Maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic panels using perturbation and observation method and fuzzy logic control based method

Abstract

Solar power is the abundantly available and mostly unused source of renewable energy. Photovoltaic (PV) cells are used to track the sun's energy and convert it into electrical energy. PV cells have non-linear voltage-current characteristics. To track the maximum power from the panels different techniques are used, called Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques. Many MPPT techniques are introduced to track the maximum power from the PV panels. Perturbation & Observation (P&O) MPPT technique is the most commonly used technique. In this paper P&O MPPT and fuzzy logic control based MPPT techniques are simulated and the results are compared.