International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
Design of Photovoltaic Based Battery Charger using
Sliding Mode MPPT Control
Josalin Jemima J.
Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering,
Thiagarajar College of Engineering,
Madurai, Tamilnadu-625015, India
(e-mail: josalinjjj@gmail.com)
Abstract—A Photovoltaic PV module along with an
interconnection which gives proper voltage and current to charge
rechargeable batteries is termed as PV Battery Charger. The
interconnection system used is DC-DC converter which provides
suitable charging voltage and current to the battery. Maximum
Power Point Tracking is very unique to the field of PV systems to
extract maximum power during operation. There are many
conventional methods available for Maximum power point
tracking but they fail under rapidly varying weather conditions.
To overcome this problem, non linear controllers are utilized
much in the field of photovoltaic system. In this paper, the
Sliding Mode Controller is implemented as the MPPT algorithm
to deliver maximum power even under rapidly varying
environmental conditions, disturbances and system uncertainties.
The obtained results indicate that the Sliding Mode Controller
provides robustness under varying weather conditions compared
to the conventional MPPT algorithms.
Keywords— Photovoltaics; Maximum power point
tracking; Robustness; Perturb and Observe; Sliding mode control;
I. INTRODUCTION
The renewable energy sources such as solar energy,
wind energy and fuel cells are being utilized more because of
the effect of global warming and the receding conventional
energy sources. In accurate, solar PV energy has been widely
used in many applications such as solar thermal electric power
plants, photovoltaic, solar heating systems, solar lighting and
solar electric vehicle. There are many advantages offered by
solar energy than traditional sources of energy like coal and
oil. Maximum power point tracking or commonly known as
MPPT is very unique to the field of PV systems and this also
brings about a very special application of power electronics in
the field of photovoltaic.
A comparative analysis of four types of MPPT
is given in [1] .The MPPT methods chosen in this paper
are Hill Climbing(HC) method, Perturb and Observe(P
and O) method, Incremental Conductance (IC) method and
Fuzzy Logic Control MPPT. The simulation response for all
these MPPT techniques is obtained under rapidly varying
978-1-5090-5682-8 /17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
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Charles Raja S.
Department of Electrical and
Electronics Engineering,
Thiagarajar College of Engineering,
Madurai, Tamilnadu-625015, India
(e-mail: charlesrajas@tce.edu)
environmental conditions. Sliding mode control algorithms for
buck and boost power converters are surveyed in the paper
along with sliding surface equations and derivation of
equivalent control. Reduction in chattering is done by
harmonic cancellation is demonstrated in [2]. The sliding
mode control to accomplish fast tracking speed and reduced
steady state oscillation is given. Moreover, unlike other
methods which require feedback signals from voltage and
current sensors, this strategy just requires current to produce
control actions The benefits of this sliding mode control is that
simple implementation and it can achieve both high tracking
speed as well as reduced steady state oscillation discussed
by [3]. The sliding mode controller is robust in steady state as
well as under differing weather conditions. The controller can
be utilized as a control actuator for the MPPT algorithm
proposed by [4]. The terminal sliding mode control overcome
the singularity problem present in traditional sliding mode
control is presented by [5]. The integral sliding mode control
together with the MPPT current controller is applied for the
regulation of current is proposed by [5].The control algorithm
consists of two loops, one for estimating the maximum power
voltage which is used in second loop as a reference value for
backstepping sliding mode control proposed by [11]. Better
voltage regulation is attained even under changes in
online voltage and input parameters keeping load as constant
is discussed by [7].
The major problem that is to be concentrated in
the field of solar energy is that it’s heavy dependence on
weather conditions. Many conventional methods are used
to extract the maximum power from the PV array but
they are not robust to disturbance, uncertainties and rapidly
changing environmental conditions. So here comes the role of
non linear controllers to extract maximum power even
under disturbances and varying weather conditions.[12],[13].
Among several nonlinear controllers, several benefits
are offered by sliding mode control (SMC) which has large
 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
signal stability, reduction in system order, less implementation
complexity, robustness. Charging a battery with no interface
devices between PV panel and battery makes damages in the
battery [15] and thus reducing the life cycle of battery. Also
the current entering the battery should be regulated.
II. MODELING OF PV PANEL
The PV module is the interface which changes over
light into power. Modeling this fundamentally requires taking
climate information (irradiance and temperature) as input
parameters. The resultant can be current and voltage where the
product gives the power. Any adjustment in the sections
instantly infers changes in output. That is the reason, it is
imperative to utilize an exact model for the PV module [8].
Load current
VT is thermal voltage
k is Boltzmann’s constant
q is charge of an electron
The solar cells are interconnected in a series-parallel
combination to achieve the desired power because a single
Photovoltaic cell produces less voltage and current. The
desired voltage is produced by interconnecting the solar
photovoltaic cells in series and the desired current is generated
by associating the cells in parallel. The above equations are
mathematically modeled in MATLAB Simulink to get the PV
current and voltage.
III. MODELING OF BOOST CONVERTER
DC-DC Converters, for example, buck converter,
boost converter and buck-boost converter have been broadly
utilized as a part of conventional modern applications, for
I = (୮୦ . Np ) – Id – Ish (1) example, uninterruptible power supply, dc motor drives,
power systems, equipment for telecommunication and so forth
Reverse saturation current [9]. Boost converter also known as step up converter is chosen
ୱ ൌ ୰ୱ ሺ
୘
ሻଷ ቀ‡š’ ቀ
୯୉ౝ౥
ቁ െ ͳቁ (2) to boost the input panel voltage to a higher voltage.
୘౨౛౜ ୒౩ ୩୘

