MPPT Algorithm Implementation for Solar
Photovoltaic module using Microcontroller
B.R.Sanjeeva Reddy
Assoc. Professor, Dept. of ECE, BVRIT, JNTUH,
Hyderabad, India
E-mail:sanjeev.reddy@yahoo.com
P.Badari Narayana
Project Manager, R&D Division,
Cybermotion Technologies, Hyderabad, India
E-mail:badari.p@gmail.com
Abstract— Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm is
widely used control technique that varies the electrical operating
point to extract maximum power available from the solar cell of
photovoltaic (PV) module. Since the solar cells have nonlinear i-v
characteristics, the efficiency of PV module is very low and
power output depends on solar insolation level and ambient
temperature. Moreover there is a great loss of power due to
mismatch of source and load. So, to extract maximum power
from solar panel a MPPT needs to be designed and the objective
of the paper is about a novel cost effective and efficient
microcontroller based MPPT system for solar voltaic system to
ensure fast maximum power point operation at all fast changing
environmental conditions. The proposed controller scheme
utilizes PWM techniques to regulate the output power of boost
converter at its maximum possible value and simultaneously
controls the charging process of battery. Parameter extraction,
model evaluation and analysis of boost converter is demonstrated
using MATLAB/Simulink model.
Keywords: MPPT Algorithm, Photovoltaic
Microcontroller, PWM Techniques, Boost Converter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Renewable energy especially solar photovoltaic is seen as
important alternate source of energy for the future, and has
recently attained importance due to lot of research and
development done in the area of solar cells and power
electronic converter technology to reduce the cost and increase
the system efficiency. Solar photovoltaic generation systems
have two inherent major problems. The first is low conversion
efficiency (10 to 16% efficiency for commercially available
amorphous silicon solar cells) and second is presence of
highly nonlinear i-v characteristics. The problem gets worse
due to dependence of characteristics of solar cell on
temperature and insolation level [1]. Further, due to mismatch
between the operating point and Maximum Power Point
(MPP) of the solar cells, the power available from the solar
cells is not always fully extracted [2]. In order to extract the
maximum amount of energy, the PV system must be capable
of tracking the solar panel unique maximum power point that
varies with irradiance and temperature. A MPPT is a power
electronic DC/DC converter inserted between the PV module
horized licensed use limited to: NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS). Downloaded on September 26,2021 at 08:33:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions ap
Praveen Jambholkar
Director-Technical, R&D Division,
Cybermotion Technologies, Hyderabad, India
E-mail: praveen@cybermotionind.com
Prof. K. Srinivasa Reddy
Dean, Sri Vishnu Educational Society,
BVRIT, Hyderabad, India
E-mail: ksreddy@srivishnu.edu.in
and load to achieve optimum matching. By using an intelligent
algorithm, it ensures that the PV module always operates at its
maximum power point. Several MPPT algorithms have been
proposed in different literatures like Perturb & Observe
(P&O), Incremental Conductance, Constant Voltage, Constant
Current and fuzzy based algorithms [3]. These techniques
differ in many aspects like complexity, convergence speed,
hardware implementation, sensors required, cost, range of
effectiveness and need for parameterization.
Different converter topologies like buck, boost, buck-
boost and cuk converters are implemented for MPPT design.
Boost converters can track MPP with maximum efficiency and
can work for wide range of input voltage [2]. In this paper
duty cycle of boost converter is controlled by PWM signal
from microcontroller implementing Incremental Conductance
algorithm. Implementation of the model is done using
MATLAB/Simulink and good performance of the control
Module, technique improves efficiency further for the hardware
implementation.
II. MODELING AND VALIDATION OF SOLAR CELL
IN MATLAB
A simple model is chosen for the MATLAB modeling and
simulation. A simple PV cell is represented by a light
dependent current source (Isc) in antiparallel with a diode
driven by current Id[2] and a series resistance in the current
path through semiconductor material, the metal grid, contacts
and current collecting bus [4]&[5]. The presence of diode
determines the output V-I characteristics of solar cell.
The parallel resistance associated with a small leakage of
current through a resistive path in parallel with an intrinsic
device [5] & [6] is very large, so its effect is very less and is
neglected. The equations which govern the characteristics of
solar cell are:
[
I = Isc − Io eq (V + IRs ) / nKT − 1] (1)
⎛G ⎞
Isc |G = ⎜ ⎟ Isc | Go (2)
⎝ Go ⎠
 3/ n ⎛ qEg ⎞ ⎛ 1 1 ⎞ controlled by the PWM signal generated from the
⎛ T ⎞ −⎜ ⎟ ⎜⎜ − ⎟⎟
microcontroller
Io |T = Isc |Tref ⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ e ⎝ nK ⎠ ⎝ T Tref ⎠
(3)
⎝ Tref ⎠

