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ScienceDirect
Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

5th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research, ICAER 2015, 15-17 December
2015, Mumbai, India

Maximum Power Tracking Based Open Circuit Voltage Method for

PV System
Pratima Das*
Departent of EEE, Karunya University,Coimbatore,641401,India

Abstract

Photovoltaic power plants pose challenges when integrated with power grid. The PV plants always focus on extracting maximum power from
arrays. A new technique for tracking a pseudo-maximum power point for creating power reserve is presented. By using developed fractional open
circuit voltage algorithm power is extracted from the array and continuously power is supplied to load as well as for charging the battery. In this
project a 12V, 7Ah battery is used for charging and to avoid the revise current flow from the battery when input is, diode is replace by MOSFET
which will stop the reverse current .Generally in other algorithm will trace the power when maximum input is coming for that time power circuit
is disconnected from the load. In this case power developed algorithm is connected to designed moderate power five switch synchronous
algorithm and operates in pseudo-operation which will continuously supply the power to charge the battery. This can be control by using PIC
microcontroller which will generate the pulses and track the PV power. Precise measurement in the steady state shows that the converter finds the
maximum power point with tracking 95.85%.

Keywords: Buck-Boost Converter, Maximum Power Pont tracking (MPPT), PV system.

1.1. Introduction

Solar power is the cleanest energy available naturally. Maximum the utility of the power and providing a stable and
reliable power source is a fundamental requirement for any electricity power product and system including computer
integrated manufacturing system. Power electronic converters are very often used to interface solar panel to the
required load. A non-inverting buck-boost converter is essentially a cascade combination of a buck converter
followed by a boost converter, where a single inductor-capacitor is used for the both. This work uses a non-inverting
synchronous Buck-Boost to guarantee a wide input voltage range and consequently harvest power from the solar
panel over a wide range of radiations. Here five switch moderate design power converters are used for extracting

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 09486504241

E-mail address:daspratima45@gmail.com

1876-6102 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICAER 2015
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2016.11.165
 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 3

power from the PV system. Here, input is given by using the input capacitor and a MOSFFET, which will supply the
input to the cascaded non-inverting synchronous buck-boost converter. The input MOSFET is controlled by PIC
microcontroller such that, when input power is require to measures the open voltage form the panel input MOSFET
gets open and switch1will open and PV system momentarily disconnected from the converter, during % . The
purpose of using only developed fractional open circuit voltage so that power circuit will continuously supplies the
voltage even though the input power from the PV system is less than the reference voltage. To generate the pulse
differential modulation technique is used to trigger the switches of non-inverting buck-boost converter. Input switch
is control by the same microcontroller. Microcontroller generates five pulses such that input switches will on for
small time (nanosecond) to measure the open circuit voltage of panel. Here five switch non-inverting buck-boost
converter will charge the battery of 12V, 7amp. The switching frequency of the switches is 2 kHz and input switch
will be disconnected for very small time (nanosecond). The basic block diagram with five switches is shown in
fig.1. In literature review, the most used MPPT algorithm for solar panel are Perturb & observation (P &O) and
incremental conductance (INC), which gives the relationship between voltage and current. On contrary, in PV panel,
the electrical characteristic is linear:

-, .,
#& 0 and #& 0 (1)
 

Where #& and #& are the voltage and current at maximum power point, % is the open circuit voltage and ( is
the short circuit current. MPPT algorithm that use this relationship either measure the open-circuit voltage or short
circuit current, they provide a number of advantage over the aforementioned method:
• Measurement of only one parameter (voltage or current);
• Lower numerical computational requirements;
• No-steady state oscillation (P & O) or (INC)

Fig. 1 Block diagram of illustrating the fundamental structure of the complete system

These methods have the disadvantage that no energy flows from the PV panel to the converter during sampling line
because the converter must be disconnected from the PV panel to allow for the measurement of % or ( . The
schematic experimental circuit diagram of complete PV system using five-switch non-inverting synchronous buck-
boost converter is shown below.

