Performance of maximum power point tracker in tropical climate
S. Mekhilef, N.A. Rahim, and H.W. Ping
University of Malaya
Department of Electrical Engineering
50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: saadgum.edu.my
Abstract The performance of maximum power point
tracker in tropical climate has been presented in this
paper. The maximum power point tracker output
voltage and current are used for control purposes, rather
than for its input voltage and current. It is shown that
using the output parameters simplifies the maximum
power point tracker controller. Moreover, using this
approach, only one out of the two output parameters
needs to be sensed. where the proposed system
configuration consist of commonly used dc/dc converter,
which is applied for the power conversion stage of the
tracker, an Xillinx FPGA acting as the controller, a ADC,
PV array and three phase inverter which is connected to
the grid. Method of locating the maximum power point
(MPP) is based on hill climbing technique. An MPPT
using a step up converter is developed its performance is
compared under different solar irradiance and ambient
temperatures. It showed an improvement in the output
power by 18% (average) over a wide range or solar
irradiation in a day
I. INTRODUCTION
Photovoltaic (PV) technology has been developed rapidly
over the last two decades from a small-scale, specialist
industry supplying the U.S. space program to a broadly based
global activity [1]. A solar panel is the fundamental energy
conversion component of the PV systems. Its conversion
efficiency depends on many extrinsic factors, such, as
insolation (incident solar radiation) levels, temperature, and
load condition. In order to extract maximum power from the
panel, a maximum-power-point tracker (MPPT), which is a
dc/dc converter, is usually connected between the panel and
the load. Various maximum-power-point (MPP) tracking
methods such as power matching scheme [1]-[3],
curve-fitting technique [4], [5], perturb-and-observe method
(PAOM) [6]-[9], and incremental-conductance technique
(ICT) [1I0], [11I] have been proposed.
A PV array can be operated at any point between the shortl
and open circuit conditions although there is only one
maximum power point. The product of voltage (V) and
current (I) will reach a maximum value (Vmax x Imax) at one
point called Maximum Power Point (MPP). The operating
point of a solar photovoltaic power system shifts from the
MPP due to changes in solar irradiation, cell temperature and The characteristic equation for this PV model is given by:
load. It is advantageous to operate the system always at the
MPP. When an MPPT is introduced in between the PV array
and the inverter, it forces the PV array to operate at the
maximum power point under all conditions, resulting in
improved efficiency of the system. Therefore, MPPTs are
gaining importance in photovoltaic applications. With the
increased use of PV systems, and in view of their high initial
cost more attention is being devoted towards design of
MPPTs to optimise the PV utilization.
In this paper sensing the MPPT converter's output voltage
or current is suggested rather than its traditionally used input
ones, basing the controller operation on these quantities. As
will be shown, the proposed alternative implies considerable
advantages in terms of track ability and, more significantly,
in terms of controller simplicity. It is shown that sensing of a
single load parameter (either current or voltage) suffices for
the tracking of the MPP. That results in a reduction in the
hardware involved (sensors) and simplification of the control
algorithm it showed an improvement in the output power by
18% (average) over a wide range or solar irradiation in a day.
II. PROPOSED SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
A block diagram of the proposed system is shown in
figurel. The basic principle of operation of an MPPT is to
sense the output voltage of the PV array Vpv as well as the
current Ipv and compare it with a reference power Pref that
represents the power at which the maximum power is
obtainable. A Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) waveform is
generated using Xilinx FPGA to switch the IGBT of the
power converter that conditions the power to the three-phase
inverter. A constant reference power is used to derive the
error signal that does not take into consideration the ambient
temperature variations.
Vpv, Ipv Vout, lout
PV Array DC-DC 3-phase
M
Driver
Fig. 1: Block diagram of the MPPT system
 LG -Is{xp[
AkT (V+JRs)- 1} -
V+IR (1) EGO
B A =band1.92 gapideality
for silicon;
Rsh factors;
Where Tr 301.1 8°K reference temperature;

