Performance comparison of different maximum power point trackers for photovoltaic system under fast varying of environmental conditions

Abstract

Knowing that a large number of MPPT (maximum power point tracking) techniques exist so far and that each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, an appropriate examination of these techniques is indispensable to facilitate the selection of one of the more appropriate ones for a given application. This document provides a summary of these MPPT algorithms. Among them, four commonly used are examined and compared using five evaluation criteria. Perturb and observe (PO), incremental conductance (IC), sliding mode (SM), and fuzzy logic (FL) control are selected for this study and tested under a rapid change of illumination. A combined step and ramp changes in solar illumination is used to assess the effectiveness of the chosen MPPTs. The simulations of the PV system are performed by Simulink tools of MATLAB software. The results conclude that the fuzzy logic controller is the best MPP (maximum power point) tracker due to the absence of steady-state oscillations and its average efficiency of 98%. Second place belongs to the slide mode control which is the fastest and has small fluctuations. In addition, the best MPPT is successfully tested for a change in temperature and load.

Keywords

• photovoltaic (pv)
• maximum power point tracking (mppt)
• incremental conductance
• perturb and observe
• sliding mode
• fuzzy logic