Introduction

A PV array under constant uniform irradiance & constant temperature has a currentvoltage (IV) characteristic like that shown in Figure . There is a unique point on the curve, called the maximum power point (MPP), at which the array operates with maximum efficiency and produces maximum output power. When a PV array is directly connected to a load, the systems operating point will be at the intersection of the IV curve of the PV array and load line shown in Figure .

Fig1 : V-I Characteristic curve for an PV array

In general, this operating point is not at the PV arrays MPP, which can be clearly seen in Figure . Thus, in a Direct-coupled system, the PV array must usually be oversized to ensure that the loads power requirements can be supplied. This leads to an overly expensive system. To overcome this problem, a buck converter, with maximum power point tracking control system can be used to maintain the PV arrays operating point at the MPP. The MPPT does this by controlling the PV arrays voltage or current independently of those of the load. If properly controlled by an MPPT algorithm, the system can locate and track the MPP of the

PV array. However, the location of the MPP in the IV plane is not known a priori. It must be located, either through model calculations or by a search algorithm. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the MPP depends in a nonlinear way on irradiance and temperature as illustrated in Fig .

Fig2: I-V curves at (a) 400C and (b) 500C of PV array at different irradiance. Figure 2(a) shows a family of PV IV curves under increasing irradiance, but at constant temperature, and Figure 2(b) shows IV curves at the same irradiance values, but a higher temperature. A number of MPPT control algorithms have been proposed. One algorithm, the perturb-and-observe (P&O) algorithm, is by far the most commonly used in commercial MPPTs. Objective

The objective of this thesis is firstly to develop a equivalent model of a photo voltaic cell. Then the most popular perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm is analyzed in depth and tested according to the standard mentioned above. After that, improvements to the P&O algorithms are suggested to succeed in the MPP tracking under conditions of changing irradiance. To test the MPPT algorithms according to the irradiation profiles proposed in the standard, a simplified model was developed, because the simulation time required in some of the cases cannot be reached with the detailed switching model of a power converter in a normal desktop computer. The reason for that is that the computer runs out of memory after simulating only a few seconds with the complete model. Finally, the simplified model is verified by comparing its results with those obtained from a model containing a detailed model of an inverter. the proposed system will be implemented with the specifications provided in APPENDIX.

BLOCK DIAGRAM of PROPOSED SYSTEM

Fig 3: Block diagram of our proposed system.

Theory of PV Cell

In 1839 a French physicist, Edmund Becquerel, discovered the first photovoltaic effect when he illuminated a metal electrode in an electrolytic solution. Thirty-seven years later British physicist, William Adams, with his student, Richard Day, discovered a photovoltaic material, selenium, and made solid cells with 1~2% efficiency . In 1954 the first generation of semiconductor silicon-based PV cells was born, with efficiency of 6%, and adopted in space applications. Today, the production of PV cells is following an exponential growth curve since technological advancement of late 80s that has started to rapidly improve efficiency and reduce cost. Photo Voltaic Cell Each solar cell is basically a p-n diode, having a p-layer and a n-layer. When the two layers are joined together, near the interface the free electrons of the n-layer are diffused in the pside, leaving behind an area positively charged by the donors. Similarly, the free holes in the p-layer are diffused in the n-side, leaving behind a region negatively charged by the acceptors. This creates an electrical field between the two sides that is a potential barrier to further flow. The equilibrium is reached in the junction when the electrons and holes cannot surpass that potential barrier and consequently they cannot move. This electric field pulls the electrons and holes in opposite directions so the current can flow in one way only: electrons can move from the p-side to the n-side and the holes in the opposite direction. A diagram of the p-n junction showing the effect of the mentioned electric field is illustrated in Figure 3.

Fig 4: Semiconductor model of PV cell. As sunlight strikes a solar cell, the incident photon energy is converted directly into electrical energy without any mechanical effort. When the incoming solar energy exceeds the band-gap energy of the module, photons are absorbed by materials to generate electricity. Transmitted light is absorbed within the semiconductor, by using this light energy to excite free electrons

from a low energy status to an unoccupied higher energy level. When a solar cell is illuminated, excess electron-hole pairs are generated throughout the material, hence the p-n junction is electrically shorted and current flows. The light-generated current which depends directly on the irradiation: if it is higher, then it contains more photons with enough energy to create more electron-hole pairs and consequently more current is generated by the solar cell. The equivalent- circuit model of PV cell. The simplest model of a PV cell is shown as an equivalent circuit below that consists of an ideal current source in parallel with an ideal diode. The current source represents the current generated by photons (often denoted as Iph or Isc), and its output is constant under constant temperature and constant incident radiation of light.