=Ior[ T-] 3 exp qEGO

1 1 Ior cell saturation current at Tr;
IOS [([ ) Rsh, RS. shunt resistance; series resistance.
Tr Bk Tr T (2)
ILG =-JISCR + KI (T - 25)VA/ I00 The variation of the output I-V characteristics of a
commercial PV module as function of temperature and
landV
ouverseatpurtientC aendta;
cell irradiation is shown in figure 2(a) and (b), respectively. It is
T
T
cellrevperssaturation
celltemprat ionsan0C;
seen that the temperature changes affect mainly the PV
output voltage, while the irradiation changes affect mainly
Bletzmanni cosane; the PV output current. The intersection of the load line with
K

q electron1c charge; the PV module I-V characteristic, for a given temperature and
K1 =0.00 17 A! 0 C short circuit current temperature iraiain deemie
irradiation, determines th
the operating point. The
The maximum
coefficient at IscR,'
olairain in
power production is based on the load line adjustment under
x~~~~~ ~
soaraiaini /m2
ISCR short circuit current at 25 °C and 1000 W/m2;
varying atmospheric conditions [6-8].
ILG light-generated current;
80
5.30 F \\ \2\ 1 Q 705° -

4.0 .\.60
o50
-
/~~~~1WM
3.0 252
1.
40-
OOC
2.0 30 -

o 0 ,,,. 20=,3. 600C

1.0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~1
0~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~1
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Output voltage (V) Output voltage (V)

