International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.

5, October 2012

Maximum Power Point Tracking of Solarex MSX PV Module System using FLC
Alireza Rezaei and S.Asghar Gholamian
Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol-IRAN
Email: a.rezaie@stu.nit.ac.ir,gholamian@nit.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is a technique that grid tie inverters, solar battery chargers and similar devices use to get the maximum possible power from one or more solar panels. In this paper the simulation result of the P&O algorithm and the conventional maximum power point tracking technique compared with Intelligent Control (fuzzy logic controller-FLC). In fact the target of this manuscript is study the effect of the environmental conditions like variation of solar intensity and temperature on output power of photovoltaic module. Solarex MSX-83 PV module and MATLAB/SIMULINK software are used for simulation. In this paper, the construction of stand-alone photovoltaic system consists of PV module, boost converter, maximum power point tracker and Pulse Width Modulator.

KEYWORDS
Fuzzy controller, Maximum power point, Photovoltaic

1. INTRODUCTION
Photovoltaic systems (PV system) use solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. A system is made up of one or more solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, a DC/AC power converter (also known as an inverter), a racking system that holds the solar panels, electrical interconnections, and mounting for other components. Optionally it may include a maximum power point tracker (MPPT), battery system and charger, solar tracker, energy management software, solar concentrators or other equipment. A small PV system may provide energy to a single consumer, or to an isolated device like a lamp or a weather instrument. Large grid-connected PV systems can provide the energy needed by many customers. Because of constraint in fossil energy and increase in energy demand, the researchers should attract toward new way inevitably. Photovoltaic energy is an infinite; clean an available energy in all part of the global [1]. Despite abundant advantages of photovoltaic systems, they have some drawbacks. The efficiency of PV systems is low and the cost of instruction is high. The photovoltaic module has dependency to solar irradiance intensity and cell operation temperature too.
DOI : 10.5121/ijcsa.2012.2503 21

International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

Solar photovoltaic cells (PV) convert sunlight into electricity and photovoltaic production has been increasing by an average of more than 20% each year since 2002, making it a fast-growing energy technology While wind is often cited as the fastest growing energy source, photovoltaic since 2007 has been increasing at twice the rate of wind - an average of 63.6%/year, due to the reduction in cost [13 and 14]. At the end of 2011 the photovoltaic (PV) capacity world-wide was 67.4 GW, a 69.8% annual increase. Top capacity countries were, in GW: Germany 24.7, Italy 12.8, Japan 4.7, Spain 4.4, the USA 4.4, and China 3.1[14 and 15] As the power curve of solar panel is nonlinear, to reach the maximum power point (MPP) the MPPT control technique is necessary. Therefore a DC/DC converter imbedded between solar panel and load [1, 2]. In this paper FLC and a traditional algorithm of MPPT are introduced. The results of simulation are shown and compared with each other. As it mentioned, power and current characteristics of PV module is extremely nonlinear and under effect of solar irradiance intensity and temperature variation. To conquer these drawbacks the MPP tracker is necessary in order to fig 1 [3]. A DC/DC converter controls the operation point of PV module to reach maximum power. Most MPPT method is on the basis of power curve [4]. Until now different MPPT algorithms are studied [1, 2, 5, and 12]. In this paper the traditional Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm and FLC introduced and compared with each other.

Figure1. PV system configuration

2. P&O ALGORITHM
Perturb and Observe is a conventional algorithm. As its name represents voltage and current of PV module are measured then the system is perturbed by changing duty cycle and observe the output power [4]. The slop of Voltage-Power curve in maximum power point is zero; in the left side of this point is positive; in the right side is negative [6]. If the instantaneous power p (t) is more than last value p (t-1) the way is right. This process continues until p (t) is less than p (t-1). In this condition the best operation point is obtained. Figure2 shows the P&O algorithm construction [12]. If a sudden variation in solar irradiance occurs, the algorithm recognize as a previous change and causes response delay. This situation continues until steady state of irradiance. This delay causes power loss [7, 8].
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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012 Applications

Figure2. P&O algorithm [12]

3. FUZZY LOGIC CONTROLLER

Conventional MPP methods have some restrictions. The modern and intelligent methods like FLC are proposed to overcome previous problems. FLC consist of three main parts as seen in figure3. First section of fuzzy inference system is fuzzifier which converts the variable with real which value to the variable with fuzzy value. Second part is fuzzy inference engine and consists of if ifthen rules in fuzzy rule based. The last part is defuzzifier and converts the fuzzy set to the real value [9].

