1

AbstractOptimal power tracking techniques are often

employed to more effectively extract the power generated from
photovoltaic (PV) modules. This paper examines the problem of
adjusting PV modules position to maximize the incident
irradiation, and hence, the power. It introduces a two-axis
rotation control mechanism to track a PV modules maximum
power based on the suns azimuth and elevation angles. The
control mechanism uses the sliding mode control method of self-
optimization without depending on the astronomical data for the
sun trajectory. The power generated depends heavily on the solar
intensity (irradiance); however, total irradiance on any inclined
surface is the sum of direct irradiance, isotropic sky diffuse
irradiance, and ground reflection. The proposed controller
architecture efficiently maintains the power around an optimum
value, by orienting a PV module to the corresponding azimuth
and elevation optimal angles.

Index TermsSliding mode control, Photovoltaic modeling,
Standard test condition (STC), Maximum power point (MPP),
Two-axis tracking system.
I. INTRODUCTION
he modern power system is increasingly taking advantage
of renewable energy sources entering the marketplace.
Traditional central power stations with their pollution related
problems will likely be replaced with cleaner and smaller
power plants closer to the loads. The energy generated by the
sun is one of the most promising, nonpolluting, free sources of
energy [1]. Among their benefits, solar systems are easily
expanded. Despite their still relatively high cost, photovoltaic
(PV) systems installed worldwide show a nearly exponential
increase [2]. PV systems have proven that they can generate
power to very small electronic devices up to utility-scale PV
power plant. A PV cell directly converts sunlight into
electricity, and the basic elementary device of PV systems is
the PV cell [3]. The basic building block for PV systems is a
PV module consisting of a number of pre-wired cells in series
[4]. Modules are then connected in series to increase voltage
and in parallel to increase current; the product is power. A PV
array is formed by series and parallel combinations of

A. Alqahtani, Y. Alsmadi, and V. Utkin are with the Department of
Electrical & Computer Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus,
OH 43210 (e-mail: alqahtani.4@osu.edu, alsmadi.1@osu.edu,
utkin.2@osu.edu).
M. Abuhamdeh is with M.C.Dean, Inc., Dulles, VA 20166 (e-mail:
abuhamdeh@yahoo.com).
modules [5]. Fig.1 represents a generic PV array structure.
The performance of a PV system is normally evaluated under
the standard test condition (STC), where an average solar
spectrum at AM1.5 is used, the irradiance is normalized to
1000W/m
2
, and the cell temperature is defined as 25
o
C [6].
However, under real operating conditions (i.e., varying
irradiance as well as significant temperature changes), most
commercial modules do not necessarily behave as in the
specifications given by the manufacturers [7]. In addition, PV
modules perform differently according to the location, time of
day, and season of the year.

M
o
d
u
l
e
s

c
o
n
n
e
c
t
e
d

i
n

s
e
r
i
e
s

Fig.1. Generic PV array structure.

It is therefore essential with the growing demand for PV
systems to guarantee that the maximum power is extracted
from PV modules under all environmental conditions.
The paper is organized as follows: Section II reviews
related work on efficiency optimization of a PV system,
Section III details the control strategy proposed to track a PV
modules maximum power, Section IV provides a simulation
that demonstrates the control approach can yield satisfactory
results in regulating the PV power to maintain an optimum
value over a range of azimuth and elevation angles.
II. RELATED WORK
PV systems generally suffer from low efficiency and high
cost. To deal with this shortcoming, a maximum power point
tracking system, frequently referred to as MPPT, is used
electronically in a manner that steers the PV modules
operating point to deliver maximum available power. MPPT
may be supplemented with a mechanical tracking system, and
the two should not be confused. See Fig.2. Many publications
Photovoltaic Power Optimization Using Sliding
Mode Control with a Two-Axis Tracking
System
Ayedh H. ALQahtani, Muthanna S. Abuhamdeh, Yazan M. Alsmadi, and Vadim I. Utkin
T
2
have been published covering the subject of MPPT. However,
mechanical tracking systems are rarely mentioned along with
the MPPT. Mechanical tracking of PV systems involves
aligning the PV modules perpendicular to the sun throughout
the day to receive maximum solar radiation.



Fig.2. Diagram of a PV system major components.

According to [8], the physical tracking can be done
manually or automatically. In manual tracking, the PV module
orientation is manually changed at the beginning of each
season to a predetermined angle. In the case of automatic
tracking, the PV module is mounted on a single-axis or two-
axis tracking mechanism, and is controlled to follow the sun
rays trajectory throughout the day. Employing this type of
control mechanism may increase PV efficiency 20 to 50
percent more than PV modules without sun tracking [9]. The
control mechanisms can be categorized into three different
types. These types are passive, optical, and astronomical
methods. In passive tracking, the method uses compressed gas
fluid that is driven to one side or the other causing the module
to move toward the sun due to an imbalance. The optical
method utilizes feedback photo-sensors, current, voltage, and
auxiliary cells to determine the module reference position. The
astronomical method is based on the geographic location,
date, and time of year. Fig.3 depicts the sun path for a PV
module facing south. Fig.4 shows the azimuth and elevation
angles trajectory.


