48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

LAB 3 –MATLAB SIMULINK OF MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING

FOR PV SYSTEM USING CONSTANT VOLTAGE REFERENCE

1 Purpose

This lab exercise builds upon the understanding of PV panel through Lab 1 and power conversion through Lab 2
and develops a simple maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for PV system using the same buck converter in Lab
2. In this lab, students will use the MATLAB Simulink to write a code and implement a constant voltage reference
MPPT method and test it by using the same PV panel that built in lab 1.

2 Introduction

As we have learned in Lab 1 that the PV cell has a non-linear electrical behaviour, and there is only one maximum
power point (MPP) for a given solar intensity level. However this MPP changes when the solar intensity level
changes. A fixed resistor will not be able to achieve a continuous maximum power point tracking performance.
The power converter however acts as a variable resistor through pulse-width modulation (PWM). The change of
duty cycle of the power switches varies the equivalent resistance seen by the PV panel; hence, tracking the MPP
continuously.

Figure 1 shows a circuit diagram of the main connections for this laboratory exercise. The buck converter is the
same converter circuit in Lab 2.

Constant voltage reference MPPT is an approximate MPPT method. As shown in Figure 2, a fixed resistor can
only provide one single MPP for a given range of solar intensity levels. However, for constant voltage reference
MPPT method, the operating voltage points will be always fixed due to the feedback regulation of the PV cell/panel
terminal voltage through the voltage divider and microcontroller. Although, similar to the fixed resistor approach,
only one true MPP can be tracked, the other operating points under different solar intensity levels are much closer
to the actual MPPs. This method is often used due to its simplicity of implementation as only PV voltage is sensed.
Other more advanced methods such as Perturb and Observe, as we will work on in Lab 4, might require sensing of
both PV voltage and current. This adds complexity and reliability issue in the implementation.

The working principle of the constant voltage reference MPPT is briefly explained as follows: The PV panel voltage
VP V is sensed by using the voltage sensor. An internal reference voltage is preset in MATLAB code and compared
with the reading of the sensed voltage Vpv . Corresponding action, namely, changing of duty cycle, will be continued
until the value of Vpv reaches to the internal reference voltage.

3 Pre-lab Work

i) Explain the working principle of the PV panel. You can simulate the PV panel circuit in MATLAB to understand
how it works. The number of diodes is around 25 to 30. [Hint: Use KCL to explain different currents flowing
in the circuit from short circuit to open circuit conditions.]

ii) Explain how the duty cycle should change to make the PV panel voltage constant and operate at the reference
voltage. For a given insolation level the PV panel voltage is not yet regulated but is located on the right hand
side of the I-V curve that is away from the MPP (i.e. Point A) as shown in Figure 2, should the duty cycle
decrease or increase in order to move toward the MPP? How about when the operating point is on the left-hand
side of the I-V curve further away from the MPP (i.e. Point B)?

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

Figure 1: Main connections of the experiment for Lab 3.

Figure 2: Comparison of fixed resistance and constant voltage reference MPPT on a single PV cell. Same principle
applies to PV panel as it is a series connection of many PV cells together.

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

Table 1: Circuit and operation parameters for a buck converter.

Parameters Values
Input voltage Vin 24V
Inductor L 330µH
Output capacitor Cout 100µF
Duty cycle 50%
Switching frequency 100kHz
Output resistor RL 10Ω-15Ω
Input capacitor CP V 100µF

4 Equipment

• Laptop with MATLAB programing or it can be accessed via UTS workspace (https://www.uts.edu.au/current-
students/current-students-information-faculty-engineering-and-it/connect-workspace/getting-started)

5 Experiments

In this lab exercise, Section 5.1 focuses on building MATLAB simulink for buck converter then the solar panel will
be added to the buck converter in Section 5.2. The synchronous buck converter will be constructed in Section 5.3.
Programming Constant Voltage Reference MPPT will be implemented in Sections 5.4 then tested in Section 5.5.

5.1 Building a buck converter

a) Use MATLAB to build the model according to the schematic as shown in Figure 3. All components can be found
in the Simulink library (Simscape).

Figure 3: Schematic diagram of buck converter using MATLAB SIMULINK.

