2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT T ECHNIQUES IN CONTROL , OPTIMIZATION AND SIGNAL P ROCESSING
Variable Step Size Perturb and Observe
MPPT Algorithm for Standalone Solar
Photovoltaic System
Riby John
Dept. of ECE
Amal Jyothi College of
Engineering
Kanjirappally, India
Abstract— The maximum power obtained from a solar
photovoltaic system varies due to the variation in the
atmospheric condition. Maximum Power Point
Tracking (MPPT) controller is implemented to track
the maximum power with respect to the changes in the
weather conditions to efficiently operate the solar
Photovoltaic (PV) system. In this paper, a comparative
study between different P&O algorithms such as
conventional Perturbation & Observation (P&O)
MPPT and variable step size Perturb & Observe (VSS
P&O) MPPT are presented. The performance study of
standalone solar PV system is carried out under
various weather conditions with different MPPT
controller. DC-DC boost converter is adopted as
power conditioning unit.
Keywords— Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT);
Photovoltaic (PV); Perturb and Observe (P&O);
Variable Step Size Perturb & Observe; MATLAB.
I. INTRODUCTION
The world’s energy need is ever increasing. The techno-
economic growth of the developing countries, the growing
population are the two factors that stimulates the energy
demand. There is a high need for renewable sources of
energy over the coming years, due to the depletion of
conventional sources of energy. Renewable energy
technologies have a great potential in improving the
environmental security. One of the prominent renewable
source is the solar energy. Solar energy from the sun,
available in the form of light and heat is harnessed by
using mainly two technologies, Solar Photovoltaic (SPV)
system and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) to produce
electricity. PV cells convert the sun’s radiation directly
into electricity which is based on the photovoltaic effect.
PV system is an attractive option due to zero CO2
emission, silent in operation and maintenance cost is less.
Standalone SPV system is used for street lighting, water
pumping applications and also for electric vehicles [1].
SPV system can also be integrated to the grid for hybrid
system application [2].
978-1-5090-4778-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
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Sheik Mohammed S Richu Zachariah
Dept. of ECE Dept. of Mech.Engg.
Amal Jyothi College of Amal Jyothi College of
Engineering Engineering
Kanjirappally, India Kanjirappally, India
The performance of SPV system mainly depends on
certain environmental such as temperature, solar
irradiation and shading. Maximum Power Point (MPPT) is
used to ensure transfer of maximum power from the SPV
to load irrespective of the environmental conditions. It is
based on the impedance matching between PV module and
load. Various tracking algorithms are used in SPV system
to adjust the duty cycle of the power conditioning unit (dc-
dc converter) thereby matching the impedance [3].
In this paper, a comparison between the variants of P&O
MPPT algorithm is presented. A conventional P&O
MPPT, VSS P&O with different step size values are
considered. MATLAB based simulation model is
developed , simulated under various input conditions, the
obtained results are compared and disucssed.
This paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, the
mathematical model of PV module is explained. A
description on the requirement of MPPT in SPV is
discussed in Section 3. In Section 4, P&O MPPT algorithm
is briefly explained. The proposed MPPT algorithm is
presented in Section 5 and in section 6, simulation results
are presented and discussed. Section 7 gives the conclusion
of the paper.
II.MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF PV MODULE
A solar cell is a p-n junction diode made of semiconductor
material. When the light is incident at the junction
electron-hole pairs are generated. When an ideal solar cell
act as current source, current produced by the solar cell is
directly proportional to irradiation falling on it . This
behavior of cell deviates due electrical and optical losses
[4].
SPV cell consists of a current source (Ipv), diode (D),
parallel resistor (Rsh) and series resistor (Rse) . The value of
Rse is low and that of Rsh is extremely high and therefore
the Rsh value is normally neglected in the simplified model
of PV cell. The PV cell voltage is very low (approx.. 0.58
V). Hence, several PV cells are interconnected to form a
module. SPV cells are connected in series to give required
 2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT T ECHNIQUES IN CONTROL , OPTIMIZATION AND SIGNAL P ROCESSING

voltage and to get the desired current the cells are III.MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING
connected in parallel. Fig 1. shows the simplified model of
solar PV cell [5-6]. The output power of a PV system changes due to the
change in environmental condition and thereby the
efficiency get decreased. The voltage-current
characteristics of a PV module at different irradiation
obtained by simulation is shown in fig. 2 and Fig. 3 shows
the voltage-power characteristics at different irradiation
and constant temperature.

Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 shows the voltage-current characteristics

and voltage-power characteristics of a PV module at
different temperature respectively. It is seen that when the
irradiation changes there is a change in the module current
and voltage remains almost constant. When the
temperature increases the module voltage decreases with a
slight variation in the module current.

Fig. 2 I-V characteristics of SPV module at different

Fig 1. Simplified model of a PV cell [6] irradiation

The output current of a PV cell is given by

I I PV  I d (1)

(2)

The Shockley equation is given as Fig. 2 P-V characteristics of SPV module at different
irradiation
= (3)

The saturation current is calculated by using

(4)

The reverse saturation current is given by

Fig. 4 I-V characteristics of PV module at different
(5) temperature

3
Where,
q - charge of an electron equals 1.6 × 10-19 coulombs
Current (A)

2
A - diode ideality factor which is taken as 1.3 T = 30o c
T = 400 C
k - Boltzmann constant equals 1.38 × 10-23 J/K 1 T = 50o C

Eg - band gap energy of a solar cell (1.12eV) T = 60o C

Ns - number of series connected cell 0

Tc - operating temperature in Kelvin 0 5 10 Voltage
15 (V) 20 25 30
Tr - reference temperature respectively in Kelvin. Fig. 5 P-V characteristics of PV module at different
temperature
The diode saturation current depends on the cell
temperature [7].

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 2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT T ECHNIQUES IN CONTROL , OPTIMIZATION AND SIGNAL P ROCESSING
It is clearly depicted that as the cell temperature and solar
irradiation varies the module output power also varies. The
MPPT controllers are used in SPV system to track the
point at which power is maximum. Fig. 6 shows a PV
system with MPPT controller. MPPT controller controls
the operation of a DC-DC converter. The converter duty
cycle is adjusted in such a way to reach the maximum
power point. MPPT algorithms should be included in the
PV system to attain the maximum efficiency.
Fig. 6 PV system with MPPT controller [11]
Different types of MPPT algorithms are discussed in the
literatures [8-10]. The most commonly used algorithms are
Perturb and Observe [11] and Incremental Conductance
[12] MPPT algorithm. Some of the other MPPT algorithms
presented in the literatures are short circuit current, open
circuit voltage algorithm [13]. Intelligence technique based
MPPT algorithms are also implemented [14].
IV.PERTURB AND OBSERVE MPPT
ALGORITHM
The maximum power output obtained from a PV module
varies due to change in cell temperature and solar
irradiation. In order to obtain the maximum peak point
during the variable conditions an MPPT algorithm is
employed in SPV system. The P&O method works by
increase / decrease the module voltage to find maximum
output power. If dPpv /dVpv is positive, which is to the left
side of the MPP, the voltage is increased to reach the MPP.
When dPpv/dVpv is negative, the voltage is decreased to
reach the MPP. The step size of a conventional P&O
MPPT is a fixed value (dD = 0.01). The algorithm
increase/decrease the duty cycle in steps until the MPP is
reached. The step size is changed based on the output of
the previous perturbation. If the output power increases
due to the last perturbation then, the next perturbation
follows the same direction. If the output power decreases
due to the last perturbation then, the next perturbation
follows the opposite direction. P&O algorithm is the
simplest algorithm and the implementation is also very
easy. But, the algorithm is not suitable for rapidly varying
weather condition due to the slow tracking with step size.
The output voltage and current signals oscillate at the
steady state [15]. The flow chart of a conventional P&O
algorithm is shown in fig. 7.
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Fig. 7 Flow Chart of P&O Algorithm
V.VARIABLE STEP SIZE P&O MPPT
ALGORITHM
A variable step size P&O is proposed to overcome the
drawbacks of P&O algorithm. The proposed algorithm
increases the tracking speed and also to reduce the
oscillation. In this algorithm dP/dV is compared with an
error and depending on the value of error corresponding
step is given. If the operating point is far away from the
MPP, the algorithm gives large step value and a small step
value is given by the algorithm when the operating point is
close to the MPP.
Two different cases are considered. A VSS P&O MPPT is
operated at different set of duty cycle values and the
performance is studied by simulation. VSS P&O Type1
has duty cycle values of dDbig = 0.025 and dDsmall = 0.005.
Type2 variable step size P&O has dDbig = 0.02 and dDsmall
= 0.005. dDbig helps to reach to reach the peak power point
quickly and dDsmall reduces the oscillation around the peak
power point when compared with conventional P&O
algorithm. Fig. 8 illustrates the flow chart of the variable
step size P&O algorithm.
VI.SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fig. 9 shows the simulation model of a standalone PV
system with MPPT algorithm developed in MATLAB. The
solar PV system with different MPPT controllers (a)
conventional P&O MPPT (b) variable step size P&O
Type1(dDbig = 0.025 and dDsmall = 0.005) (c) variable step
size P&O Type2 (dDbig= 0.02 and dDsmall = 0.005) are
simulated under different conditions for performance
analysis. The performance of P&O algorithm is analyzed
 2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT T ECHNIQUES IN CONTROL , OPTIMIZATION AND SIGNAL P ROCESSING

