Renewable Energy 30 (2005) 12571268 www.elsevier.

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Technical note

Maximum power point traking controller for PV systems using neural networks
A.B.G. Bahgata, N.H. Helwab, G.E. Ahmadb, E.T. El Shenawyb,*
b

Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt Solar Energy Department, National Research Center, El Tahrir St., Dokki, Cairo, Egypt Received 17 March 2004; accepted 27 September 2004 Available online 16 December 2004

Abstract This paper presents a development and implementation of a PC-based maximum power point tracker (MPPT) for PV system using neural networks (NN). The system consists of a PV module via a MPPT supplying a dc motor that drives an air fan. The control algorithm is developed to use the articial NN for detecting the optimal operating point under different operating conditions, then the control action gives the driving signals to the MPPT. A PC is used for data acquisition, running the control algorithm, data storage, as well as data display and analysis. The system has been implemented and tested under various operating conditions. The experimental results showed that the PV system with MPPT always tracks the peak power point of the PV module under various operating conditions. The MPPT transmits about 97% of the actual maximum power generated by the PV module. The MPPT not only increases the power from the PV module to the load, but also maintains longer operating periods for the PV system. The air velocity and the air mass ow rate of the mechanical load are increased considerably, due to the increase of the PV system power. It is also found that, the increase in the output energy due to using the MPPT is about 45.2% for a clear sunny day. q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: PV module; Maximum power point tracker; Neural networks; Matching factor

* Corresponding author. Fax: C20 2337 0931. E-mail address: essamahame@hotmail.com (E.T. El Shenawy). 0960-1481/$ - see front matter q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.renene.2004.09.011

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Nomenclature MP MPPT NN NOP PVP PV module maximum power maximum power point tracker neural network normal operating power (the PV module power when it is directly coupled to the load, without MPPT) PV module power (the power drawn from the PV module at any instant)

1. Introduction The PV systems are rapidly expanding and have increasing roles in electric power technologies, providing more secure power sources and pollution free electric supplies. Since the PV electricity is expensive compared to the electricity from the utility grid, the user wants to use all the available output power. Therefore, the PV systems should be designed to operate at their maximum output power for any temperature and solar radiation level. For any PV system, the output power can be increased by two options; (a) increasing the incident solar radiation on the system, (b) tracking the maximum power point of the PV system. Option (a) requires using a sun tracker to track the sun position, to increase the solar radiation received by the PV system. Helwa et al. [1,2] studied the collectable solar energy by different solar tracking systems. Option (b) requires using a MPPT, that tracks the optimum power of the PV system. Said [3], Fam and Goswami [4], Johan et al. [5], and Kuo et al. [6] studied different installations of the PV systems with the MPPT. Many researches have estimated the PV module maximum power (MP) by different methods. Hirofumi and Fujio [7] calculated the PV module MP by the short circuit of the monitoring cell. Hiyama et al. [8,9] estimated the PV module MP from the module open circuit voltage by the neural network. The present work introduces a development and implementation of a PC-based MPPT for a PV system using the neural networks. Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of the proposed system. The system consists of a PV module coupling a dc motor driving an air fan. The coupling between the dc motor and the PV module is via a MPPT. The neural network is used to estimate the PV module maximum power at different operating conditions. The input signals to the NN are the solar radiation and the module temperature, whereas the output signal is the identied maximum power. The controller moves the operating power of the PV system to its maximum power by shifting the PV terminal voltage to its identied optimal value. The control signal results from the difference between the measured operating power of the PV and the optimal identied one by the NN. A PC is used for data acquisition that gets PV module operating current and voltage as well as the PV module temperature and solar radiation level. The PC is also used for control algorithm as well as storage and data display.

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the PC-based MPPT for the PV system using neural networks.

