Abstract
This paper presents a novel maximum power point tracking method for photovoltaic inverters with a single phase connection to the onboard 400Hz vehicle or aircraft grid, supplying drives operating in a critical mode. By taking into account that the power fluctuations cause voltage ripples at the termini of photovoltaic panels connected to the DC-link capacitor, this paper proposes a conductance base maximum power point tracking method. The impact of varying voltage has been reduced to ensure the constant reference current for the grid current calculation problem, which has been reported in previous studies. Accordingly, a conductance base tracking method, grid current control, is proposed and implemented to ensure the expected output current with respect to varying power. As described in this paper, the exemplified solar converter prototype can implement constant reference photovoltaic current control with a maximum power point achievement under continuous voltage rippling. Experimental results are given to verify the feasibility of the proposed MPPT method, which significantly improves the power efficiency for solar powered vehicles or aircraft.
Highlights
In the last couple of decades, many studies on the use of solar energy, especially for vehicles or aircraft, have been conducted because of its abundance, renewability and clean nature [1,2]
In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed incremental-conductance-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for one-phase systems, thefeasibility designedof grid was checked under fast solar irradiance steps
In order to confirm that point of view, the standard incremental conductance MPPT method was tuned for the voltage ripples observed under 900 W/m2 solar irradiance
Summary
In the last couple of decades, many studies on the use of solar energy, especially for vehicles or aircraft, have been conducted because of its abundance, renewability and clean nature [1,2]. When the bulky electrolytic capacitor or additional active or resonant circuit implementation is limited, the second harmonic current in a two-stage single-phase converter’s effect can be limited by the proper control method implementation. Taking into account an analysis of possible solutions of the voltage ripple reduction methods, the paper proposes a conductance-based method for the MPPT algorithm with power fluctuation effect reduction when the solar system is connected to an onboard 400Hz grid. The main scientific problems of a single-phase solar-powered vehicle or aircraft system are the inaccurate power tracking system, the unreliability and the dimensions of the devices. A conductance-based MPPT method is proposed which performs continuous grid current reference calculations for the grid converter, which operates as an element of a 400Hz onboard airplane platform or as an element of a solar-powered EV.
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