Reverse saturation at operating temperature

୯୚౥ౙ
୰ୱ ൌ ୱୡ ሺ‡š’ ቀ ቁ െ ͳሻ (3)
୒౩ే౐

Diode current
୚
Id = Is (exp ሺ ) – 1) (4)
୅୚౐ ୒౩ Fig. 1. Circuit diagram of Boost Converter
Thermal Voltage ିሺଵି௨ሻ ଵ
ଓ௅ሶ ൌ  ܸ௢ ൅  ܸ (8)
୏Ǥ୘ ௅೙ ௅೙ ௜௡
୲ = (5) ሺଵି௨ሻ ଵ
୯
ܸ௢ሶ ൌ ݅௅ െ  ܸ (9)
஼೙ ோ೙ ஼೙ ௢
Phase current
୍౨౨
The figure comprises of inductor that allows panel
୮୦ = (ୱୡ +  ୧ ( െ  ୰ୣ୤ ሻ * (6) current, switch (MOSFET) which is controlled by the sliding
ଵ଴଴଴
mode controller, diode, capacitor, load resistance. With
Shunt current respect to the duty cycle, by using the following design
ొ౦
୚‫ ొ כ‬ା୍Ǥୖ౩ equations the output voltage can be evaluated.
౩
ୱ୦ ൌ (7)
ୖ౦ ௏೚ ଵ
ൌ (10)
௏೔೙ ଵି஽
where ୮୦ is light generated current
Np is number of parallel cells The product of output voltage and current is
Id is diode current equivalent to product of input voltage and current in an ideal
Ish is shunt current circuit i.e ܸ௢௨௧ ‫ܫ‬௢௨௧ ൌ  ܸ௜௡ ‫ܫ‬௜௡
Ego is semiconductor band gap energy ܲ௜௡ ൌ  ܲ௢௨௧ (11)
Tref is reference temperature
T is PV module temperature A. Calculation of inductance and capacitance
Isc is short circuit current The value of the inductor and capacitor of the
Voc is open circuit voltage converter can be designed as follows.
Is is reverse saturation current ௏೔೙
V is voltage imposed on diode ‫ ܮ‬ൌ  ‫ܦ‬ (12)
௙ೞ οூಽ

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 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
ூ೚ೠ೟
‫ ܥ‬ൌ ‫ܦ‬ (13)
௙ೞ ο௏೚ பୱ
•ሶ = ሶ = 0 ՜ ሺǦሺͳǦ—‡“ሻ‘൅’ሻȀ = 0 (19)
ப୍୮ ୮
where ݂௦ is the switching frequency, ο‫ܫ‬௅ is the input
current ripple and οܸ௢ is the output voltage ripple. The
From this,
proportion between the input current ripple and the current
output of the converter is known as the ripple factor. The —‡“ൌͳȂ’Ȁ‘ሺʹͲሻ

current ripple factor should lie within 30% for a good design
of inductor. Š‡…—”„‹‰…‘–”‘Ž‹•†‡ˆ‹‡†ƒ•ˆ‘ŽŽ‘™•ǣ

οூಽ
ൌ ͲǤ͵ (14) —ൌɄǤ•‹‰ሺ•ሻ൅ȗ•ሺʹͳሻ
ூ೚
ɄൌɄ‘ሺȁ•ȁ൅Ɂሻሺʹʹሻ
The maximum output current should always less than 
that of the current rating of inductor.
where, Ș0 >0, k>0 and ߜ>0 are constants. The control
The value of οܸ௢ is normally taken as 0.05 times the amplitude Ș depends on the sliding surface.
output voltage i.e
ο௏೚ A. Algorithm of the Sliding Mode MPPT Control
ൌ ͲǤͲͷ (15)
௏೚
Initialize parameters ( k, ߜ, Șo );
The design specifications for the converter are Vin =20V, ¨t ՜ Sampling Period
Vo=40V and fs = 20KHz. From this, inductor, capacitor and ™Š‹Ž‡ሺͳሻ†‘
resistor values can be determined. ‡ƒ•—”‡୮ ሺ–ሻǡ ୮ ሺ–ሻǡ ୭ ሺ–ሻǢ

