18th international conference on Sciences and Techniques of Automatic control & STA'2017-PID4573-REC

computer engineering - STA'2017, Monastir, Tunisia, December 21-23, 2017

MPPT controllers for PV array panel connected to

Grid
Hedi Trabelsi Mourad Elloumi
[email protected] [email protected]

Hafedh Abid Maher Kharrat

[email protected] [email protected]

Lab-STA, National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax, Tunisia.

Abstract—This paper proposes a grid-connected Photovoltaic state model at the end of the second section. The MPPT
energy system through a three-phases DC-AC converter. For this controllers with FOV and FSC methods is defined in section 3.
purpose, the characterization of the PV system, integrating the The description of the DC-AC converter connected to the grid
maximum power point strategy (MPPT) based on Fractional is presented in section 4. To show the performance of the
Open-Circuit Voltage (FOV) and Fractional Short-Circuit
proposed MPPT algorithm and the obtained characteristic of
Current (FSC) methods, is developed and treated under the
software MATLAB / Simulink. Thereafter, the proposed design the PV connected to the grid, some simulation results of
of three phases grid-connected inverter system has been photovoltaic energy process are discussed in section 5.
simulated. Finally, conclusions are drawn in the final section.

Keywords— Photovoltaic array panel; MPPT control; Grid; II. PRELIMINARIES STUDIES
Boost Converter; DC-AC Inverter; PI controller.
The schematic overview of the Photovoltaic energy
I. INTRODUCTION system, which is considered in this research, can be
represented as seen in Figure 1.
In recent years, the demand of electrical energy is
increasing around the world. It has motivated the use of new
renewable energy sources, which has become more attractive
and abundantly available.
Photovoltaic energy is one of the important sources of
renewable energy that results from the direct transformation of
sunlight into electrical energy by means of cells generally
based on crystalline silicon. Moreover, the production of this
energy is nonlinear and depends essentially on climatic
conditions such as irradiation and temperature.
Figure 1. Photovoltaic energy system.
PV array panel use a maximum power point tracking
technique to continuously deliver the highest power when 1. PV Array Panel
variations in the irradiance and temperature [3,4].
An equivalent circuit of a solar cell is given as :
Several algorithms of MPPT control are developed in the
literature, based on various methods, such as : Perturb and
Observe, Incremental Conductance, Fractional Open-Circuit
Voltage and Fractional Short-Circuit Current algorithms [1-3].
In order to make the connection between the PV panel and
the grid, a DC-AC converter is used. This last converts the DC
link voltages to the synchronous voltages of the grid [5-6], [8-
9].
The rest of this research is organised as : the model of PV
Figure 2. Circuit diagram of a photovoltaic cell.
panel and the influence of climatic parameters such as
irradiation and temperature on the PV array panel are where Ipv represent the output current generated by the PV
presented in section 2. The DC-DC converter is modeled by a panel under standard climatic conditions of the temperature

978-1-5386-1084-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 505

 and the irradiation (T=25°C and G=1000W/m2). It is described In fact, the current and the power of the PV panel are
by the following equation : practically proportional to this factor.
ª V + Rs I º V + Rs I
I pv = I ph − I 0 « exp( ) − 1» − ( ), (1) 5
V-I Curve

¬ Vt ¼ R sh 4.5
T=10°C
n kT
4
T=20°C
G=1000W/m2
Vt = s 3.5 T=30°C

q 3 T=35°C

I (A )
The photocurrent of the photovoltaic panel is modeled by :
2.5

G
I ph = ( I cc + K I ΔT )
1.5
(2)
Gn 0.5
1

The saturation current I d can be expressed by : 0

0 5 10 15 20 25

V(v)
V pv + Rs I pv
I d = I s [exp( ) − 1] (3) Figure 5. Temperature influence on the I-V characteristic of the PV panel.
nVt
V-P Curve
The current in the resistor R p is given by : 90
T=10°C
80
T=20°C
V pv + Rs I pv T=30°C G=1000W/m2
Ir =
70
(4) T=35°C
Rp 60