Fig.2 Circuit schematic PV system using five-switch non-inverting synchronous buck-boost converter
4 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

2. MPPT Algorithm

It is necessary to control the charging of the battery, but it would not be required to perform the MPPT function
on its own. The microcontroller controls the gate driver connected to the high-side-N-MOSFET of the buck
converter with 2kHz, 8-bit on chip PWM, and it drives the low-side-N-MOSFET used to switch the input capacitors
on and off the circuit at 10KHz frequency.

Fig.3 Flow chart p code programmed to the microcontroller.

Above flow chart shows the implementation of fractional open circuit voltage algorithm with other control
parameters. Above flow chart shows, voltage is limited up to 12V so that battery will keep on charging at a constant
voltage. It shows the dumping of MPPT algorithm in microcontroller (PIC microcontroller). Every 100nsec the
switch is disconnected and duty cycle needed to set the MPP. After checking if the battery was previously
disconnected, the controller reduces the current if it is greater than#+ , this is done by decreasing the duty cycle by
a factor proportional to the difference#+ /  . Otherwise the microcontroller will decide if to maximize the power
or to set a new value for#+ :
1.  2 
#+ is reduce down to )'!"
2. 
 1    : if #+ 0 #+ MPPT ; otherwise the duty cycle is not change unless  1 #+ ,
which indicates that the power produced is decreasing, therefore the duty cycle is increased by 0.39%.
3.  1  3 


4.  1 
#+ =)'!"

2.1 Fractional Open Circuit Voltage Method

The fractional open circuit method is based on the fact that the voltage of PV panel at the MPP is
approximately linearly proportional to this open-circuit voltage,% . The proportional constant  depends on the
fabrication technologies of solar cells, fill factor and the meteorological conditions.

VMPP ≈ K1 .VOC (2)

The PV panel’s open circuit voltage is measured by interrupting the normal operation of the system with a certain
frequency and storing the measured value.

2.2 Fractional Short Circuit Method

Fractional short circuit current results from the fact that, under varying atmospheric condition,  is
linearly related to the  of a PV array thus,
 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 5

I MPP ≈ K 2 .VOC (3)

Where  proportionality is constant, just like in the fractional open circuit voltage technique  has to be
determined to the PV array in use. The constant is generally found to be between 0.78 and 0.92. Measurement 
during the operation is problematic. An additional switch usually to be added to the power converter to periodically
short the PV array so that  can be measured using a current sensor. This increases the number of components and
cost.

3. Power Converter

There are several solution being utilized today, including cascaded boost converter, classic four-switch buck-
boost converter, linear regulator; SEPIC converter; cuck converter. The converter used in this project has advantages
over all of these alternatives. Most notably are improved are improved efficiency and this simplification of external
components required for control loop(s) and/ or compensation.

3.1 Power Converter for PV panel

DC-DC converter is power electronic device able to transform DC voltage from one level to another, possible
also reversing the voltage polarity. The most common basic topologies are the Buck which steps down the input
voltage, the Boost which steps up the input voltage and finally Buck-Boost that is able to step either up or down the
output voltage relative to that applied at the input. The modes of operation of power converter is shown below :

Fig.4 Inductor Charging and Discharging Paths in Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost Converter

3.2 Switching Operation

The main components of buck, boost and buck-boost are an inductor L, a switch S and a diode D. A Pulse
Width Modulation (PWM) control how long the switch stays closed during each switching period. The on and off
states of the switch dived the converter’s operation into two phases; a charge phase and discharge phase, both of
which describe the energy transfer to a form the inductor. Above figure shows the basic circuit schematics of the
three converter topologies and the inductor’s charging and discharging phases. During %$ (PWM high) the inductor
L is magnetized by the PV panel voltage % which applied to its terminal, varying on the converter’s topology. As a
result, the current in the inductor is incremented by

ΔV L .t on
ΔI LON = (4)
L
When the switch opens during% , there cannot be discontinuity in the current of the inductor, i.e. a way to keep the
current circulating in the same direction has to be provided I order to guarantee the ampere-turns continuity in the
inductor. The solution is found in the so-called freewheel diode D, which in the synchronous version of the
converters is replaced by another switch. During% there will be another similar change in the current in the
inductor. Input and output capacitors are added as buffer elements: the former is charged by the source% and
release power during %$ while the latter provides power to the load when the diode is reverse-biased. This cyclic
6 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

transfer of energy between the circuit elements maintains the output voltage at the proper value, in accordance with
its topology. The value of the duty cycle, which is the ratio of the PWM’s high time to its switching period (D= %$ /
% ), directly affects the ratio between output and input voltage M= %*)  $ .

