TABLE OF CONTENTS

1) CHARACTERISTICS OF A PV ARRAY
2) MPPT AND ITS NEED
3) DIFFERENT TYPES OF MPPT
4) PERTURB AND OBSERVE METHOD
5) INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE METHOD
6) COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO METHODS
7) CONCLUSION
 CHARACTERISTICS OF A PV ARRAY

The above picture shows the V/I characteristics and the

P/V characteristics of a particular PV array. Maximum
Power Point(MPP) is the point in graph at which
maximum power is captured from the PV array.
PV CHARACTERISTICS FOR DIFFERENT TEMPERATURES

PV CHARACTERISTICS AT DIFFERENT IRRADIANCE

LEVELS
 MPPT AND ITS NEED IN A PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY
CONVERSION SYSTEM
The PV module must operate electrically at a certain voltage that
corresponds to the peak power point under a given operating
condition .A direct connection of the PV generator to the input port
of a power processing system would be a simple but poor choice
from the energy productivity point of view.A PV battery charger
obtained by connecting PV array terminals to the battery would
force the PV generator to work at a constant voltage. If the PV array
feeds a resistive load then because of the intersection between the
resistor characteristic and the I-V curve, the PV array cannot operate
at the MPP for the whole day, so that a power lower than the
maximum one is delivered to the load. It is mandatory to adopt an
intermediate conversion stage, interfacing the PV array and the
power system, which is capable of adapting its voltage and current
levels to the instantaneous PV source MPP, while keeping its output
voltage and current levels compliant with the load requirement. The
adoption of a linear regulator may ineffective from the efficiency
point of view, so that a switching converter is almost always
employed. Because of the reduced cost of power devices, the
adoption of a switching converter is in used. In order to ensure the
maximization of the power extracted from the PV source, the
interface power converter must be capable of self-adjusting its own
parameters ,thus changing its input voltage/current levels based on
the PV source MPP position.
MPPT or Maximum Power Point Tracking is an algorithm used for
extracting maximum available power from PV module under certain
conditions. The voltage at which PV module can produce maximum
power is called maximum power point (or peak power voltage).
 The MPPT techniques used in most commercial products usually
measure both the PV current and voltage values . The practical
implementation of MPPT controllers is mostly realized in digital
form.The computations required by MPPT algorithms allow the
designer to use microcontrollers, digital signal processing (DSP) and
field-programmable gate array (FPGA) systems.

Commonly, when a photovoltaic (PV) array is connected directly to

the load, the operating point of PV solar array is seldom at the
maximum power point (MPP). The Maximum Power Point Tracking
(MPPT) combined with a dc-dc power converter allows to a PV
generator to produce maximum continuous power, regardless of the
measurement conditions (solar radiation, temperature). There are at
least 19 different algorithms of MPPT control with different ways on
implementation and performance. The best known MPPT classic
algorithms are perturb and observe (P&O) and incremental
conductance. These algorithms are based on the same technology,
regulating PV array voltage by adjusting the optimal set point that
represents the voltage at maxim power point (MPP).

The different types of MPPT techniques used are:

1) Direct MPPT techniques

2) Indirect MPPT techniques

 DIRECT MPPT TECHNIQUES
PV current and voltage are measured continuously, and such
measurements are used to realize a proper adjustment of the system
operating conditions to catch the MPP.
These direct methods have the advantage of being independent from
the prior knowledge of the PV generator characteristics.
Examples of Direct MPPT techniques:
1) Perturb and Observe Method
2) Incremental Conductance Method

