Robust Direct Adaptive Controller Design for Photovoltaic Maximum Power Point Tracking Application

Abstract

Tracking the maximum output power of a photovoltaic (PV) cell is an important problem to harvest more energy at different weather and load conditions. This paper presents the design and simulation of a robust direct adaptive controller (RDAC) for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) device based on boost converter topology. A mathematical model is developed, and a suitable RDAC is designed for MPPT device, and simulations are performed using MATLAB/Simulink to verify the controller’s robustness at varying operating conditions. The real-time irradiance and temperature data are used on an hourly basis to test the suggested MPPT adaptive controller for a typical sunny day in summer and winter. The simulation results show that the RDAC performs excellent tracking under varying conditions such as irradiance, temperature, load, boost converter inductance, and capacitance.

Keywords

• photovoltaic
• MPPT
• boost converter
• adaptive control
• compensator design
• simulink