2. The PV module The PV module is a thin lm solar cells type with maximum output of 64 W at STC. The complete specications of the PV module are listed in Table 1. The PV module generates the dc power that is transferred to load through the MPPT. The PV module is supported up on a tilted structure from steel frames. The tilt angle can be adjusted simply
Table 1 The PV module characteristics at STC (25 8C and 1000 W/m2) Rated power Operating voltage Operating current Short circuit current Dimensions Weight 64 W 16.5 V 3.88 A 4.8 A 136.6 cm!74.1 cm!3.2 cm 9.71 kg

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by choosing the appropriate bolt position on the lower support. The structure is mounted such that the module is facing south direction. The PV module is implemented in the test eld of Solar Energy Department, National Research Center, in Egypt. 3. The data acquisition system The main part in the data acquisition system is the AD574 analog to digital module, which receives the voltage analog signals from the measuring devices and converts them into digital signals to be processed by the PC. The AD card has 8 input analog channels each with 12-bit resolution. The following parameters are measured using the data acquisition system: The PV module voltage can be measured accurately by using a bipolar LV 25-P voltage transducer, with galvanic isolation between the primary circuit (high voltage) and the secondary circuit (low voltage). A current transducer LA 25-NP is used to measure the PV module current. A thermopile pyranometer of type Kipp and Zonen (model CM5-774035) is used to measure the solar radiation intensity. The pyranometer is mounted at the PV module structure and parallel to the module. A type K thermocouple is used to measure the PV module surface temperature.

4. The maximum power point tracker (MPPT) Fig. 2 shows the MPPT connecting the PV module to the dc load. The MPPT consists of a step-down dcdc converter with the input and output lters, and the driving circuit. The MPPT drives the operating point of the PV module to the maximum power point detected by the control system. The main circuit components, as shown in Fig. 2, are as following: The power transistor (200 W). The input lter (C1Z1500 mF). The output lter (C2Z470 mF, LZ150 mH). The freewheeling diode (8 A).

Fig. 2. The PV system with the maximum power controller.

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The power transistor is NPN MJ802 transistor. It is used as a switch which is turned on and off by an external driving circuit with adjustable duty ratio. The duty ratio is adjusted according to the error signal between the PV module operating power and the maximum power identied by the neural network.

5. The load The present load is a permanent magnet dc motor driving an air fan. This load is used to feed air to a solar drying system for drying agriculture products or wood.

6. The control algorithm A PC is used for data acquisition, control action, storage and data display. Fig. 3 shows the ow chart of the software program that controls the system operation. The program is written in BASIC language and stored in the PC. Once the program starts, it reads four signals from AD module. These signals are the solar radiation level, the PV module surface temperature, the module current, and voltage. Then, the operating power is calculated directly from the module current and voltage. While, the maximum power is calculated from the neural network. For comparison, the direct power drawn by the load, when it is directly connected to the PV module without using the MPPT, is also calculated by another neural network, using the measured solar radiation and module temperature. This power is called the normal operating power of the PV module (NOP). The program compares the module power with the maximum power and gets an error value. If the error value is within the permissible error, then the system is working at its maximum power point and the load receives the optimal power from the PV module. If the error is greater than its maximum value, the program generates a control signal, corresponding to this error, based on the control algorithm. The control algorithm uses the perturb and observe method, because of its inherently simple feedback structure, also it needs few measured parameters. In this method, the system operating point (operating voltage) is changed (increased or decreased) in one direction. These changes can lead to a change in the PV module output power. The next changing direction can be determined by comparing the output power of the PV module with that of the previous perturbation cycle. If the module power is increasing, the next change will be made in the same direction. But if the power is decreased, the next change must be in the opposite direction [1012]. The PM7548GP DA converter module is used to send the control signal required, depending on the software program. The DA module has 12 bits resolution and sends the control signal from 0 to 10 V. The control signal is sent to the driving circuit for biasing the power transistor on and off. This produces a square wave-driving signal with a certain duty ratio that changes the operating point of the PV module. If the atmospheric conditions change (solar radiation or module surface temperature), the maximum power point is considerably changed, that

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Fig. 3. The ow chart of the software program that controls the system operation.

makes an error between the maximum power point and the new operating power point. Due to this error the system adjusts its working point to the new maximum power point.