Fig 5: Simplest Equivalent Circuit model of PV cell. There are a few things that have not been taken into account in the simple model and that will affect the performance of a PV cell in practice. They are - the series resistance and the parallel resistance. Considering these effects the equivalent circuit of PV cell would be as shown in Fig 5, below

Fig 6: Equivalent Circuit model of PV cell. Photovoltaic Module A single PV cell produces an output voltage less than 1V, about 0.6V for crystalline silicon (Si) cells, thus a number of PV cells are connected in series to archive a desired output voltage. When series-connected cells are placed in a frame, it is called as a module. Most of

commercially available PV modules with crystalline-Si cells have either 36 or 72 seriesconnected cells. A 36-cell module provides a voltage suitable for charging a 12V battery, and similarly a 72-cell module is appropriate for a 24V battery.

Fig 7: Equivalent Circuit of PV cell/panel used in MATLAB Simulation. The equivalent- circuit model of PV module A PV module consists of a number of solar cells connected in series and parallel to obtain the desired voltage and current. The equivalent- circuit model of PV panel is also like a PV cell as shown in Fig. 5 above. A solar module can be seen as a black box that with two connectors, producing a current, I, at a voltage, V. The black box can be described by an electric circuit with only four components. It consists of a light-generated current source Isc, a diode D, a series resistance Rs and a parallel resistance Rsh. 1. Current Source: This is the source of the photo current. 2. Diode: This non-linear element reflects the dependence on the band gap and losses to recombination. It is characterised by the reverse current, I0, which measures the leakage of electrons and re-combining and by a quality factor, A, with values between 1- 2, an empirical factor. 2. Shunt Resistor Rsh: It represents losses incurred by conductors. This is also called parallel resistance. It is related to the non ideal nature of the pn junction and the presence of impurities near the edges of the cell that provide a short-circuit path around the junction. It is a loss associated with a small leakage of current through a resistive path in parallel with the intrinsic device . This can be represented by a parallel resister (Rp). Its effect is much less conspicuous in a PV module compared to the series resistance, and it

will only become noticeable when a number of PV modules are connected in parallel for a larger system. 3. Serial Resistor Rs: It represents losses incurred by non-ideal conductors. Rs is the resistance offered by the contacts and the bulk semiconductor material of the solar cell. In a practical PV cell, there is a series of resistance in a current path through the semiconductor material, the metal grid, contacts, and current collecting bus. These resistive losses through these are lumped together as a series resister (Rs). Its effect becomes very simple in a PV module that consists of many series-connected cells, and the value of resistance is multiplied by the number of cells.

Upon incidence of light on solar cell, current IL is generated and a part of the current is delivered to load. Its current-voltage characteristic is expressed by the following equation (1): .. (1)

Where, I = the solar cell output current, V = the solar cell output voltage, I0 = the dark saturation current, q = the charge of an electron, A= the diode quality (ideality) factor, k = the Boltzmann constant, T = the absolute temperature, Rs = the series resistance of the solar cell Rsh = shunt resistance of the solar cell.

In an ideal case Rs would be zero and Rsh infinite. Rs is relatively small and Rsh is relatively large. Thus equation (1) can be written as

................................ (2) ................................ (3)

................................ (4)

The characteristics of a solar cell obtained from equation (2) is shown in Fig7 below

Fig 8: Characteristics of a PV cell.

The output power of a solar panel depends on the amount of light projected on the panel. Time of the day, season, panel position, and orientation are the factors behind the output power. But considering these factors constant, the power depends on the load connected to the panel. From the P-I characteristics we can say that a solar cell operates as an ideal current source over a range of load. By increasing the resistive load of an irradiated cell continuously from zero (i.e. a short circuit) to a very high value (i.e. an open circuit) the maximum power

point can be determined. The output power is zero in both the short-circuited and open circuited cases. The behaviour of a solar cell can be characterised using three parameters, i.e. the open circuited voltage Voc, the short circuited current Isc and the fill factor. The open circuit voltage is defined as the output voltage from a photovoltaic cell when the load impedance is much larger than the device impedance which means that no current is flowing and it is the maximum possible voltage. The short circuit current Isc is the current output when the load impedance is much smaller than the device impedance i.e. maximum possible current. The fill factor (FF) is the ratio of maximum power a pv cell can produce (VmIm) to the theoretical limit (Voc Isc), if both voltage and current are simultaneously at the maximum.

