in
linear region)

Measurement Reference based MPPT

(Updating Duty Cycle)
Operating Power
Observation
Perturbation Provided Reference

Fig. 12 Proposed Reference Based MPPT

In stand-alone PV system during load deviation or in grid

connected PV system during a voltage sag, it might be not
possible to utilize this constant power extracted by P&O
MPPT. Proposed Reference based MPPT is useful to extract
required power from PV source. Simulation of Proposed
reference based MPPT is carried out in this section.

Fig. 13 Extracted PV Power at 1000 W / m2 Irradiance

Figure 15 Extracted PV Power with reference based MPPT at 1000 W /

Fig. 14 Output Power of DC/DC Conversion with 10000 W/ m2 Irradiance

B. Simulation of DC/DC Conversion: with Proposed

Reference Based MPPT
Perturb and observe MPPT extract maximum power from
PV source, results of the DC/DC conversion with perturb and
observe MPPT shown in above section. From the result it is
clear that with perturb and observe MPPT, non-linear PV Fig.16 Input Side Voltage of DC/DC Conversion with 1000 W / m2
source becomes irradiation dependent constant power source. irradiance

5
 [2] [Online]. Available: http://www.ucsusa.org.
[3] [Online]. Available: http://www.mnre.gov.in/mission-and-
vision-2/achievements/. [Accessed 09 12 2015].
[4] M. S. S. Mohammed and D. D. Devaraj, "Simulation and
Analysis of Stand-alone Photovoltaic System with Boost
Converter using MATLAB/Simulink," in Internation
Conference on Circuit Power and Computing Technology,
Mar. 2014, pp.814-821.
[5] C. Y. Tang, Y. T. Chen and Y.M. Chen, "PV Power System
with Multi-Mode Operation and Low-Voltage Ride-Through
Capability," IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics,
vol.62, no.12, pp.7524-7533, Jun. 2015.
Figure 17 Duty Cycle of Reference Based MPPT and Comparison with
Duty Cycle of P&O MPPT [6] .Xiong Liu, Peng Wang, Poh Chiang Loh, Optimal
Coordination Control for Stand-alone PV System with
Reference based MPPT algorithm divided into two parts Nonlinear Load. International Power Electronics Conference,
(1) for reference above the maximum power of PV System Oct. 2010, pp.104-109.
(to extract maximum power during normal condition). (2) for [7] H. Abu-Rub, M. Malinowski and K. Al-Haddad, PV Energy
reference below the maximum power of PV System (to Conversion System in Power Electronics for Renewable
extract required power during abnormal condition). During Energy Systems, Transportation and Industrial Applications,
normal condition reference above maximum power is 1st ed. United Kingdom: Wiley 2014, pp.160-195.
selected and algorithm works as shown in fig (6). During
abnormal condition, to extract required power, within linear
range of PV algorithm work as described in fig (9).
Simulation diagram with detailed description about each
section is provided in fig (12).
Reference based MPPT provide required amount of power
followed by provided reference. Here, in the waveform,

reference is scaled as . For 0 to 0.2 s provided
reference is higher than maximum power hence it will work
exactly like P&O MPPT, which can be seen from Duty cycle
of both MPPT Techniques. As the provided reference is
change from 0.2 to 0.8 s, which is lower than maximum
power, Reference Based MPPT increase Duty cycle to
operate PV source at lower Voltage than to extract
power lower than at the same time P&O is simulated to
get idea about the behavior of P&O MPPT during different
operating point and make it easy to differentiate between both
techniques. As DC/DC stage is controlled using Reference
Based MPPT hence at lower references P&O continuously
try to increase the PV voltage by decreasing duty cycle at
minimum value.
II. CONCLUSION
With Perturb and Observe MPPT PV System work as
irradiance dependent power source and becomes completely
decoupled from load. With reference based MPPT load
variation for stand-alone PV System or line Voltage for grid
connected PV System can become source of reference power
to extract required power from PV System without any
energy storage support. As lowering operating point of PV
System is waste of energy this technique only profitable to
small scale PV System.
III. REFERENCES
[1] S. K. Guttikunda and P. Jawahar, "Coal Based Thermal Power
Plants in India An Assessment of Atmospheric Emissions,
Particulate Pollution, And Health Impacts"
UrbanEmissions.Info-2011.