Isc |T = Isc|Tref [1 + a (T − Tref )] (4)

[
I = Isc − Io e q (V + IRs ) / nKT − 1 − ] V + IRs
Rp
(5)

⎛ dV ⎞ nKT / q
Rs = −⎜ ⎟−
⎝ dI ⎠ Io e [
q (V + IRs ) / nKT
−1 ] (6)

Figure 2: Boost converter circuit controlled by PWM generated by

Microcontroller

Figure3 represents the unmasked simulation block of the

SSL Solar PV module and gives the IMPP and VMPP values with
the help of IC MPPT Algo.

Figure 1: Equivalent circuit used for MATLAB Simulation

TABLE I
ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS DATA OF PV MODULE
S.No Electrical Specification
1 Maximum Power Voltage
2 Maximum Power Current
3 Open Circuit Voltage
4 Short circuit Current
*Note: Electrical characteristics are under test conditions of 1kW/m2, spectrum of 1.5 air mass and
cell temperature of 25oC
The PV module chosen for MATLAB Simulation is
made of 36 multicrystalline silicon solar cells in series and
provides 135W of nominal maximum power. Table I Shows
the electrical specifications that is necessary for cell/module
modeling.
III. MPPT ALGORITHM AND BOOST CONVERTER
MPPT optimizes the power output of the solar cell by
constantly tracking the varying maximum power operating
point and adjusts the solar panel operating voltage. Different
algorithms are used to track the maximum power point [3] &
[4].In this paper Incremental Conductance based algorithm is
implemented because of its ease of digital implementation,
fast response and efficiency. Incremental Conductance
algorithm is based on differentiation of PV power to its
voltage and on condition of zero slope of P-V curve at
maximum power point (MPP). Power output from the solar
PV panel is
P= VI (7)
Where P=module power, V=module voltage and I= module
current.
Figure 2 shows the simulation circuitry for the boost
converter with the selection of the basic elements which is
17.8V
7.58A
22.3V
8.22A
Figure3: Unmasked Simulation block for SSL Solar PV Module
Block diagram below mentioned as Figure 4 gives the
complete marked simulation of the MPPT implementation for
solar PV model.
Figure 4: Complete Masked MATLAB/Simulink Block diagram of MPPT
Implementation for Solar PV Module
IV. SIMULATION OF COMPLETE MPPT ALGORITHM MODEL
MPPT model designed using MATLAB is shown in Figure
4. A PV array with defined characteristics is taken as current
and voltage source for different measurements. First block is
SSL Solar PV Module that is used to measure theoretical
maximum power available from the panel under specified
temperature and insolation level. Program for controlling the
panel is written in the ‘IC MPPT Algo’ block. This block is
used for analysis of maximum power that can be extracted
from the panel employing suitable algorithms.