Fig.3. Variation of sun path during the day and seasons.

A
n
g
l
e
A
z
i
m
u
t
h



Fig.4. Diagram of PV system azimuth angle () and elevation angle ().
At solar noon, the sun is always directly south in the
northern hemisphere and directly north in the southern
hemisphere [10]. The azimuth angle () is the campus
direction from which the sun is coming. The elevation angle
() is the angular height of the sun in the sky measured from
the horizon.
The authors in [9] classified sun tracking systems based on
the motor control realization, a closed-loop or open-loop
control system. All of the above references rely on complex
astronomical equations to find the suns angles. They tend to
use a solar tracker, which orients itself along the direction of
the sunlight. The power generated from PV modules depends
heavily on the suns direct irradiance; however, total
irradiance on any inclined surface is the sum of direct
irradiance, isotropic sky diffuse irradiance, and ground
reflection. The work in this paper proposes a different
methodology that adjusts the tracker based on measuring the
output power. The proposed controller architecture maintains
the power at an optimum value, by arranging the PV module
to the corresponding azimuth and elevation optimal angles.
III. PROPOSED CONTROL STRATEGY
Fig.5 shows the PV system, DC/DC converter, and the
proposed sliding mode controller to track the maximum power
by modifying the azimuth angle () and the elevation angle ()
accordingly until the power value is optimum.

o |

Fig.5. PV system, DC/DC converter, electrical MPPT, and the proposed
sliding mode controller.

TABLE I
MITSUBISHI PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS
AT 25C, AM1.5, AND 1000W/M
2

Datasheet specifications
I
sc
7.38A
V
oc
30.6V
I
mp
6.93A
V
mp
24.6V
N
s
50
Dimensions 6231.51.8
Weight 34.2 lb (15.5 kg)

3
A. PV system

The PV system selected for this study is the PV-MF170EB3
module by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation [11]. Table I
provides the module electrical characteristics provided by the
manufacturers datasheet. The cell type used in the module is
polycrystalline silicon (150mm square).
Fig.6 demonstrates the P-V characteristic of the PV-
MF170EB3 module by Mitsubishi Electric at various
irradiances. In Fig.7 and Fig.8, the power profiles with respect
to the azimuth and elevation angles are obtained. The two
figures are generated by conducting a simple calculation on a
free software System Advisor Model (SAM) developed by the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). SAM is
designed to execute performance and financial models to
facilitate decision making for those involved in the renewable
energy industry such as technology developers, project
engineers, and researchers.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Voltage(V)
P
o
w
e
r
(
W
)
1000W/m
2
800W/m
2
600W/m
2
400W/m
2
200W/m
2
Fig.6. P-V characteristic of the PV-MF170EB3 module by Mitsubishi Electric
at various irradiances.

-100 -80 -60 -40 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
Azimuth Angle (degree)
P
o
w
e
r

(
W
)

Fig.7. PV module power profile with respect to the azimuth angle.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
Elevation Angle (degree)
P
o
w
e
r

(
W
)

Fig.8 PV module power profile with respect to the elevation angle.

The curves representing the azimuth angle () and the
elevation angle () for any PV module with power are in
reality three-dimensional curves. For that reason, Fig.9 was
produced using cubic interpolation for the power curves with
different angle values. The surface fit in the figure represents
not only the available points, but also all the points in
between.
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
130
140
150
160
170

A
z
im
u
th
A
n
g
le
in
d
e
g
re
e
(o
)
E
le
v
a
tio
n
A
n
g
le
in

d
e
g
r
e
e

(|
)

P
o
w
e
r

(
W
)


Fig.9. Power output for various combinations of azimuth and elevation angles.

B. Control algorithm

To maximize the PV module output power, a sliding mode
control method of self-optimization is employed. Fig.10
depicts the block diagram for the controller design. Since the
plant output must increase, let it be modeled by a monotone
increasing time function, and the control systems task is to
track this reference input [12]. Assuming the plant input is x
and the output is y = f(x), the control algorithm relies upon the
following approach:
4

|
o
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
130
140
150
160
170

Azimuth Angle o(degree)
Elevation Angle |(degree)

P
ow
er (W
)


Fig.10. Block diagram for the controller design for both azimuth and elevation
angles.

- Generate a reference signal g , monotonously
increasing, ( )
1 2
, g M v s s = + and > 0.
- ( ) ( )
1 2
, v s s v c = with g y c = ,
1
s c = ,
2
s c o = + and o > A.
- Determine x , such that the performance y follows
the reference g to increase towards its maximum.
- x u = and ( )
1 2 o
u U sign s s = .
- Tracking error:
( )
1 2
,
o
dy
g y M v s s U
dx
c = = + is the
tracking error.