1.o0 (a) " \

0 \ 0 ' 0.k z
5.0 - - - - - - - - - -
-7
3
-

N~~~~~~~~
4.0 60
__ /
~~~~~~~~~~~~~25"C
3.0
2 /0
2
4* // 0O5kW/mi2
eL 2.0 ~30 2.0.75kW/r
L'O 20 \ 3. 1 kW/rn2

0 0
o 5 I10 is' 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
OQ4pu voltage (V) O~Put Vokag (V)

Fig. 2: Characteristics of a PV module with temperature and irradiation: (a) constant irradiation and varying temperature and (b) constant temperature and

varying irradiation

III. PV ARRAY INSTALLATION
The 3kW PV system consists of arrays of 42 solar modules,
which convert solar energy to DC electricity. The arrays are
connected together totalling of 7 modules in series by 6
modules in parallel; each module is rated at 75-Watts peak in
sunlight of 1 kW/m2. The modules are mounted on a 15° tilt
fixed structure frame facing the south the array is installed on
the rooftop of engineering tower Faculty of Engineering,
university of Malaya.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IV. MPPT IMPLEMENTATION
The MPP tracking process is shown in figure 3. The
starting points vary, depending on the atmospheric condition,
while the modulation index is changed continuously,
resulting in the system steady-state operation around the
maximum power point.
inductor value is 1 OmH and is wound on ferrite core with
1mm air gap the values ofthe inductor and capacitor has been
calculated. The system efficiency is defined as:
=-oPin - Po Po+ Pd (3)
Where P1 and P0 are the DC-DC converter input and
Pd iS the power loss. The
output power,
power loss cosistsyo th while
respectively, e Pd diode conducton and
power loss consists of the IGBP and diode conduction and
switching losses, the inductor core and copper losses and the
control system power consumption.
The theoretical values were calculated using data given by
the manufacturers ofthe circuit elements. The theoretical and
measured efficiency for various output power levels is shown
in figure 4. It is seen that the efficiency is quite high
approximately 9000 and relatively constant for a wide output
power range.

Ak ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0.95
PV Output Steady state Theoretical,l
Power operation 0.9
Pmax ________
0.85
Measured
0.8
0.75

Possible ~~~~~~~~~~~~0.7
starting points 0.65

Time 0.6
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

Fig. 3: MPP tracking process Power (W)

The proposed MPPT was implemented in two different
stages. The first stage senses the output voltage and current,
digitise them using the ADC .The digital values are then used
by the Genie software to generate the modulation index
which is used as input to Xilinx FPGA to generate the
required PWM in the second stage.
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A prototype MPPT system has been developed using the
above-described method and was tested in the laboratory.
The PV array, to be used with this system consist of 42 SP75
Siemens modules, producing a 3.15kW maximum power at
an irradiation level of 1kW/in2 and temperature of 250C. The
PV modules specifications given by the manufacturer. In
order to test the proposed system under various atmospheric
conditions, the PV array was first simulated with a DC power
supply by adjusting its output voltage and current limit
settings. The power switch consists of one IGBT rated at
600V, 50A, while the diode has a 200ns reverse-recovery
time. The input (in parallel with PV) and output capacitors
values are 4700pif and 470piF, respectively. The input
Fig. 4: System efficiency under PV MPPT conditions at 250C
The actual PV output power and corresponding theoretical
maximum output power for various irradiation levels is
shown in figure 5(a). It is seen that the proposed system
always tracks the PV maximum power point. Figure 5(b)
shows the PV output power for various irradiation levels,
with the MPPT control disconnected and with the DC-DC
converter modulation index set such that the PV array
produces the maximum power at each at 1 kW/m2 at 250C.
The theoretical maximum PV power at each irradiation level
is also indicated in the figure. A comparison between figure 5
(a) and (b) shows that the use of the proposed MPPT control
system increases the PV output power by as much as 18% for
the irradiation in the range of 0.2-0.75kW/Ii2.
 3000 [3] A. Braunstein and Z. Zinger, "On the dynamic optimal coupling of a
Theoretical Power solar cell array to a load and storage batteries," IEEE Trans. Power
2500 - - Theoretical Power App. Syst., vol. PAS-100, pp. 1183-1188, Mar. 1981.
0 Measured Power z * [4] A. Kislovski and R. Redl, "Maximum-power-tracking using positive
4*2000o feedback," in Proc. IEEE PESC'94, 1994, pp. 1065-1068.
2000 [5] S.Wolf and J. Enslin, "Economical, PV maximum power point
tracking regulator with simplistic controller," in Proc. IEEE PESC'93,
t 1500 1993,pp.581-587.
Or,[6] J. Gow and C. Manning, "Controller arrangement for boost converter
0 1000 - systems sourced from solar photovoltaic arrays or other maximum
power sources," Proc. IEE-Elect. Power Applicat., vol. 147, no. 1, pp.
500 - < 15-20, Jan. 2000.
[7] J. Enslin, M. Wolf, D. Snyman, and W. Swiegers, "Integrated
0 _ photovoltaic maximum power point tracking converter," IEEE Trans.
0 0.25 0.50 0.75 1 Ind. Electron., vol. 44, pp. 769-773, Dec. 1997.
(kW/M2) [8] P. Midya, P. Krein, R. Turnbull, R. Reppa, and J. Kimball, "Dynamic
Irradiation maximum power point tracker for photovoltaic applications," in Proc.
IEEE PESC'96, 1996, pp. 1710-1716.
(a) [9] Y. Lim and D. Hamill, "Simple maximum power point tracker for
photovoltaic arrays," Electron. Lett., vol. 36, no. 11, pp. 997-999,
May 2000.
3000

2500 --

a 2000-
Maximum Power X
;; 1500 -
4-1 ~ ~ ~ ~

° 1000 -

,e* *< - PV Output Power

500 -

00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1

Irradiation (kW/m2)

(b)
Fig. 5: (a) Theoretical and measured PV output power under MPPT
conditions at various irradiation levels and (b) the actual PV output power
and the corresponding theoretical maximum PV power at various irradiation
levels (PV maximum power at 1 kW/m2 at 250C)

VI. CONCLUSION

The PV array output power delivered to the inverter can be

maximized using MPPT control system, which consist of a
power conditioner to interface the PV output to the inverter,
and a control unit, which drives the power conditioner such
that it extracts the maximum power from the PV array. Low
cost and low power consumption MPPT system has been
developed and tested. Experimental results show that the use
of the proposed MPPT control increases the PV output power
by as much as 18%.
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