Step 1: Calculate the resistance of panel, Rp(t)

IV. DESIGN OF SLIDING MODE CONTROLLER
୮ ሺ–ሻ
The outline of Sliding Mode Control for the most  ୮ ሺ–ሻ ՚
୮ ሺ–ሻ
part contains two stages: The initial step is to design the
sliding surface, and the second step is to design the control Step 2: Calculate change in  ୮ and change in ୮
signal. The sliding surface is chosen according to the
applications that have to be controlled. By then, the control ୢୖ୮ ୖ౦ ሺ୲ሻିୖ౦ ሺ୲ିο୲ሻ
signal is intended to ensure the presence condition. The ൌ ;
ୢ୲ ο୲
sliding mode control is designed based on [10].
ୢ୍୮ ୍౦ ሺ୲ሻି୍౦ ሺ୲ିο୲ሻ
The derivative of the panel power with respect to the panel ՚ ;
ୢ୲ ο୲
voltage is selected as the sliding surface.
ப୔୮ பୖ୮୍మ
౦ பୖ୮
Step 3: Implementation of sliding surface
= = Ip (2 Rp +Ip )=0 (16)
ப୍୮ ப୍୮ ப୍୮
†’ †’ ିଵ
where RP=VP/IP. Consequently, when panel current and •ሺ–ሻ ՚ ʹ ୮ ሺ–ሻ ൅ ୮ ሺ–ሻሺ ሻሺ ሻ
†– †–
converter output voltage (state variables) converge to the
sliding surface, the power from the panel will be boosted. The Step 4: Design of equivalent control by equating ‫ݏ‬ሶto zero
sliding surface is chosen as follows: ୮ ሺ–ሻ
—ୣ୯ ሺ–ሻ ՚ ͳ െ
பୖ୮ ୭ ሺ–ሻ
s ‫ ’ʹ ؜‬൅ ’ (17)
ப୍୮
Ʉሺ–ሻ ՚ Ʉ୭ ሺȁ•ሺ–ሻȁ ൅ Ɂ
The control signal is defined by:
Step 5: Design of curbing control
‫ ݑ‬ൌ ‫ݑ‬eq + un (18)
where, u is the control signal, ueq is the control derived by —୬ ሺ–ሻ ՚ Ʉሺ–ሻሺ•‹‰൫•ሺ–ሻ൯ ൅  ‫• כ‬ሺ–ሻǢ
equating the derivative of sliding surface to zero and un is the
control designed to neglect the effect of perturbation and to Step 6: Design of Control signal with equivalent control and
force the states of the system towards the sliding surface. The curbing control.
objective of the equivalent control is to guarantee that the
system trajectory remains on the sliding surface from there on.

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 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
—ሺ–ሻ ՚ —ୣ୯ ሺ–ሻ ൅  —୬ ሺ–ሻǢ current by acting as an interface between the PV panel and the
Battery.
Step 7: Condition checking for the control signal The most common MPPT algorithm used is Perturb
and Observe (P and O) method. The advantage of this method
if —ሺ–ሻ> 1 then is that accuracy is more and faster response. This type of
u(t)=1; MPPT directly measures the voltage and current or power as
end well. The major drawback of this method is that the operating
‹ˆ—ሺ–ሻδͲ–Š‡ point oscillates at maximum power point. Also this method
—ሺ–ሻαͲǢ struggles at rapidly changing irradiance.
‡†
 A. Simulink Model of Perturb and Observe MPPT Algorithm
By implementing the above algorithm in MATLAB code, the
duty ratio of the Boost converter is controlled according to the The simulink model of the perturb and observe
control action taken. method is shown in Fig. 2.Here the panel voltage and panel
 current is sensed by the Perturb and Observe MPPT algorithm
and the duty cycle is given to the gate pulse of the Boost
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION converter. The voltage waveform of the Boost converter with
In this paper initially the PV panel is designed to P and O under constant irradiance and constant temperature is
provide the voltage source to the Boost Converter. The boost given in Fig. 3. which shows the output voltage of the boost
converter is designed in such a way that it regulates the PV converter is 37.94 volts.