50
It should be noted that the electrical characteristic of the P(W )
40
photovoltaic panel depends on the irradiation as well as the
temperature conditions. The following Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6
30

prove respectively the influence of these two previous factors 20

on the (P-V) and the (I-V) characteristics curves. 10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

5
V-I Curve V(v)
4.5
Figure 6. Temperature influence on the P-V characteristic of the PV panel.
4

3.5 From Figures 5 and 6, it can be mentioned that the

3 temperature is also an important parameter in the behavior of
solar cells.
I(A )

2.5

2
G=600W/m2 Indeed, if the temperature increases, the current of the PV cell
1.5
G=700W/m2
also increases, but the maximum power of the panel decreases.
T=25°C
1
G=800W/m2
0.5
G=1000W/m 2
2. DC-DC Boost Converter Model
0
0 5 10
V(v)
15 20 25
The DC-DC power converter is necessary to the
Figure 3. Irradiation influence on the I-V characteristic of the PV panel. photovoltaic generating process as though it insure the
adaptation of a photovoltaic array panel and the load. In this
90
V-P Curve field, various DC-DC converters are realized like the Buck
80
G=600W/m 2 converter, the Boost converter and the Buck Boost one. The
G=700W/m 2 T=25°C use and the choice of the required one depends on desired
performance criteria and the expertise of the engineer. In this
70
G=800W/m 2
60
G=1000W/m2 framework, the DC-DC converter is connected to the PV array
50
panel, in order to track the maximum power generation. In this
P (W )

40 instance, we adopt a boost converter as the required DC-DC

30 power one [1].
20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25

V(v)

Figure 4. Irradiation influence on the P-V characteristic of the PV panel.

From Figures 3 and 4, it can be remarked that the irradiation is

a very substantial parameter in the behavior of solar cells. Figure 7. Boost converter.

506
The state space average model of a DC-DC Boost converter is It should be noted that the introduce of a static switch in to
defined as follows : the PV process is essential, in order to measure the open-
diL 1 circuit voltage.
= (V1 − V2 (1 − α )) (5)
dt L 2. Fractional Short-Circuit Current Method
dV2 1 V
= (i L (1 − α ) − 2 ) (6)
dt C R This technique is based on using the proportionality
where iL is the current on the inductance L and α is the duty relationship between the short-circuit current I cc and the
ratio of the Pulse-Width-Modulation (PWM) signal. optimal current I MPP .
III. MPPT CONTROL TECHNIQUES The fundamental relationship is illustrated as follows :

Let us note that the solar irradiation and the temperature I MPP = K i * I cc (8)
conditions have an influence on the P-V characteristic of the
PV process. In this sense, an operating point change is where K i is a constant factor which varies between 0,85 and
introduced in the PV system. As a result, an MPPT control 0,92 [2].
technique is needed in order to track the optimal operating
point of maximum power. In this field various MPPT control The FSC method is described by the Flowchart in Figure 9.
approaches have been developed in the literature. In what is
follows, we are interested in the study of Fractional Open-
Circuit Voltage (FOV) and Fractional Short-Circuit Current
(FSC) approaches [3,4].

1. Fractional Open-Circuit Voltage Method

The FOV algorithm is defined by a linear relationship

between the open circuit voltage Voc and the optimal one VMPP.
The fundamental relationship is illustrated as follows :

VMPP = K v *Voc (7)

where K v is a constant factor which varies between 0,73 and

0,8.
A Flowchart, which describes the FOV method, is [1] :

Figure 9. Flowchart of the FSC method.

It can be mentioned that this approach requiers the short-

circuit current measurements. In this case, the insertion of a
static switch connected in parallel to the PV process is
necessary, in order to procure these measurements.

IV. GRID-CONNECTED PV GENERATION SYSTEM

Inverter technology is an important technology to have

safety and reliable grid interconnection operation of PV solar
process. It is also required to generate high quality power to
AC utility.
The DC-AC inverter is the main component for controlling
the power flow in the grid, in order to achieve grid
interconnection by converting the DC current from the PV
Figure 8. Flowchart of the FOV method.

