Performance of a Synchronous Buck Converter for
a Standalone PV System: an Experimental Study
Kanhu Pal
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela
Rourkela, India
kanhupal@gmail.com
Abstract—This paper presents a detailed performance eval-
uation of a synchronous buck converter implemented for a
standalone photovoltaic (PV) system. The synchronous buck
converter is designed to achieve high efficiency with low output
voltage and current ripple. The assessment of the converter
setup is carried out in open loop mode at different switching
frequencies with varying duty cycles as well as in Maximum
Power Point Tracking (MPPT) mode which employs an optimized
step size Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm. Corresponding
experimental results are presented and discussed in detail. A
peak conversion efficiency of 97% is achieved with the converter
and output voltage and current ripple are observed to be as low
as 0.75% and 1.5% respectively.
Index Terms—dc-dc converter, maximum power point tracking
(MPPT), open loop, perturb and observe (P&O), standalone PV
system, synchronous buck converter.
I. I NTRODUCTION
There is a global crusade taking place to reduce carbon
emission and decrease the consumption of fossil fuel in order
to tackle the challenge of global warming. Many countries are
coming up with policies to increase the usage of renewable
sources of energy and to reduce the carbon footprint on a
domestic level. Due to the convenience of generation and
wide availability, solar power is one of the most favored and
widespread renewable sources of energy in use. In countries
like India, where a significant amount of the population is not
being supplied electricity by power grid, solar power provides
an easy solution for the power crisis problem. The increase in
consumption of solar power at a domestic level can help reduce
the carbon footprint of the households and also bring down
the electricity cost. Hence, there has been a necessary surge
in demand for the advancement of technology being used in
solar power generation. Since DC-DC converter is an essential
component of photovoltaic (PV) systems, improvement of
existing power converters for solar power applications in terms
of efficiency, cost, and controllability is the need of the hour.
Different solar power applications [1]-[3] require different
DC-DC converters according to the technical requirements.
Selection of a particular topology depends on the load require-
ment, cost, and design features. Many comparative studies
have investigated technical features of different topologies and
their suitability for different applications [4]-[10]. Maximum
978-1-7281-0419-5/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE
Monalisa Pattnaik
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Rourkela
Rourkela, India
pattnaikm@nitrkl.ac.in
Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is also an important component
of the PV system. Some papers have presented implementation
of MPPT for PV systems with DC-DC converters [11]-[13].
It is essential to obtain and analyze the performance param-
eters such as efficiency, output voltage and current ripples of
different topologies. The evaluation results enable to choose
and implement the most suitable topology for a particular
application. This paper aims to provide a quantitative study
of synchronous buck converter performance.
In this paper, design and implementation of a synchronous
buck converter has been presented. The converter is designed
for a standalone PV system. The converter is controlled by a
micro-controller based circuit (Arduino UNO platform) which
employs the MPPT algorithm. Performance of the converter
is assessed both in open loop and MPPT mode. Duty cycle
is varied at different switching frequencies to assess the
performance in open loop mode. An output parameter based
Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm with optimized step
size is used for MPPT mode. For performance evaluation,
parameters such as converter efficiency, output voltage and
current ripple are observed. The results are presented and
discussed in the following sections. The results of this study
can be used as a reference for further research on improvement
of the topology for solar power applications.
II. O PERATION OF SYNCHRONOUS BUCK CONVERTER
Although a solar panel directly provides DC power when
irradiated with sunlight, a DC-DC converter is needed between
the solar panel and the load to extract maximum power at
given environmental conditions using an MPPT algorithm.
Though buck converter is one of the simplest topologies to
implement, it has high conduction losses associated with its
diode. Hence, the diode in the buck topology is replaced with
another switch (S2) to design a synchronous buck converter.
Switch S2 functions in a complementary mode with the pri-
mary switch (S1). The circuit diagram of a synchronous buck
converter is shown in Fig. 1. The operation of the converter
can be explained in two modes. In mode-1, the switch S1 is
turned on and S2 is turned off. The load is supplied power
directly from the source and output inductor and capacitor are
charged simultaneously. In mode-2, S1 is turned off and S2 is
turned on. During this mode, inductor and capacitor discharge
through S2 while supplying power to the load. Since the time
constant of output L-C filter circuit is quite high compared
to the switching period, increase and decrease in voltage and
current can be assumed to be linear. The relation between input
voltage, current and output voltage, current of the converter
can be obtained [14] as:
V out = D × V in
V in = average input voltage, V out = average output voltage, D
= duty cycle of S1.
I in
I out = (2)
D Ractual =
I in = average input current, I out = average output current.
The values of output filter inductor and capacitor can also
be calculated according to [14] the input voltage, operating
duty cycle, desired voltage and current ripple, and switching
frequency to be used.
V in × D × (1 − D)
L=
f s × ∆I inductor
L = inductance of output filter inductor, ∆ I inductor = inductor
current ripple, f s = switching frequency.
∆I inductor
C=
8 × f s × ∆V out
C = capacitance of output filter capacitor, ∆ V out = Output
voltage ripple.
Since the input voltage to the converter from PV panel
varies with its output current and converter duty cycle, it is
necessary to calculate a range of values of filter inductance
and capacitance to keep the output voltage and current ripple
within limit.
Fig. 1. Synchronous buck converter circuit diagram.
For a particular combination of insolation and temperature,
Maximum Power Point (MPP) occurs at a point on the power
vs voltage plot of a solar panel which corresponds to a specific
value of resistance i.e. RMPP . This RMPP can be calculated as:
V mp
RMPP =
I mp
Here V mp is PV module output voltage at MPP and I mp is
output current at MPP. Since the load can’t always be varied to
extract the maximum power available, buck converter is used
to deliver the maximum power extractable by changing the
load seen by PV module i.e. Rin .
V in
Rin = (6)
(1) I in
Here V in is PV module output voltage, I in is PV module
current. Any MPPT employed to control the output power of
the converter modulates the duty cycle to make Rin equal to
RMPP . The actual load resistance Ractual is:
V out
(7)
I out
From (1), (2), (6), and (7), it can be derived [11] that:
Ractual
Rin = (8)
D2
Hence, employed MPPT extracts the maximum power by
regulating the duty cycle of the converter and equaling the Rin
(3) to RMPP . There are many MPPT algorithms that are employed
for PV systems [12]-[13], [15]-[18]. P&O method is one of
the simplest and easiest algorithms to implement. The duty
cycle of the converter is perturbed and according to its effect
on the output power, the duty cycle is further varied to reach
MPP. This study uses an optimized step size P&O algorithm
(4)
to assess the converter performance in the MPPT mode. The
algorithm is discussed in detail in the following section.
III. S TANDALONE PV SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
The PV system consists of two identical PV panels. Their
specifications at STC and 1000 W/m2 irradiance are given in
Table I. They are connected in parallel for standalone operation
and irradiated upon by incandescent bulbs. The converter is
designed according to the ratings of PV panels. An image of
the converter circuit is shown in Fig. 2. Its specifications are
mentioned in Table II. A simplified block diagram of the whole
implemented PV system is shown in Fig. 3. The complete
standalone PV system is presented in Fig. 4. Output power
vs output voltage plots of PV modules at 25 0 C and different
insolation levels are experimentally obtained and shown in Fig.
5.
TABLE I
S PECIFICATIONS OF PV PANEL
Manufacturer Luminous Power Technologies
Voltage at open circuit (Voc ) 22 V
Current at short circuit (Isc ) 2.42 A
Voltage at maximum power point (Vmp ) 18 V
Current at maximum power point (Imp ) 2.23 A
Maximum power (Pmax ) 40 W
To provide protection to the PV panels, a diode (MBR1060)
is introduced between PV modules and the converter to make
sure that current does not flow into the PV panels. During
the synchronous operation, due care needs to be taken to
(5) introduce a certain dead time in between turning on and off of
Fig. 2. Designed synchronous buck converter PCB.
Fig. 3. Block diagram of the standalone PV system.
Fig. 4. Complete standalone PV system setup.
Fig. 5. Output Power vs voltage plot of PV panel at different irradiance.
TABLE II
S PECIFICATIONS OF DESIGNED CONVERTER
Maximum input voltage 50 V
Maximum input current 5A
Maximum output voltage 50 V
Maximum output current 4A
Filter inductor 470 µH
Output filter capacitor 100 µF
Minimum switching frequency 10 kHz
Maximum switching frequency 100 kHz
two MOSFETs (CSD18536KCS). Simultaneous conduction of
two MOSFETs could draw huge current, hence giving rise to
power loss and component failure. Both the MOSFETs in the
converter are driven by a MOSFET driver (IRS2104s) which
has in-built dead time. Switching frequency of MOSFETs
is of prime importance. To avoid resonance, the switching
frequency needs to be high in comparison to the resonance
frequency of the output L-C filter. This converter is designed
to be controlled from an Arduino platform. Arduino UNO
generates a square wave of desired frequency and duty cycle.
The output voltage is measured with a voltage divider and
a current sensor (ACS712-20T) is used to measure the load
current, which is sent to Arduino to operate the converter
both in open loop and MPPT mode. It is observed that output
current and voltage have lesser ripple due to filter inductor and
capacitor, hence the voltage and current sensors are placed at
the output side to produce more accurate measurements. A
rheostat is used as a resistive load for the converter.
IV. E VALUATION OF DESIGNED SYNCHRONOUS BUCK
CONVERTER
A. Open loop mode
In open loop mode, the converter is operated at different
switching frequencies with a gradual step increase in duty
cycle. The duty cycle is varied in steps from 50% to 91%.
Going below duty cycle of 30% or above 95%, significantly
brings down the performance of the converter, hence the
assessment is done in the mentioned duty cycle range. A
constant temperature of 35 0 C and constant irradiance of 610
W/m2 is maintained for the experiment. Observations are taken
in open loop mode to assess the efficiency, output voltage and
current ripple of the converter at different frequencies. The
efficiency of the converter is calculated as:

V out × I out
Efficiency = × 100% (9)
V in × I in

Similarly, voltage and current ripple are calculated as:

∆V pk-pk out
∆V ripple = × 100% (10)
V out
Fig. 6. Output voltage vs duty cycle of designed converter at 20 kHz.
∆ V ripple = % voltage ripple, ∆ V pk-pk out = peak to peak
output voltage.

∆I pk-pk out
∆I ripple = × 100% (11)
I out

∆ I ripple = % current ripple, ∆ I pk-pk out = peak to peak

output current.
Plot of the converter output voltage and current with respect
to increasing duty cycle at 20 kHz are shown in Fig. 6 and
Fig. 7 respectively. Both converter output voltage and current
increase till MPP and start to decrease beyond the point.
Waveforms of converter output voltage and current ripple
obtained at f s = 20 kHz and D = 50% are shown in Fig. 8.
With increasing frequency, the maximum achievable efficiency
decreases. As an example, a plot of efficiency vs duty cycle at
a switching frequency of 20 kHz is shown in Fig. 9. Observed
output voltage and current ripple, calculated efficiency are
presented in Table III. The minimum efficiency occurs at low Fig. 7. Output current vs duty cycle of designed converter at 20 kHz.
duty cycles. Hence, it’s recommended to operate the converter
in higher duty cycle range for better efficiency. Observations
show that the output voltage ripple decreases with increasing
switching frequency. As expected from (4), voltage ripple and
frequency are following an inversely proportional relation. A
minor decrease in the percent voltage ripple for a constant
frequency is observed with increasing duty cycle. The percent
current ripple is observed to be relatively constant for the
whole duty cycle variation and even for variation in frequency.

TABLE III
VARIATION OF EFFICIENCY AND OUTPUT RIPPLE

Frequency Minimum Maximum Voltage Current

(kHz) Efficiency(%) Efficiency(%) Ripple(%) Ripple(%)
10 87 97 4 2
20 84 91 1.8 1.8
40 77 89 0.9 1.5
50 75 85 0.75 1.5
Fig. 8. Converter output voltage and current ripple at 20 kHz and 50% duty.
 Fig. 9. Converter efficiency vs duty cycle at 20 kHz.

Fig. 10. Output power vs duty cycle of converter at 20 kHz.

B. MPPT mode
MPPT algorithm regulates the duty cycle of the converter
in order to extract the maximum power from PV panels.
Duty cycle is varied to make the Rin equal to RMPP . The
method of obtaining the value of the required duty cycle varies
according to the algorithm. An experimentally obtained graph
of converter output power vs duty cycle at 20 kHz is shown in
Fig. 10. An optimized step size P&O algorithm is implemented
using the Arduino UNO platform to operate the converter at
MPP. The observations are obtained at 35 0 C and irradiance
of 610 W/m2 . In a trade-off between converter efficiency and
output voltage and current ripple, a switching frequency of
20 kHz is chosen for MPPT operation. Instead of using a
fixed size for perturbation of duty cycle, the ratio between
the difference of output power after perturbation and before
perturbation with respect to previous power is considered to
determine a step size for the next perturbation. As observed
from the power vs duty cycle plot, the power curve has a
higher slope to the left and right of MPP and it decreases
significantly around MPP. This is taken into consideration
while designing the P&O algorithm for the converter. Ratio
of change in power i.e. ∆ Pratio is calculated as:
Fig. 11. Flowchart of optimized step size P&O algorithm.
P (i) − P (i − 1)
∆P ratio (i) = (12)
P (i − 1)
P(i) = output power calculated in ith iteration, P(i-1) = the converter has reached MPP, mean values of output voltage
output power calculated in (i-1)th iteration. The flowchart of and current, input voltage and current are noted down and
the algorithm is presented in Fig. 11. mean efficiency is calculated. Obtained results are presented
The waveforms of the converter output voltage and current in Table IV.
from the initialization of MPPT to steady state are shown in
V. C ONCLUSION
Fig. 12. The time taken to reach the MPP depends on the initial
duty cycle and keeping it close to 60% minimizes the tracking Performance evaluation of the designed synchronous buck
time. Waveforms of the converter output voltage, current, and converter has been presented. From the assessment performed
power at MPP are presented in Fig. 13. Due to the inherent in open loop mode, it is clear that lower switching frequency
nature of constant perturbation of P&O algorithm, output provides higher efficiency, but it results in higher output
voltage and current have small fluctuation around MPP. After voltage and current ripple. Hence, higher switching frequency
 oscillation around MPP . This experimental setup can also be
used to study the dynamic performance of different MPPT
algorithms during load and insolation variation. Further, do-
mestic uses such as battery charging and UPS applications can
be investigated with this setup.
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