2.5 The I-V Curve and Maximum Power Point Figure shows the I-V curve of the PV module simulated with the MATLAB model. A PV module can produce the power at a point, called an operating point, anywhere on the I-V curve. The coordinates of the operating point are the operating voltage and current. There is a unique point near the knee of the I-V curve, called a maximum power point (MPP), at which the module operates with the maximum efficiency and produces the maximum output power. It is possible to visualize the location of the by fitting the largest possible rectangle inside of the I-V curve, and its area equal to the output power which is a product of voltage and current. The power vs. voltage plot is overlaid on the I-V plot of the PV module, as shown in Figure 5. It reveals that the amount of power produced by the PV module varies greatly depending on its operating condition. It is important to operate the system at the MPP of PV module in order to exploit the maximum power from the module. Maximum Power Point Tracker When a PV module is directly coupled to a load, the PV modules operating point will be at the intersection of its IV curve and the load line which is the I-V relationship of load. For example in Figure 8, a resistive load has a straight line with a slope of 1/R load as shown in Figure 9. In other words, the impedance of load dictates the operating condition of the PV module. In general, this operating point is seldom at the PV modules MPP, thus it is not producing the maximum power. A study shows that a direct-coupled system utilizes a mere

31% of the PV capacity. A PV array is usually oversized to compensate for a low power yield during winter months. This mismatching between a PV module and a load requires further over-sizing of the PV array and thus increases the overall system cost. To mitigate this problem, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) can be used to maintain the PV modules operating point at the MPP. MPPTs can extract more than 97% of the PV power when properly optimized.

Figure 9: PV module is directly connected to a (variable) resistive load.

Figure 10: I-V curves of PV module and various resistive loads. 4 DC-DC Converters

DC to DC converters are electronic circuits which convert a DC voltage from one voltage level to another. DC-DC converters are generally classified on the basis of their possible input-output relations. Boost Converter

A boost converter (step-up converter) is a power converter with an output DC voltage greater than its input DC voltage. The Figure below shows basic schematic of Boost Converter.

Fig 12: Boost Converter. Buck Converter A buck converter is a step-down DC to DC converter. Its design is similar to the step-up boost converter, and like the boost converter it is a switched-mode power supply that uses two switches (a transistor and a diode) and an inductor. The figure below shows its schematic.

Buck-Boost Converter The buckboost converter is a type of DC-DC converter that has an output voltage magnitude that is either greater than or less than the input voltage magnitude. It is a switch mode power supply with a similar circuit topology to the boost converter and the buck converter. The output voltage is adjustable based on the duty cycle of the switching MOSFET.

Fig 14: Buck-Boost Converter Algorithms to track the Maximum Power Point. The various algorithms used to track the peak power point of the solar PV module are:

a. Perturb and observe. b. Incremental Conductance. c. Parasitic Capacitance. d. Voltage Based Peak Power Tracking. e. Current Based peak power Tracking. a. Perturb and observe: In this algorithm a slight perturbation is introduce system. Due to this perturbation the power of the module changes. If the power increases due to the perturbation then the perturbation is continued in that direction. After the peak power is reached the power at the next instant decreases and hence after that the perturbation reverses.

Fig 17: Perturb and Observe Algorithms method. When the steady state is reached the algorithm oscillates around the peak point. In order to keep the power variation small the perturbation size is kept very small. The algorithm is developed in such a manner that it sets a reference voltage of the module corresponding to the peak voltage of the module. A PI controller then acts moving the operating point of the module to that particular voltage level. It is observed that there some power loss due to this perturbation also the fails to track the power under fast varying atmospheric conditions. But still this algorithm is very popular and simple.

Simulation & Result

The entire system has been modelled on MATLAB 2009a and Simulink. The whole system consists of standalone solar panel, dc-dc converter and maximum power point tracker. 6.1 Modelling of standalone PV system The pv cell equations are as below as described earlier. .................................(i) ..........................................(ii)

....................................(iii)

The pv cell equation is plotted in MATLAB m-file to verify the characteristics. The program takes the input of irradiance and temperature from the user.. In this way we can get pv curve for different temperature and irradiance. In the program below the maximum power point and corresponding value of current and voltage is also indicated. The matlab program for pv cell characteristics is below.

clear clc disp ('---------------:PROGRAM FOR PV MODULE :----------------') disp (' disp (' max1mum point on power-voltage curve = pmax') max1mum point on current-voltage curve = maxcur')

temp= input (' enter the value of temperature = '); S= input (' enter the value of irradiance = '); for i=1:1:50;

volt(i)=i; Iscr=3.81; n=1000; ki=0.0024; Tr=298; Irr=5.981*10^(-7); q=1.602*10^(-19); Eg=1.12; K=0.001; Q=n*q; A=1.2; kb=1.06*10^(-21); T=temp+273; Iph=S*(Iscr+ki*(T-Tr) ); Id=Irr*((T/Tr)^3)*exp((q*Eg/K*Q*A)*(1/Tr-1/T)); cur(i)=Iph-Id*exp((q*volt(i))/(kb*T*A)-1); P(i)=volt(i).*cur(i); end for i=1:1:50 loadcur(i)=6.6*volt(i); loadP(i)=3.3*volt(i);

end Pmax=max(P); for i=1:1:50; if P(i)==Pmax x=i; maxcur=cur(x); end end for i=1:1:50 loadncur(i)=(maxcur/x)*volt(i); loadP(i)=3.3*volt(i); end for i=1:1:50; if (loadcur(i)-cur(i))<0.0001 k=i; end point=loadcur(k); end subplot (2, 1, 1); hold on plot(volt,cur);

plot(volt,loadcur); plot(volt,loadncur,'.'); grid on hold off subplot (2, 1, 2); hold on plot (volt, P); plot(volt,loadP); grid on hold off

The result of the above program is shown below.