- With M >
o
dy
U
dx
+ , the function
( )
1 2
, M v s s enforces g into a manifold where
v = 0.
- If c < - o - A or c > A , for either case
1 2 o
dy
s s U M v
dx
= = + + has the opposite
sign to
1
s and
2
s .
- Without the loss of generality, assume o > 2 A. In
finite time, o c A < < A will be enforced,
and the function v becomes zero.
- With v = 0, the reference signal is given by
g = .
- In the manifold { } o c A < < A ,
1
0 s < and
2
0 s > :
If 0
dy
dx
>
Then:
( )
1 1 2
,
0
o
o
dy
s U sign s s
dx
dy
U
dx

= +
= + >

and
1
s is steered to zero in finite time under the
condition
o
dy
U
dx
> .
If 0
dy
dx
<
Then:
2 1
0
o
dy
s s U
dx
= = + <
and
2
s is steered to zero in finite time under the
condition
o
dy
U
dx
> .
In sliding mode, either 0 y g = or y g o = , the
output y follows the reference g to increase. When the
sliding condition
o
dy
U
dx
> does not hold, y continues
increasing while oscillating. After the transient settle [13], the
maximum value of y does not exceed
max
y + A.
The functions u and v are plotted in Fig.11. The
parameters
o
u , o , and M are positive constants. is
positive value that is constant or varying depending on the
particular search technique. The hysteresis width 2A should
not exceed o , and the inequality
o
dP
M u
dD
> + should
be satisfied for M . Generally, suitable selection of the
controller parameters is a tuning process. However, the
mentioned guidelines are extremely valuable for effective
calibration of the controller.


Fig.11. The functions u and v used in the control algorithm.

5
The above algorithm is for one-dimensional optimization
plant. For multidimensional plant, where the input x is an n-
dimensional vector with components x
1
,,x
n
, and it is
required to maximize the scalar output y=f(x), the motion of
such a system is described by the equation:
x ku =
where k is a piecewise constant vector (k
1
,,k
n
) and the scalar
control u depends on the method of one-dimensional
optimization. With respect to the output, the equation of the
system motion is as follows:
( ) y grad f k u =
where grad f is a row vector with elements
i
df
dx
. With a
constant vector k the describing point moves from any initial
position along a straight line parallel to that vector until it
reaches the directional extremum on that straight line at the
point ( ) 0 grad f k = . When the directional extremum is
reached, the direction of searching should be changed by
changing the vector k.

C. PV module tracker realization

In order to implement the proposed controller, a two-axis
tracker with a mounted 170-W PV module is needed. The
tracker should have a rotary mechanism with a DC motor and
a worm gear drive that rotates the PV module about the
vertical axis [8]. Another DC motor is required for the
horizontal axis. The PV module azimuth and elevation angles
are then adjusted by the motors to follow optimum power. The
control system for steering the angles can be treated as two
independent systems, one for the azimuth angle, and one for
the elevation angle. This is because the interaction effects are
usually small [14]. See Fig.12.




Fig.12. View of the PV module tracker mechanism (vertical and horizontal).
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
To demonstrate the proposed tracking control approach, a
simulation is carried out using Matlab/Simulink environment.
At first, the control algorithm is applied to the azimuth angle
with the power profile shown in Fig.6. Then another
simulation is performed with the elevation angle with the
power profile in Fig.7. The simulation result in Fig.13
indicates that the controller indeed converges to the optimum
power
*
P ~ 170 W within six seconds. This point is
obtained by steering the azimuth angle to the corresponding
optimum angle
*
o ~ 0 degree. The corresponding control
input is also shown.
Similarly, the second simulation is performed for the
elevation angle. Fig.14 illustrates the case where the power
steadily converges towards the expected optimum power, then
oscillates within a neighborhood of the optimum point. The
corresponding optimum elevation angle is
*
| ~ 30 degrees.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
130
140
150
160
170
180
Time (second)
P
o
w
e
r
(
W
)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
-100
-50
0
50
Time (second)
A
z
i
m
u
t
h

A
n
g
l
e

(
d
e
g
r
e
e
)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
-20
-10
0
10
20
Time (second)
C
o
n
t
r
o
l

i
n
p
u
t
,

u

Fig.13. Power, optimizing variable (azimuth angle: ), and control input u.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
140
150
160
170
180
Time (second)
P
o
w
e
r
(
W
)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
0
10
20
30
40
Time (second)
E
l
e
v
a
t
i
o
n

A
n
g
l
e

(
d
e
g
r
e
e
)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
-10
-5
0
5
10
Time (second)
C
o
n
t
r
o
l

i
n
p
u
t
,

u

Fig.14. Power, optimizing variable (elevation angle: ), and control input u.


6
V. CONCLUSIONS
A self-optimization controller is designed based on sliding
mode control, for a mechanical maximum power tracker of a
PV module. The proposed control approach was implemented
for a selected PV module from Mitsubishi Electric. Power
profiles relating the power to the azimuth and elevation angles
were used to verify the outcome of the proposed controller.
The results of the simulations revealed that the controller was
able to enforce the tracking system to reach a neighborhood of
the equilibrium within a relatively short time, corresponding
to optimum performance values. The control methodology in
this paper also showed that the use of complex astronomical
equations to find the sun angles was avoided.
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