horized licensed use limited to: NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS). Downloaded on September 26,2021 at 08:33:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions ap
 For the present work Incremental Conductance algorithm is
used to extract maximum power from the array. IMPP and VMPP
are the inputs to boost converter. The change in duty cycle is
necessary to control output voltage. Manual switch is used for
solar panel and load. Plot of theoretical maximum power from
solar panel, power that can be transferred from the panel under
direct coupling and maximum power that can be extracted
from the panel using MPPT can be seen from the values solar
current and load current. Maximum power output by the solar
panel is provided by MPPT circuit. Boost converter will
increase the voltage in steps of the input DC levels.
V. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The numerical simulated data shown in Table 1 gives the PV
panel and the increase in power due to MPPT.
Theoretical max energy available = 1170.45 Wh
Energy extracted by MPPT = 1076.81Wh
Energy transferred to the load= 1022.96Wh
So, there is 53.85 Wh loss of energy in day without MPPT.
These losses increase if the load is maximum and in cloudy
day.
TABLE 1: SIMULATION RESULT OF MPPT ENERGY
Energy Simulated data (Wh)
Theoretical Max Energy(ETh) 1170.45
MPPT Energy(EMPPT) 1076.81
Energy transferred to Load
(EL) 1022.96
Loss(EMPPT – EL) 53.85
A. High Frequency Boost Converter- A boost converter
operating at high frequency (31 KHz) is designed which
is controlled by the PWM signal from the microcontroller.
Duty cycle is changed by microcontroller according to the
temperature and insolation level. The microcontroller tries
to maximize the watts output from the solar panel by
controlling the step up ratio to keep the solar panel
operating always at its Maximum Power Point.
B. Microcontroller-The converter is controlled by the
microcontroller and it calculates the solar watts generated
by reading the voltage and current of the solar panels
through the A/D port. It also calculate the load side
voltage and current in same way and send corresponding
control signal to the converter and control the duty cycle
of the converter to increase, decrease or turn off the
converter accordingly.
C. Voltage and Current Sensor-The current and voltage
signals from the PV array are monitored by using the
current and voltage sensing circuit. The sensing circuit
that acts as transducer-converts the current reading to the
horized licensed use limited to: NUST School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (SEECS). Downloaded on September 26,2021 at 08:33:17 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions ap
voltage signals so that the microcontroller can understand
and use the information to process and hence performs the
PWMs. A simple voltage divider network to sense the
voltage and a hall effect based linear current sensor is
used.
D. Power supply- Power supply used for microcontroller
and other peripheral devices to work is taken from the
solar panel itself using a suitable regulator.
VI. CONCLUSION
MPPT algorithm implementation using a boost converter
is designed to operate under continuous conduction mode and
a microcontroller using Incremental Conductance to control
the PWM signals to the boost converter. An experimental
result shows the system has good conversion efficiency of
92%. Even small improvement of efficiency could bring large
saving, if the system is large such as Grid connected system.
The designed intelligent MPPT system thus increases the
power output from the solar PV drastically.
Effects of variations in temperature, insolation power
output are observed and analyzed for MPPT design. Power
transferred from the solar panel is affected by temperature and
insolation variation which can be minimized by using MPPT
system. The modeling of each component of PV system
simulated in MATLAB gives the feasibility of the system
under real weather conditions. Solar cell model using the
equivalent circuit of moderate complexity was chosen for
simulation and found to be good matching with the PV model.
From the Simulation result it is found that the use of MPPT
system is more effective in the changing weather conditions
and in cold places where we can extract power from the solar
panel.
REFERENCES
[1] Geoff Walker “Evaluating MPPT Converter topologies using a
MATLAB PV module,” Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engg.
Australia; Volume 21, Issue1:2001; 49-55
[2] Roberto faranda, Sonia Leva “Energy comparison of MPPT techniques
for PV system,” WEASTransction on Power Systems, ISSN: 1790-5060,
Issue6, Volume3, June 2008
[3] Messenger, Roger& Jerry Ventre, “Photovoltaic systems Engg”, 2nd
Edition, CRC press, 2005
[4] http://www.solarsemiconductor.com/asia/ssi-m6.pdf
[5] N.Mohan, TM.Undeland, and WP.Robbins, “Power Electronics-
Converters, Applications and Design,” John Wiley & Sons, Inc., NY,
2003
[6] Luis Castafler, Santiago Silverstre, “Modeling photovoltaic systems
using PSpice,” John Wiley and Sons, Jan 2003.