Fig. 2. Simulink model of the Perturb and Observe MPPT algorithm

40
V o lt a g e (V o lts )

30

20

10

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 3. Voltage waveform of converter

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 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
22

21.5

P V V olta g e
21

20.5

20
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 4. Voltage waveform of PV panel with change in irradiance

40
V o lta g e (V o lts )

30

20

10

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 5. Voltage waveform of Converter with change in irradiance

B. Simulink Model of Perturb and Observe MPPT Algorithm irradiance and constant temperature is given in Fig. 8. The
with Change in irradiance output voltage of the boost converter is 39.22 volts.

TABLE I. SIMULATION CONDITIONS

When the irradiance variation is given, this method
delivers maximum power but it is not robust to irradiance
variations. So this method is not applicable for rapidly Time Interval(ms) 0-25 26-50
changing environment. The sliding mode controller
Irradiance(W/m2) 1000 700
overcomes this problem effectively. When the irradiance
varies from 1000 KW/m2 to 700 KW/m2 at 0.1s, the panel PV Voltage(V) 21.05 20.01
voltage drops from 21.05 volts to 20.01 volts. The effect of
change of irradiance is shown in Fig. 4. Output Voltage(V) 39.22 38.66
in SMC
When the irradiance changes the P and O method is Output Voltage(V) 37.94 37.94
unable to track the changes in the PV panel voltage as well as in P and O
current. The voltage waveform of the converter is shown in
Fig. 5. It is clear that Perturb and observe method delivers D. Simulink Model of Sliding Mode MPPT Algorithm with
maximum power even if the irradiance varies but it is not change in irradiance
robust to irradiance changes.
C. Simulink Model of Sliding Mode MPPT Algorithm The irradiance varies between 1000 and 700 (W/m2),
while the temperature and load are maintained at constant (T=
25ι C and R=150 ohm). In the simulation, robustness of the
Fig. 6 shows the simulink model of sliding mode system is checked by varying irradiance. From Fig. 10. it can
MPPT algorithm. The panel voltage and panel current is given be concluded that this method provides robustness towards the
to the sliding mode controller. The sliding mode control also insolation variation. Thus the battery is charged efficiently
receives output voltage of the boost converter. According to even during environmental variations. The state of charge of
the control signal generated, the duty ratio is calculated and the battery during the simulation is shown in Fig. 9. The
given to the gate of the IGBT. current and voltage of the boost converter enters the battery
The state of charge of the battery during the for charging. The battery is charged efficiently even when the
simulation is shown in Fig. 7. The current and voltage of the irradiance changes. When the irradiance changes the sliding
boost converter enters the battery for charging. The voltage mode MPPT is able to track the changes in the PV panel
waveform of the Boost converter with SMC under constant voltage as well as current. The voltage of the converter drops
from 39.22 to 38.88 Volts. When the irradiance changes the

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 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
sliding mode MPPT is able to track the changes in the PV remains the same i.e it is not able to track the irradiance
panel voltage as well as current. variation and hence it is not robust. But in sliding mode
Table 1 shows the simulation conditions of sliding controller according to the change in irradiance level, the
mode MPPT control and Perturb and Observe method. When converter voltage drops from 39.22 volts to 38.66 volts. Thus
the irradiance changes during operation, in P and O the output it is clear that the sliding mode controller is robust to the
voltage of the converter does not change from 37.94 volts but change in irradiance level.

Fig. 6. Simulink model of the Battery charger using Sliding mode MPPT control

100

99.9999
SOC

99.9998

99.9997

99.9996
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 7. State Of Charge of the Battery using Sliding Mode MPPT Control

40

39
V o lta g e

38

37

36
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 8. Voltage waveform of the converter using Sliding Mode MPPT Control

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 International Conference on Innovations in Power and Advanced Computing Technologies [i-PACT2017]
100

99.9999

SOC
99.9998

99.9997

99.9996
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 9. State Of Charge of the Battery using Sliding Mode MPPT Control with change in irradiance

39.5

39
V oltage

38.5

38

37.5
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1
Time (seconds)

Fig. 10. Voltage waveform of the converter using Sliding Mode MPPT Control with change in irradiance

VI. CONCLUSION
Photovoltaic based battery charger is designed using
sliding mode MPPT controller in this paper. The robustness of
the controller against irradiance changes is verified by the
simulation results. The robustness is checked for both Perturb
and Observe MPPT algorithm and Sliding mode MPPT
algorithm by giving irradiation changes during the operation.
The stability of the system is attained by using Lyapunov
theory. Simulation results show that while PO algorithm is not
able to detect the changes in irradiance, the SM MPPT is
capable of detecting the variations and gives the converter
voltage effectively. Hence, it is concluded that Perturb and
Observe method is not robust to irradiance changes, but the
sliding mode controller proves to be robust towards irradiance
changes.
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