Abstract
A highly efficient photovoltaic (PV) system requires a maximum power point tracker to extract peak power from PV modules. The conventional variable step-size incremental conductance (INC) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique has two main drawbacks. First, it uses a pre-set scaling factor, which requires manual tuning under different irradiance levels. Second, it adapts the slope of the PV characteristics curve to vary the step-size, which means any small changes in PV module voltage will significantly increase the overall step-size. Subsequently, it deviates the operating point away from the actual reference. In this paper, a new modified variable step-size INC algorithm is proposed to address the aforementioned problems. The proposed algorithm consists of two parts, namely autonomous scaling factor and slope angle variation algorithm. The autonomous scaling factor continuously adjusts the step-size without using a pre-set constant to control the trade-off between convergence speed and tracking precision. The slope angle variation algorithm mitigates the impact of PV voltage change, especially during variable irradiance conditions to improve the MPPT efficiency. The theoretical investigations of the new technique are carried out while its practicability is confirmed by simulation and experimental results.
Highlights
Accepted: 20 September 2021Photovoltaic (PV) energy increasingly turns out to be a real promising renewable energy source for generation of electricity
To address this main drawback, a new maximum power point (MPP) tracking (MPPT) technique that uses variable step-size in the incremental conductance (INC) technique was suggested in [22]
INC MPPT uses the ratio between the PV module power change to the voltage change to track MPP
Summary
Photovoltaic (PV) energy increasingly turns out to be a real promising renewable energy source for generation of electricity. The INC technique has structural complexity contrary to the P&O and hill climbing algorithms, it can track MPP more accurately with faster response and less steady-state oscillations, increasing the tracking efficiency [17,18,19,20,21]. The fixed step-size used in incremental conductance has a significant negative impact on the performance of the PV system under different operating situations To address this main drawback, a new MPPT technique that uses variable step-size in the INC technique was suggested in [22]. The new MPPT technique controls the step-size without using a constant preset scaling factor. It can exploit all advantages of conventional variable step-size INC technique, while eliminating its drawbacks.
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