Figure3. Fuzzy Inference System

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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

In this paper the FLC inputs are E(t) and CE(t) as shown in equation 1 and 2. The fuzzy output is express in equation 3. In this FLC MAMDANI inference engine and average central defuzzifier is used [10]. As shown in figure 4 the membership functions of input and output named as negative great (NG), negative low (NL), zero (Z), positive low (PL) and positive great (PG) [11].
E (t ) = Ppv ( t ) Ppv (t 1) V pv ( t ) V pv (t 1)

(1) (2)

CE (t ) = E (t ) E (t 1)

D =

j=1 n

yDj Dj
(3)

j=1

(4- a)

(4- b)

(4- c) Figure4. Membership function, a) first input, b) second input, c) third input, d) output
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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

The fuzzy rules are shown in table 1. Table1. Fuzzy rules Input 1 (E) NG NG NG NG NG NL NL NL NL NL Z Z Z Z Z PL PL PL PL PL PG PG PG PG PG Input 2 (CE) NG NL Z PL PG NG NL Z PL PG NG NL Z PL PG NG NL Z PL PG NG NL Z PL PG Output (D) Z Z PG PG PG Z Z PL PL PL PL Z Z Z NL NL NL NL Z Z NG NG NG Z Z

4. SIMULATION RESULT
Solarex MSX-83 PV module and MATLAB/SIMULINK software are used for simulation. In this paper, the construction of stand-alone photovoltaic system consists of PV module, boost converter, maximum power point tracker and Pulse Width Modulator. The switching frequency is 25 KHZ, the step in P&O algorithm is 0.1, Cin is 500 f, Cout is 500 f and L is 1.9 mH. The resistance of load is 20 . Figure 5 shows DC/DC boost converter used in Simulink.

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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012 Applications

Figure5. DC/DC boost converter

4.1. Solar Irradiance Change

The system is simulated under different solar intensity with FLC and P&O algorithm. In order to figure (6- a) the solar irradiance changed from 1000 W/m2 to 600 W/m2 in t=0.3 sec and in t=0.6 sec changed to 1000 W/m2. The simulation results are shown in fi figure (6- b), (6- c) respectively with P&O algorithm and FLC. The output power of PV module increases by growth of solar intensity. The figures show that FLC can reduce power oscillation around MPP versus P&O algorithm. The duty cycle variation can be seen in figure 7.

(6- a)

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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

(6- b)

(6- c) Figure6. a) Solar irradiance variation curve, b) output power of PV module with P&O algorithm, c) output power of PV module with FLC

(7- a)
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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

(7- b) Figure7. Duty cycle variation, a) P&O algorithm, b) FLC Table2 shows the amplitude of power and oscillation of output power value of PV module for temperature and solar irradiance variations for each MPPT controllers. Table2. Output power of PV module in different solar irradiance Solar Irradiance (KW/m2) Power (W) 1 0.6 1 81.36 46.15 81.35 P&O Oscillation (W) 1.75 1.31 1.12 Power (W) 82.75 47.74 82.81 FLC

Oscillation (W) 0.16 0.25 0.16

4.2. Temperature Change

The effect of temperature variations are studied with mentioned MPPT methods. Figure (8- a) shows temperature variation curve. The temperature rises from 25 C to 55 C in t= 0.4 sec. It can be seen in figure (8- b) and figure (8- c) that by increasing temperature, the output power is decreased. The figures show that FLC can reduce power oscillation around MPP versus P&O algorithm. Figure 9 shows changing of duty cycle to reach MPP in FLC and P&O algorithm.

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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

(8- a)

(8- b)

(8- c) Figure8. a) Temperature variation curve, b) output power of PV module with P&O algorithm, c) output power of PV module with FLC
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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

(9- a)

(9- b) Figure9. Duty cycle variation, a) P&O algorithm, b) FLC Table3 presents output power value of PV module for temperature and solar irradiance variations for each MPPT controllers. Also the amplitude of power oscillations is shown. Table3. Output power of PV module in different temperature Temperature (o C) 25 55 P&O Power (W) 81.35 71.82 Oscillation (W) 1.25 0.70 Power (W) 82.75 71.2 FLC Oscillation (W) 0.16 0.1

5. CONCLUSIONS
This paper presented a power point tracker. A MPPT can decrease output power oscillations and power loss. The main goal of this paper is to provide another method for MPPT on Solarex MSX83 PV module using MATLAB/SIMULINK software.
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International Journal on Computational Sciences & Applications (IJCSA) Vo2, No.5, October 2012

In this paper reaching to maximum power point in PV panel performed with FLC and the conventional P&O algorithm in different weather conditions. Simulation results are shown that FLC can reduce power oscillation around MPP versus P&O algorithm. In fact this research express that FLC can switch better and reach to MPP faster. Future works may be devoted to optimization of MPPT with other intelligent algorithm (PSO, GA and ) or with other objective functions.

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