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

Figure 4: Simulink Library Browser.

b) To find the right component, you have to open the Library Browser by clicking on the Library Browser button
from the MATLAB Simulink workspace. Then you can look at the components in the Simscape Library, or
simply by typing the name of the element in the search box at the top left-hand corner, as shown in Figure 4.

c) Use the values in Table 1 to set up the parameter values for the components. Normally the voltage of the PWM
signal that generated by a controller such as Arduino is around 3-5V which is not enough to trigger the MOSFET,
so the Gate driver (MOSFET Driver) is needed to boost the voltage to a higher and suitable level.

d) Use the scope to record the input voltage, output voltage, input current, inductor current and Pulse Width Modu-
lation (PWM) signal.

5.2 Building a buck converter to control a solar panel

a) Use MATLAB to build the model according to the schematic as shown in Figure 5.

b) You may use the solar panel that you have created in Lab 1 by building a PV emulator as shown in Figure 6. To
simplify the simulation, you may put the solar cells into one mask to form a solar panel by highlight the solar
cells and right click then select the option Create Subsystem from Selection.

c) Use a 100µF capacitor as an input filter capacitor to smooth the input voltage of the solar panel.

d) Use (1) to calculte the light-generated current Iph by considering the tested temperature as 20 ◦ C and the tested
irradiance as the last three digit of your student ID (SID). [If the last three digits of your SID are less than 500,
add 500 to your SID].
G
Iph (G, T ) = [Isc,n + Ki (T − Tn )] (1)
Gn
where the Isc,n is the short-circuit light-generated current at the nominal condition (standard testing condition
usually 25 ◦ C and 1000 W/m2 ), Ki is the temperature coefficient of the short circuit current, T is the tested tem-
perature, G is the tested irradiance and Tn & Gn are temperature & irradiance at nominal condition, respectively

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

e) Derive the relation between the input and output impedances of the buck converter. change the duty cycle to track
the maximum power.

f) Use the scope to record the input voltage, output voltage, input current, inductor current and Pulse Width Modu-
lation (PWM) signal.

5.3 Building a synchronous-buck converter to control a solar panel

a) Use MATLAB to connect the experiment according to the schematic as shown in Figure 7.

b) Use (1) to calculte the light-generated current Iph by considering the tested temperature as 20 ◦ C and the tested
irradiance as the last three diget of your student ID (SID). [If the last three digits of your SID are less than
500, add 500 to your SID].

c) Use the scope to record the input voltage, output voltage, input current, inductor current and PWM signal.

5.4 Programming Constant Voltage Reference MPPT

a) Add a MATLAB function to your simulaion to write the constant voltage code as shown in Figure 1 . MATLAB
fuction can be found under the simulink Library Browser/Simulink/User-Definded function.

b) Input the following code to your MATLAB function as shown in Figure 8.

c) Set the Target voltage at the PV terminals based on the true MPPs after plotting the P-V curve. [you may use the
same technique in Lab 1].

d) Based on part ii) of your prelab work. Enter the missing part of the code to complete the constant voltage
reference MPPT.

Figure 5: Schematic diagram of solar panel and buck converter using MATLAB SIMULINK.

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

Figure 6: Circuit diagram of a PV emulator.

Figure 7: Schematic diagram of solar panel and synchronous-buck converter using MATLAB SIMULINK.

5.5 Testing of Constant Voltage Reference MPPT

a) Observe on the Scope the PWM signal, input current to the buck converter and input voltage to the buck converter.

b) Use the product (multiply) block to obtain the input power (i.e. product of inductor voltage and input voltage).
Record all waveforms.

c) Now vary the current Iph between 0.4A and 0.6A (get a few sets e.g. 0.45A, 0.5A, 0.55A, etc.). Observe the
input voltage and see if it changes slightly or stays relatively constant close to the expected MPP voltage. If so,
your constant voltage reference MPPT is working.

d) Record the input voltage, input current and duty cycle of the PWM for different current limit values.

5.6 Analysis

i) Explain, with aid of equations and diagram, how the buck converter serves as a variable resistor to the PV panel.

ii) Explain your part of the code to achieve constant voltage reference MPPT with the support of experimental
results.

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48550 RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS STUDIO B SPRING 2022

Figure 8: Main framework of program for the Constant Voltage Reference MPPT.

iii) Compare the constant voltage reference MPPT performance in Section 5.5 against the identified true MPPs.

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