at varying temperature while maintaining the irradiation
constant and vice-versa. A 40W solar PV module is
selected for this study where Voc = 21.9V, Isc = 2.45A,
Vmpp = 17.4V, Impp = 2.3A and tested under Standard Test
Condition (STC is G =1000W/m2, T = 25℃ ).
For a conventional P&O the time taken to obtain the
required duty cycle is more while the proposed MPPT
algorithm is able to track with more accuracy under
different irradiation condition. For the two cases of
variable step size P&O MPPT oscillation is reduced in
comparison with conventional P&O. But, the type1 of the
variable step size with dDbig = 0.025, dDsmall = 0.005 gives
a faster response and settles down with reduced oscillation
than the type 2 with dDbig = 0.02, dDsmall = 0.005.
0.4

Duty Cycle
0.2
VSS P&O t y pe1
VSS P&O t y pe2
P&O

0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Time
Fig. 10 Variation in Irradiation

Fig. 8 Flow Chart of Variable Step Size P&O Algorithm

Irradiation (W/m ^2)

1000

500

0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Time (seconds)
Fig. 11 Different Temperature levels

0.4
Duty

VSS P&O t y pe1

0.2 VSS P&O t y pe2
P&O

Fig. 9 Standalone PV system with MPPT Algorithms 0

0.06 0.08 0.02 0.04
0.1 0.12
Time
Fig. 10 shows the variation of irradiation with respect to Fig. 12 Duty Cycle at different irradiation and constant
time. Temperature is maintained at 25 Fig. 11 shows the temperature
variation of temperature with respect to time and the
irradiation is maintained constant (G = 1000 W/m2 ).
Temperature (C)

60
Duty cycle, Output power of PV (Ppv), Output power of
load (Pload) is drawn for conventional and variable step size 40
P&O algorithms. Fig. 12, Fig. 13 and Fig. 14 shows duty
20
cycle, Ppv, Pload respectively at varying irradiation and
constant temperature for the selected algorithms. 0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
Time (seconds)
Fig. 13 Ppv at different irradiation and constant
temperature

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 2017 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT T ECHNIQUES IN CONTROL , OPTIMIZATION AND SIGNAL P ROCESSING

Slow step response is obtained in case of a conventional

50 P&O. Type1 and Type2 variable step size P&O MPPT
algorithm shows a faster response with dDbig = 0.025 and
dDsmall = 0.005 for Type1 and dDbig= 0.02 and dDsmall =
Ppv

VSS P&O t y pe1

0.005 for Type 2. But, Type1 of variable step size P&O is
VSS P&O t y pe2 found to have reduced oscillation when compared with the
P&O
other two. From the simulations obtained it is seen that the
0 proposed variable step size P&O MPPT algorithm is
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
efficient at varying climatic condition.
Time
Fig. 14 Pload at different irradiation and constant
temperature
V.CONCLUSION
A variable step size P&O algorithm is proposed in this
Fig. 15, Fig. 16 and Fig. 17 shows the Duty cycle, Ppv and
paper. The proposed algorithm has two cases and operated
Pload respectively for varying temperature and irradiation
at different values of duty cycles. PV module and MPPT
remaining constant. Type1 and Type2 of the variable step
algorithms are simulated in MATLAB/Simulink is tested
size P&O can efficiently track the duty cycle with reduced
at varying irradiation and temperature. A comparison
oscillation than conventional P&O under varying
between the conventional and the proposed P&O algorithm
temperature. The tracking speed for type1 (dDbig = 0.025,
is done. Conventional P&O algorithm is not much
dDsmall = 0.005) variable step size P&O is more.
effective under varying weather condition to obtain the
maximum output power due to its slower response at fixed
duty cycle. It is noted that the tracking speed is increased
40 and oscillation is reduced at MPP in the case of a variable
step size P&O algorithm.
Pload

VSS P&O t y pe1

20 VSS P&O t y pe2
P&O
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