507
model to a sinusoidal signal synchronized with the grid. The Table 1 : Characteristics of the PV array panel.
inverter is also used to stabilize the DC bus voltage at a Np = 1
specific value because the output voltage of the PV panel Ns = 36
depends on the weather conditions and the MPPT effect [5-6]. q = 1.6e-19 C
KI = 0.00171A/°C
It should be noted that to increase the output voltage of the
A = 1.92
DC-DC Boost converter, we introduce another DC-DC
Eg = 1.1
converter with PI controller connected to the first one. After
that, a DC bus is added to filtrate the obtained signal. Rs = 0.09 Ω
Rp = 100 Ω
The following Figure illustrates the topology of the Pmax = 79W
inverter used for the grid connection. K = 1.38.10-23J/K
Icc = 4.8A
Voc = 21.38V

40
Variation of temperature
38

36

34

32

T (° C )
30

28

26

Figure 10. Diagram of the PV system connected to the grid. 24

22
where Va, Vb and Vc represent the AC grid phase voltages.
The PWM is used to control the six switches presented in 20
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

the inverter. Time(s)

The waveform quality is improved by connectiong an RL
Figure 11. Variation of Temperature.
filter with the DC-AC inverter and the grid [7-8].
The resonance frequency of the filter is given by : 1100
Variation of irradiation
Rf
ωr = (9) 1000
Lf
where 900
G (W /m 2 )

ωr : Resonance frequency 800

R f : Filter resistance
700

L f : Filter inductance
600

V. SIMULATION RESULTS 500

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Time(s)
To evaluate the developed theoretical studies as well as to
prove the validity of the proposed MPPT control approaches, Figure 12. Variation of Irradiation.
we simulate the behavior of the energy conversion system
with the software package Matlab / Simulink. In this case, the We have selected in this test, three pairs of irradiation and
main characteristics of the PV process are presented in table 1 temperature. Let us note that for each pair there exists only
under 25°C and 1000 W/m². one optimal operating point which can be procured from the
Adding that the variation of the solar irradiation and the FOV and FSC, MPPT controllers.
temperature are applied abruptly as delineated in Figures 11 The evolution curves of the voltage and the PV current are
and 12. illustrated respectively in Figures 13 and 14.

508
 25
Evolution of PV output Voltage Even of these variations, the MPPT algorithms trackes the
maximum power point.
Therefore, these results prove the efficiency of MPPT
20
controllers with the FOV and the FSC approaches.

15 In this example, in order to increase the output voltage of

the DC-DC converter, we connect to the previous element
V (v )

another DC-DC converter with PI controller.

10
Vref
FOV Figure16 depicts the current signal waveform of the PV
5 model after connection with the DC-AC inverter.
FSC
0
8
Current at AC bus
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Time(s) 6

Figure 13. PV output voltage response based on MPPT controls. 4

5
Evolution of PV current 2

Ia b c(A )
4.5 Iref 0

4 FOV -2
3.5 FSC
-4
3 Ia
Ib
I(A )

-6
2.5
Ic
2 -8
7.5 7.52 7.54 7.56 7.58 7.6 7.62 7.64 7.66 7.68 7.7
1.5
Time(s)
1

0.5 Figure 16. Grid current out of three phase waveform.

It can be remarked that the current wave obtained from the

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Time(s) inverter have the shapes of three-phases signal. Indeed, the

Figure 14. PV current response based on MPPT controls.
DC-AC inverter converts the frequency, the current and the
voltage signals from the PV system to the synchronous
The evolution curves of PV power which are obtained frequency of the utility grid.
from the used MPPT controllers, are illustred in Figure 15.
VI. CONCLUSION
Evolution of PV power In this research paper, a grid-connected photvoltaic energy
90
process has been proposed. Two MPPT controllers with FOV
80 and FSC approaches have be developed and utilized to deduce
70 the required optimal operating point which design to the
60
utmost maximum power.
A DC-DC Boost converter with PI controller is added to
P (W )

50
the first one in order to increase and stabilize the output DC
40
voltage.
30
Pref
The simulation results prove the performance and the
20
FOV efficiency of the developed theoretical research and the
10
FSC proposed MPPT algorithms for tracking the optimal operating
0 point in spite of the solar irradiation and the temperature
variations.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Time(s)
Figure 15. PV power response based on MPPT controls. References
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