INDIRECT MPPT TECHNIQUES

These are based on the estimation or on occasional measurement of
one current or one voltage or on the use of a database of parameters
that include data of typical P-V curves of PV systems for different
irradiances and temperatures, or on the use of mathematical functions
obtained from empirical data to estimate the MPP.
Example of Indirect MPPT technique
Open Circuit Voltage (OCV) Method Simplest indirect method ,
This algorithm is based on the concept that the voltage of PV
generator at the Maximum Power point which is approximately
linearly proportional to its open-circuit voltage, Voc. 𝐾1 = 𝑉𝑚𝑝𝑝
/Voc.
PERTURB AND OBSERVE METHOD
• Perturb and observe algorithm is simple and does not require
previous knowledge of the PV generator characteristics or the
measurement of solar intensity and cell temperature and is easy
to implement with analogue and digital circuits. It perturbs the
operating point of the system causing the PV array terminal
voltage to fluctuate around the MPP voltage even if the solar
irradiance and the cell temperature are constants .
• Moreover, it is the most widely used and workhorse MPPT
algorithm because of its balance between performance and
simplicity. However, it suffers from the lack of speed and
adaptability which is necessary for tracking the fast transients
under varying environmental conditions . It is simple and
straightforward technique but degraded performance is achieved
due to the trade-off between accuracy and speed upon selecting
the step size .
• The P&O algorithm periodically measures the PV voltage
(VPV) and PV current (IPV) and computes PV power (PPV),
compares it with the PV power calculated in previous
perturbation cycle and applies perturbations to PV reference
voltage (VREF) by incrementing or decrementing it.
• The PV voltage is perturbed by small step (dV) and
corresponding change in PV power (dP) is calculated. If dP/dv
is positive, then the PV voltage is incremented in next
perturbation cycle. For negative dP/dv, the voltage needs to be
decremented. This process is continued till the operating point
reaches MPP.
ALGORITHM USED IN PERTURB AND OBSERVE METHOD
 INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE
METHOD

The INC MPPT method calculates the instantaneous conductance V /I

and incremental conductance dV/ dI of I-V characteristics of PV array
and compares them to create the VREF. It is observed that when
VREF lies at the left side of MPP, the dV/ dI is greater than – V/I for
VREF lying right side of MPP, dV/dI is less than – V/I . MPP is reached
when dV/dI = - V/I VREF is incremented or decremented until it is
equals to VMPP.

ALGORITHM USED IN INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE METHOD

 COMPARISON BETWEEN PERTURB AND OBSERVE
METHOD AND INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE METHOD

PERTURB AND OBSERVE METHOD

INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE METHOD

 SIMULATION RESULT FOR PERTURB AND OBSERVE
METHOD AND INCREMENTAL CONDUCTANCE METHOD

EFFICIENCY AND TOTAL HARMONIC DISTORTION

VALUES FOR DIFFERENT METHODS
 CONCLUSION
The steady state performance of each of the MPPT algorithms has
been investigated for different irradiations ranging from 0.15 KW/m2
to 0.9KW/m2 and compared in terms of tracking speed, accuracy, and
MPPT efficiency.
1) It has been observed that the MPP tracking speed of direct methods
viz., P&O and INC techniques were almost same ranging from 0.038
sec to 0.085 sec. OCV method was slower than direct methods with
tracking speed ranging from 0.082 sec to 0.12 sec.
2) Maximum efficiency reached by INC and P&O methods at higher
irradiations of 0.9KW/m2 was 98.26% and 93.47% respectively.
OCV MPPT method was more suitable for lower irradiations and
provided an efficiency of 96.1% at irradiation of 0.3 KW/m2.
3) Thus it is concluded that OCV MPPT method provides an effective
MPP tracking at low irradiations up to 0.35KW/m2 and INC MPPT
method offers the better steady state performance at medium and
higher irradiations above 0.35KW/m2.
4) Also it has been noted that both P&O and INC techniques provided
higher efficiency at medium and high irradiations when compared to
OCV method.
5) Though implementation of P&O method was simpler than INC
method, it incurred additional power loss due to the oscillations at
MPP. INC algorithm has better performance when compared to P&O
algorithm in respect of maximum power point tracking with very less
oscillations in active power extracted from PV panel.