SHRI GOVINDRAM SEKSARIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE

PROJECT REPORT ON
MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING
OF PV ARRAYS IN SIMULINK

PRESENTED BY:

PRIYANSHU SINGH (0801EE191056)

 INTRODUCTION
The development of renewable energy has been an increasingly critical topic in the 21st century
with the growing problem of global warming and other environmental issues. With greater
research, alternative renewable sources such as wind, water, geothermal and solar energy have
become increasingly important for electric power generation. Although photovoltaic cells are
certainly nothing new, their use has become more common, practical, and useful for people
worldwide. The most important aspect of a solar cell is that it generates solar energy directly to
electrical energy through the solar photovoltaic module, made up of silicon cells. Although each
cell outputs are relatively low voltage, if many are connected in series, a solar photovoltaic
module is formed. A photovoltaic module is used efficiently only when it operates at its optimum
operating point.

Unfortunately, the performance of any given solar cell depends on several variables. At any
moment the operating point of a photovoltaic module depends on varying insolation levels, sun
direction, irradiance, temperature, as well as the load of the system. The amount of power that
can be extracted from a photovoltaic array also depends on the operating voltage of that array.
As we will observe, a maximum power point (MPP) will be specified by its voltage-current (V-I)
and voltage-power (V-P) characteristic curves. Solar cells have relatively low efficiency ratings.
Thus, operating at the MPP is desired because it is at this point that the array will operate at the
highest efficiency. With constantly changing atmospheric conditions and load variables, it is very
difficult to utilize all of the solar energy available without a controlled system. For the best
performance, it becomes necessary to force the system to operate at its optimum power point.
The solution for such a problem is a Maximum Peak Power Tracking system (MPPT).

PROBLEM STATEMENT
To fight against the global warming and any other problem that related with fossil fuels, most
countries are switching to renewable energy source like sunlight, biomass, hydro and wind. Even
though some countries already use renewable energy source, the renewable energy technologies
are not appropriate in some application and location. However, among several renewable energy
source, photovoltaic array is used in many applications such as water pumping, battery charging and
street lighting. In this application the load can be demand more power than photovoltaic (PV) system
can deliver. Therefore, to achieve the power required, power conversion system is used to maximize the
power from PV system.
 Block Diagram Of The System

1)PV Array: A photovoltaic array is a linked collection of photovoltaic modules, one of which
is shown in the picture to the right. Each photovoltaic (PV) module is made of multiple
interconnected PV cells. The cells convert solar energy into direct-current electricity. PV
modules are sometimes called solar panels, although that term better applies to solar-thermal
water or air heating panels. Photovoltaic modules distinguish themselves from solar cells in that
they are conveniently sized and packaged in weather-resistant housings for easy installation and
deployment in residential, commercial, and industrial applications. The application and study of
photovoltaic devices is known as photovoltaics.

PV cells operate via the photovoltaic effect which describes how certain materials can convert
sunlight into electricity; they absorb some of the energy of the Sun and cause current to flow
between two oppositely charged layers. Individual solar cells provide a relatively small amount
of power, but electrical output can be significant when connected together. The cells, modules,
and arrays can be connected in series or parallel, or typically a combination, to create a desired
peak voltage output.
2) Boost Converter: DC-DC converters are also known as Choppers. Here we will have a look
at the Step Up Chopper or Boost converter which increases the input DC voltage to a specified
DC output voltage. A typical Boost converter is shown below.
The input voltage source is connected to an inductor. The solid-state device which operates as a
switch is connected across the source. The second switch used is a diode. The diode is connected
to a capacitor, and the load and the two are connected in parallel as shown in the figure above.
The inductor connected to input source leads to a constant input current, and thus the Boost
converter is seen as the constant current input source. And the load can be seen as a constant
voltage source. The controlled switch is turned on and off by using Pulse Width
Modulation(PWM). PWM can be time-based or frequency based. Frequency-based modulation
has disadvantages like a wide range of frequencies to achieve the desired control of the switch
which in turn will give the desired output voltage. Time-based Modulation is mostly used for
DC-DC converters. It is simple to construct and use. The frequency remains constant in this type
of PWM modulation. The Boost converter has two modes of operation. The first mode is when
the switch is on and conducting.
Mode 1:
When the switch is closed the inductor gets charged through the input DC voltage and stores the
energy. In this mode inductor current rises (exponentially) but for simplicity we assume that the
charging and the discharging of the inductor are linear. The diode blocks the current flowing and
so the load current remains constant which is being supplied due to the discharging of the
capacitor.

Mode 2:
In mode 2 the switch is open and so the diode becomes short circuited. The energy stored in the
inductor gets discharged through opposite polarities which charge the capacitor. The load current
remains constant throughout the operation. The equivalent load resistance seen by the PV-panel.

3) P and O method (MPPT Method):

Solar cells produce energy by performing two basic tasks: (1) absorption of light energy to create
free charge carriers within a material. (2) the separation of the negative and positive charge
carriers in order to produce electric current that flows in one direction across terminals that have
a voltage difference. Solar cells perform these tasks with their semiconducting materials. The
separation function is typically achieved through a p-n junction. Solar cell regions are made up
of materials that have been “doped” with different impurities. This creates an excess of free
electrons (n-type) on one side of the junction, and a lack of free electrons (p-type) on the other.
This behavior creates an electrostatic field with moving electrons and a solar cell is essentially, a
large-area diode (Richard, 2006). Researches on renewable energies have received much
attention due to their capability of reducing the fossil fuels usage and mitigating the
environmental issues such as the greenhouse effect and air pollution (Liu and Huang,2011).
Among the renewable energies, the photovoltaic (PV) generation system has 14 become
increasingly important as a renewable source due to its advantages such as absence of fuel costs,
low maintenance, requirement and environmental friendliness. However, in PV generation
system, the conversion efficiency is very low, especially under low irradiation, and the amount
of the electric power generated by solar cells vary with weather conditions. Therefore, a
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method is used to maximize the harvested solar energy
from the solar panel. In the MPPT system, the system works to find the maximum power point
(MPP) via powerful microcontroller. There are many ways of distinguishing and grouping
methods that seek the MPP from a photovoltaic (PV) generator (Salas et al, 2006). All the
different algorithms have their own pros and cons. In addition, each PV has its own voltage-
current (V-I) characteristics.
It is used widely in seeking it using different algorithms. There are many algorithms in tracking
the MPP, for instances, Perturb and observe algorithm, incremental conductance algorithm,
parasitic capacitances, constant voltage control, constant current control, pilot cell, artificial
intelligent method.
Basically, P&O algorithm states that when the operating voltage of the PV panel is perturbed by
a small increment, the resulting change in power ΔP is positive, then we are going in the
direction of MPP and we keep on perturbing in the same direction. If the ΔP is negative, we are
going away from the direction of MPP and the sign of perturbation supplied has to be changed.
. The point marked as MPP is the Maximum Power Point, the theoretical maximum output
obtainable from the PV panel. By considering A and B as two operating points, we can move
towards the MPP by providing a positive perturbation to the voltage. On the other hand, we can
move toward MPP via point B when there is a negative change in power.
Flow Chart:
Code of P And O Method to be feeded in MATLAB User defined Function:

Simulink Model:
Graphs: