Study of the Intelligent Behavior of a Maximum Photovoltaic Energy Tracking Fuzzy Controller

Abstract

The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) strategy is commonly used to maximize the produced power from photovoltaic generators. In this paper, we proposed a control method with a fuzzy logic approach that offers significantly high performance to get a maximum power output tracking, which entails a maximum speed of power achievement, a good stability, and a high robustness. We use a fuzzy controller, which is based on a special choice of a combination of inputs and outputs. The choice of inputs and outputs, as well as fuzzy rules, was based on the principles of mathematical analysis of the derived functions (slope) for the purpose of finding the optimum. Also, we have proved that we can achieve the best results and answers from the system photovoltaic (PV) with the simplest fuzzy model possible by using only 3 sets of linguistic variables to decompose the membership functions of the inputs and outputs of the fuzzy controller. We compare this powerful controller with conventional perturb and observe (P&O) controllers. Then, we make use of a Matlab-Simulink® model to simulate the behavior of the PV generator and power converter, voltage, and current, using both the P&O and our fuzzy logic-based controller. Relative performances are analyzed and compared under different scenarios for fixed or varied climatic conditions.

Keywords

• fuzzy logic controller
• MPPT: maximum power point tracking
• photovoltaic system
• step-up boost converter