1 D (5)
M buck = D, M boost = , M buck −boost =
1− D 1− D

3.3 Model of the Non-Inverting Synchronous Buck-Boost Converter

The dynamics describing to the non-inverting Buck-Boost converter is found to have the following state
representation:

Fig.5 Simplified non-inverting buck-boost converter

Fig. 5(a) Switch position at u = 1. Fig .5(b) Switch position at u = 0.

4. Battery Managment

The battery management system monitors and controls the storage and delivery of the energy drawn from
the solar panel. The system block diagram of the battery management system is shown in fig. 6.
 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 7

Fig.6 Functional block diagram of the battery management system.

In fig.6 is comprised of a buck-boost power converter, lithium battery modules and a charge controller
(microcontroller). The input power of the battery management system comes from the output maximum power
point-tracking system. The voltage at this incident angle of the sunlight. In this application, the input voltage can be
varied from 6 to 30V. The voltage of the power converter will be maintained at around 12V , so that we can charge
the Li-ion battery successfully. The battery modules selected in this system are lithium-ion (Li-ion) polymer
rechargeable batteries (HECELL, battery model: H6849D5-4800mAh). A battery sub-module consists of three
management system contains two battery modules; each module consists of four sub-modules as shown in fig.7. It
has a nominal voltage of 12.2V with 5200mAh capability.

Fig.7 Construction of the battery module

4.1 Working of Battery

The charging and discharging of the batteries are carried out through the charge controller. The
charging and discharging control circuit as shown in fig.8. To charge sub-module, we will close the switch S1 but
switch S2 and S3 will remain open. On the other hand, we need to close the switch S2 and open the switches S1 and
S3 in order to charge the battery sub-module 2.

Fig.8 Charging and discharging circuitry for Li-ion battery

To charge sub-module we will close the switch S1 but switch S2 and S3 will remain open. On the other
hand, we need to close the relay S2 and open the switches S1 and S3 in order to charge the battery sub-module2. In
charging the Li-ion battery, the battery is charge at a constant current until the battery voltages reaches the
maximum voltage limit. The circuit then switches to voltage-regulation, allowing the current to taper at lower
8 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

values. For constant current charging, we maintain the voltage V1 in fig.4.3 at a constant voltage by controlling the
pulse width of the PWM controller. While in constant voltage charging mode, we will maintain V2 at a constant
voltage level.

5. Hardware Implementation And Result

By using the developed MPPT algorithm, the PV characteristic with readings can be plot as shown below.

Fig. 9 Graphical representation panel readings

Table.1 Panel readings

S. No Panel Input Voltage Panel Input Current Power (watts)

(V) (I)
1 3.4 1.09 3.706
2 4.13 1.02 4.2126
3 4.65 1.01 4.6965
4 6.18 0.92 5.6856
5 8.32 0.83 6.9056
6 9.29 0.76 7.06604
7 10.13 0.68 6.8884
8 12.42 0.62 7.7004
9 14.51 0.59 8.5609
10 16.16 0.56 9.0496
11 17.21 0.49 8.4329
12 18.04 0.46 8.2984
 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 9

5.1. Gate Pulse Waveform

The switching takes place when sign of the error and its slope at the boundary of a band. For positive error and
negative slope occurs causes the switching pulse in following figures.

M1 M2 M3

M4 M5

Fig.10 Pulses across each MOSFET

5.2 Modules in hardware implementation

The prototype hardware circuit of complete project is shown in fig.10 which contains the following
circuits. The hardware assembly can be divided in to different modules as listed below.

• Control circuit: To control and switching of switches is done by using microcontroller. A microcontroller is
a complete microprocessor system built on a single IC. Microcontrollers were developed to meet a need for
microprocessors to be put into low cost products. The microcontroller that has been used for this project is
from PIC series. Various microcontrollers offer different kinds of memories. EEPROM, EPROM, FLASH
etc. are some of the memories of which FLASH is the most recently developed. Technology that is used in
pic16F877 is flash technology, so that data is retained even when the power is switched off. Easy
10 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

Programming and Erasing are other features of PIC 16F877.