7. The experimental results The performance of the PV system with the MPPT is studied for clear sunny days with high and moderate radiation levels. Fig. 4 shows the maximum power (MP), the module power (PVP), and the normal operating power (NOP) measured for a clear sunny day. It is clear that the module power is almost tracking the maximum power all the day. In other words, the MPPT maintains the load operating at the maximum power point of the PV

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Fig. 4. The MP, PVP and NOP of the PV system measured in a clear sunny day.

module. Fig. 4 shows also that the NOP is much less than the power taken by the load in the case of using the MPPT. This arises the importance of using the MPPT to get a good matching between the dc load and the PV module. The same results are obtained for the PV system at a moderate sunny day as shown in Fig. 5. Figs. 6 and 7 show the MP, PVP, and NOP of the PV system in high and less cloudy days, respectively. These gures show that the MPPT maintains continuously the module power at its maximum value. The result is valid for the 2 days although they are different in the nature of the solar radiation and module temperature changes. This means that, in cloudy days, whatever the nature of the clouds passing, the MPPT tracks accurately the peak power point.

Fig. 5. The MP, PVP and NOP of the PV system measured in a moderate sunny day.

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Fig. 6. The MP, PVP and NOP of the PV system measured in a high cloudy day.

The performance of the MPPT can be detected according to the matching factor. The matching factor is the ratio between the power drawn by the MPPT, from the PV module to the load, to the maximum power generated by the PV module. The matching factor during a clear day is shown in Fig. 8. The gure shows that about 97% of the actual maximum power generated are drawn by the MPPT. Similar results are obtained in case of a cloudy day. Fig. 9 shows the PVP (with MPPT) and the NOP (without MPPT) and the corresponding percentage of the energy increased by the MPPT. This gure shows that

Fig. 7. The MP, PVP, and NOP of the PV system measured in a less cloudy day.

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Fig. 8. Matching factor of the MPPT during a sunny day.

using MPPT increases the module energy. This increase is due to the correct matching of the dc load to the PV module. Fig. 10 shows the daily percentage increase in the system output energy by the MPPT during 1 month. The operating periods are the periods at which the dc load operates from the PV module without stopping. Figs. 11 and 12 show the module power and the normal operating power for two cloudy days. The discontinuous periods in the gures mean that the system is stopped. Fig. 11 shows that the direct coupling system stops more than 2 h through the day, while Fig. 12 shows that the stop periods lie at the day ends for more than 2 1 2 h. The system

Fig. 9. The PVP and NOP of the PV system and the corresponding increase in energy output by MPPT during a sunny day.

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Fig. 10. The daily percentage increase in the output energy of the PV system by the MPPT during 1 month.

stops when the solar radiation falls below approximately 230 W/m2. On the other hand, when using the MPPT (PVP curve) the system operates all the day hours without stopping (the starting of the dc motor occurs at lower solar radiation). The continuous operation is another advantage of using the MPPT, to connect the load to the PV module instead of direct coupling. Fig. 13 shows the air velocity and the air mass ow rate in the case of direct coupling and with the MPPT in a sunny day. The gure shows clearly the great advantages of using MPPT in increasing both the air velocity and the air mass ow rate.

Fig. 11. The PVP and NOP of the PV system measured in a cloudy day.

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Fig. 12. The PVP and NOP of the PV system measured in a cloudy day (second day).

Fig. 13. The air velocity and air mass ow rate in the case of direct coupling and with the MPPT in a sunny day.

8. Conclusions A PC-based maximum power point tracker for a PV system using neural networks has been developed and implemented. The system consists of a photovoltaic module with a maximum power point tracker and a dc motor driving an air fan. From the experimental results, the following conclusions can be deduced: 1. The PV system with the MPPT gives a good matching between the module and the dc load under various operating conditions. 2. The matching factor is about 97%, which means that about 97% of the actual maximum power is drawn by the used MPPT.

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3. The radiation level or the module temperature does not affect the performance of the MPPT. 4. The MPPT increases the system output energy by about 45.2% for clear sunny day. It also maintains longer operating periods. 5. The mechanical power is also increased due to the use of the proposed MPPT, where it is related to the electrical power.

References
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