Development of Fuzzy Logic based MPPT Controller

for PV System at varying Meteorological parameters

Astitva Kumar, Priyanka Chaudhary and M. Rizwan
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Delhi Technological University, Delhi-110042

Abstract- The ever growing demand and socio-economic There are numerous MPPT techniques and they vary on
development, the conventional energy sources have almost the basis of complexity, convergence speed, parameters, cost
become obsolete for nurturing this demand. Thus opening new and ability of detecting local maxima and minima. Some of
avenues to search for the non-conventional sources. Photovoltaic the most common algorithms to track maximum power point
is inexhaustible, renewable and non-polluting, so it is worth are P&O (perturb and observe), INC (incremental
saying that it is one of the prospective solution for this crisis. But, conductance). These can also be termed as traditional MPPT
having these benefits does not solve the problem as the efficiency
algorithms. Due to various shortcomings of the traditional
is dependent on various factors such as irradiance, cell
MPPT techniques, this paper proposes the use of an AI
temperature, dust, sunlight's spectral density. Photovoltaic is a
technique. Some of the limitations of the above listed
non-conventional and environment friendly technique which still
algorithms are: ( I) P&O method gives incorrect results and the
has various challenges to overcome. This paper proposes an
output power keeps on oscillating around MPP, (2) INC
impressive Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm
method removes these limitations of P&O but, it gives radical
using Fuzzy Logic in MATLAB-Simulink module alongside an
analytical study with the traditional approach. This improvised
output at low irradiance and requires harsh detection devices
MPPT technique reduces the tracking time and also solves the [3, 4, and 5].
various issues associated with traditional MPPT algorithms such
DC-DC
as Perturb and Observe, Incremental Conductance. The method Photovoltaic "'" ""-
, Boost , Load
involves as Fuzzy Logic Controller which controls the switching System

t
Convel1ers
of the DC-DC Boost Converter. In this paper the fuzzy logic
MPPT controller is tested against variable irradiance, and
temperature. Various performance indicators have been listed
for the proposed MPPT. Fuzzy logic provide user with complete Sensed
Ma>;imum
flexibility to choose the inputs and their relationship (rule base). Parameters "lII.
The simulated results show that the fuzzy logic technique , Pmyer Point
controls the integrated PV module output directly and rapidly. Tracker
Thus showing the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed
controller. Fig.l. Block Diagram of PV system with MPPT

Keywords- Maximum Power Point, Control Algorithms,

IT. MODELING OF PV PANEL
Fuzzy Logic, INC, P and 0 and irradiance
The basic structure of a PV panel are Photovoltaic cells,
which work on the phenomenon of photoelectric effect. These
I. INTRODUCTION PV cells have to be configured in series and parallel as the
When semiconductor material exhibit a potential potential induced by a single pv cell is very less, almost 50
difference on exposure of light, this is photovoltaic effect. mW. The relationship among voltage and current of the pv cell
Thus, the method that converts solar light into direct current is non-linear. The modeling is being done on the single diode
electricity is Ph otovoltaic [ I]. PV systems are being circuit model [6]. The ideal photovoltaic module consists of a
considered as promising source along with wind energy, in single diode connected in parallel with a light generated
this context. But there performance depends on the various current source (I Se) as shown in the below Fig 2.
parameters such as irradiance, cell temperature, dust, spectral
density. This problem of variable efficiency can somehow be
regulated with the help of various control techniques. These
control techniques are implemented as maximum power point
tracking algorithms [2]. The maximum power of a solar cell is
extracted at a point called maximum power point. The change D
in irradiance and temperature results in deviation of power
from the maximum power, so a control algorithm is required
to quickly respond to this change and track the maximum
power point. Fig.2. Solar cell model using single diode

The equation for the output current is given by:

978-1-4673-6540-6/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

 1 = Isc-ID (1) voltage [ 8], and current sweep [9]. The MPPT technique
proposed in this paper uses the Fuzzy Logic approach.
Where,

ID = Iscref [exp(qVoc)/kAT - 1] (2) A. Fuzzy Logic Controller

Isc = [lscref+ KiCTk - Tref)] *311000 (3) The term 'fuzzy logic' was first proposed by Lotfi Zadeh
in 1965. It is a soft computing technique [10] and differs from
Where,
those traditional methods of tracking MPP. The controllers
1= Solar cell current (A) using this method is known as Fuzzy Logic C ontroller [11].
ID = Module diode saturation current These FLC have numerous benefits of working with imprecise
"
Iscref = Module short circuit current at 2S C inputs, doesn't require exact mathematical modelling, and
q= electron charge handles the nonlinearity effectively. The Fuzzy Logic
Voc= Module open circuit voltage Controller mainly comprises of three main parts: (1)
3= the irradiation on the device surface (W/m2) Fuzzification, (2) Rule Base or Expert Knowledge, and (3)
A= Ideality Factor Defuzzification [12]. Fuzzification is the process of
T= Module operating temperature in Kelvin conversion of numerical inputs into linguistic variables.
Isc= the photocurrent in (A) Expert Knowledge is the relation between input and output of
Tk and Tref = actual and reference temperature in Kelvin
the system. It can be referred to as the black box of the FLC
k= Boltzmann Constant
[13]. Defuzzification is the opposite of fuzzification process.