• Protection circuit: Here diode protection circuit is used which connected in series with solar panel and then
given to power circuit.

• Power circuit: It comprises of combination five MOSFET switch

• Driver circuit: This circuit is used to give trigger pulses to switches of power circuit.

The overall prototype of the hysteresis modulation for non-inverting synchronous buck-boost converter is
shown in fig.10. This consists of driver circuit, input filter, microcontroller, power circuit and battery.

Fig.11Testing of prototype non-inverting synchronous buck-boost converter

Above diagram shows all the components with output wave form from electrical project laboratory. This project has
been performed in the electrical laboratory successfully. If the input from the panel or RPS is 10.14V than the output
of the power circuit Vout be 12.08V. If the input is coming from the panel is 17.18V or more than it (up to 30V) ,
than the output from the power circuit will maintain the same power or voltage i.e 12V.Hence the power circuit will
work on both buck as well as boost mode.
 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 11

Fig.12 Hardware implementation of non-inverting synchronous buck-boost converter

The input capacitor which is connected to input switch will connect and disconnect the synchronous buck-boost
converter. Input capacitor will always turn on if out of the panel is required to measure, at this moment the switch of
the buck mode i. switch 1 will be disconnected. In this case the power circuit still is operating and delivering the
power to charge the battery. Operation of buck- boost converter is fully depends upon the value of solar panel. This
mode of operation is called as pseudo operation of the power circuit. Now if the panel output is less than the
reference voltage than boost mode will operate. In this case the energy is stored in the inductor will deliver the
power to the load and input switch will be disconnected from the panel for 100nsec. This process will keep on
repeating. Hence the power circuit will continuously will supply the power to output. In this case MPPT will extract
more power every time and power circuit will perform the modes of operation. Output of the complete
implementation of hardware is shown below:

Fig.13 Output waveform

12 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13

5.3 Conclusion

By using Non- inverting synchronous buck-boost design is efficiently tested for the moderate power i.e.
solar system. By using fractional open circuit voltage MPPT algorithm is successfully true for five switch non-
inverting synchronous buck-boost converter. This paper presented an innovative algorithm technique to obtain the
open-circuit voltage measurement of solar panel with minimal disconnection of the load. The MPPT algorithm is
programmed to a low-cost microcontroller and does not require expensive sensors; it checks the open-circuit voltage
every 100nsec and accurately adjust the optimum operating point in less than 10msec.
The converter used in dc-dc non inverting synchronous buck-boost (93% efficient), which can work in
buck, boost or buck-boost mode; this guarantees the harvest of power over a wide range of radiations differences
across the solar panel. The system is tested with 12V battery for charging and discharging mode. The presented
MPPT system was rested both under steady state and transient condition with RPS, demonstrating its ability to set
the optimum electrical operating point quickly and very accurately. These results exceed the performance of any
other MPPT algorithm for PV system presented in the literature so far.
Future work will focus on comparing the proposed MPPT technique to other MPPT algorithms and on
integrating several MPPT converters together to form a DMPPT system.

Acknowledgement

At the outset, I express my gratitude to the ALMIGHTY GOD who has been with me during each and every
step that I have taken towards the completion of this project. I wish to thank with deep sense of acknowledge to the
Management of Karunya University. I wish to express my sincere thanks to Director, School of Electrical Sciences,
Professor and Head, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering for their excellent encouragements in
course of this work. I would like to thank all the Teaching faculty members and Supporting Staff of our department
for advising me whenever in need, co-operating with me and arranging the necessary facilities.

Appendix A. MPPT Algorithm

B. MPPT Algorithm

C. Power Converter

3.1 Power Converter for PV panel

3.2 Switching Operation

3.3 Model of The Non-Inverting Synchronous Buck-Boost Converter

 Pratima Das / Energy Procedia 90 (2016) 2 – 13 13

D. Battery Management

4.1 Working of Battery

E. Hardware Implementation and Result

5.1 Gate Pulse Waveform

5.2 Modules in hardware implementation

5.3 Conclusion

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