Fig 21: P vs.V Characteristics of a Photovoltaic Cell with different irradiance.

Fig22: V vs. I Characteristics of a PV cell with different irradiance.

The aforesaid equations are modelled in simulink. The block diagram of the equations to realize pv cell is shown in fig 22 below.

Fig 23: Simulink model of PV cell. The simulation is carried out for a cell surface temperature of 25 C, 36 solar cells in series and 4 rows of solar cells in parallel. The irradiation is taken to be constant to effectively show the use of an MPPT algorithm in field runs.

Fig 24: Simulation model of PV panel . Experimental results Essentially, the prototype developed is composed of one photovoltaic panel associated with a Buck converter controlled by P&O algorithm. Initially, the output of the system was connected to a resistive load equal to 5 and, after this, to a 12 VDC battery. Fig. 15 shows the electrical diagram of the experimental set.

Fig. 15: Electric diagram of prototype to the photovoltaic generator. The MPPT algorithm has been programmed into microcontroller HC08QT4 - Freescale, which is responsible for sampling of the output voltage and current of the solar panel. In following, the micro-controller runs the P&O algorithm and it provides the signals to the control of switching devices of the Buck converter. The switching device of the converter is composed by two transistors, one of high gain of current of the type Darlington (TIP 122) and another of fast switching and

medium power (TIP 36). The converter also has an inductor of 2mH , an electrolytic capacitor of 470F /100V and a fast diode power with the functions of filtering and limitation of induced voltage, respectively. The composition of the experimental set can be described, basically, as: - A KYOCERA Solar Panel, model KC-50, comprising 36 rectangular cells of polycrystalline silicon with maximum power of 50 W; open circuit voltage of 21.5 V, short-circuit current of 3.1 A; maximum voltage of power 16.7 V and current of maximum power of 3 A; - A Buck converter as previously described; - An acquisition and measurement system of solar irradiation consisting of a Data Acquisition System National Field Point 200 and a piranometer Eppley 8-48, respectively; - An acquisition system and measuring for the input voltage and current of the converter Buck, of type Scope Meter Fluke model 199; - Resistive load of 5 or battery 12VDC. Fig. 16 shows the results of measurements of solar irradiation, current and voltage available at the output of photovoltaic panel, during an exposition of approximately 04:50hrs, in the range of 10:42hrs to 15:32hrs. The range of sampling was set to 10s. During approximately the first 200 samples was used as a resistive load of 5 , and then was done connecting the battery to 12VDC output of the converter.

Fig. 16: Measurements of solar irradiation, current and voltage of input power converter.

Note the correlation between solar irradiation and output current of the panel, already discounted the loss in relation to the internal photocurrent generated. The voltage output of the solar panel remains virtually constant. Fig. 17 and 18 show the curves IxV of the panel used for the levels of irradiation equal to 1000, 800, 600, 400 and 200 W/m2. In all cases, the operation points of the solar panel were located to the right of graphics, always near to the point of maximum power. With the battery as load, showed by Fig. 18, the system offered better performance, even for lower levels of solar irradiation.

Fig. 17: Operation points of the solar panel with MPPT control, considering a resistive load equal to 5 .

Fig. 18: Operation points of the solar panel with MPPT control, considering as a 12VDC battery charge.

Conclusion The location of the operation points near the region of maximum power point indicates the good performance of the prototype developed. The work allowed to detailed analysis of a photovoltaic generator composed by the association of a solar panel, Buck converter with MPPT control and loads type resistive or battery by means of resources of simulation and experimentally. From mathematical modeling of the solar panel, it was developed a flexible structure to the simulation accounting the effects of changes in solar irradiation, temperature and load. A Buck converter was designed for the desired operating conditions. The system was implemented experimentally with a micro-controlled Buck converter. The experimental results confirm the good performance of the P&O technique for the maximum power point tracking of the solar panel. Although the P&O algorithm presents some technical limitations facing sudden changes in weather conditions, the simplicity and facility of its implementation using programmable digital devices make it a great potential for applications of low cost and high efficiency of photoelectric conversion.