B. Fuzzijication
FLC acts as the black box therefore the initialization of
correct input and output variables with appropriate
membership function is a must. The MPPT algorithm on
which the following works is based upon the expert
D
knowledge of the incremental conductance technique with
integral regulator [14]. Thus there are two inputs dl/dV, i.e.
incremental conductance being the first variable and second is
Fig.3. Solar cell model with Rs and Rp I/V, the conductance. The respective value of these two input
will result in the change of duty cycle f..D. This MPPT
Fig.3, is the modified single cell diagram of the solar cell
approach uses Mamdani toolbox of fuzzy logic [IS], which is
[7]. The I-V and P-V characteristics equations from the above
the min-max operation as fuzzy combination law, so that the
figure:
control tries to track the MPP of the solar array continuously.
Isc-ID-VdRp - Ipv= 0 (4)

Reverse Saturation Current Irs is

Irs = Iscref [exp(qVoclNskAT)-I] (S)

The module saturation current ID which varies with cell

temperature variation is

(6)

So, the output current characteristics of the PV module be

described by the following equation Fig.4. Membership function of input variable dl/dV

Ipv = NpIsc-NsID {exp[q(Vpv+lpvRs)INskAT)]-I} -Vpv The Fig.4 represents the first input variable, which is dl/dV
+ (IpvRs/Rp) (7) (incremental conductance). The value ranges from - I. S to O.
Since the above formulated equations help in designing a Nine triangular membership functions have been defined at
simplified circuit for pv module, the power electronic regular interval.
designers can easily incorporate this model for effective
simulation with power converter devices.

m. PROPOSED MPPT AL GORITHM

Numerous control algorithm have been found and
implemented to search and track the maximum power point
(MPP), so that the PV power is maximized. Some of the
MPPT algorithms employed previously are perturb and
observe, incremental conductance, fractional open circuit
Fig.5. Membership functions of input variable IN
The above Fig. 5 defines the conductance variable of FLC for IV. CONVERTER TOPOLO GY
tracking MPP. It consist of five triangular membership
This paper proposes the DC-DC Boost converter. The
functions ranging from 0 to 0.5.
voltage is boosted by applying a switching pulse at the gate
terminal of the MO SFET i. e. used as the switching device for
the boost converter [17].
(S)
The duty cycle D of the boost converter is defined from
equation S.
For a good estimation of the inductor we have equation (9),

(9)

(10)
Fig.6. Membership functions of output variable L1D
From (10) the output capacitor can be determined.
Fig.6. shows six triangular memberships ranging from 0 to I. are the inductor ripple current and output
These represents the duty cycle required for the switching of voltage ripple respectively.
lload
the DC-DC boost converter.

C. Knowledge Base
The rule bases defined for the fuzzy inference system
(FT S) are based on the numerical values obtained from
incremental conductance plus integral regulator technique for
tracking the maximum power point [16]. Figure 7 below
shows the surface view of the various input and output
variables associated to each other.

Fig.9. Schematic representation of SPV model using FL

MPPT Algorithm

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The PV modules are characterized at STC but
meteorological parameters like solar irradiance and
temperature are not constant under practical conditions.
Amount of solar irradiance reaching at earth surface varies
greatly because of various meteorological and atmospheric
parameters like water vapor molecules, number of gaseous
molecules, aerosols, cloud, change in position of sun etc.
Under such practical conditions, the impact of these
parameters is utmost important on PV power output. To
incorporate such practical conditions, performance analysis of
Fig.7. Surface view of the FLC-MPPT
PV system at varying irradiance and constant temperature,
constant irradiance and varying temperature and varying
irradiance and temperature is carried out.

A. At constant lrradiance and Temperature

Figure 10 shows the output of the SPY Model with Fuzzy
Logic MPPT Controller at 1000 W/m2 irradiance and 25 deg.
Celsius temperature. The load voltage is 4S. 9V with 1.14A
current. The steady state power output is 55. 6W.

Maximum Point Tracking Algorithms

Performance
Parameters Incremental
Fuzzy Logic
Conductance
% Overshoot 0.4109 1.637
Fig.S. Schematic representation of proposed MPPT algorithm
Damping Factor 0,8681 0,638
 Maximum Point Tracking Algorithms B. At variable irradiance and constant temperature
Performance
Parameters Incremental
Fuzzy Logic The figure ll(a) depicts the change in the irradiance level
Conductance
at different time intervals. lrradiance is 1000 W1m2 up till 1 s
Rise time (t,) 0.l547s 0.l95s and then changes according to the relation as shown in below
%Error 7.05% 14% equation
Voltage 1= 1000 -9t (11)
Fluctuations 3.5V -6.5V Negligible
Table 1: Companson of INC with FL MPPT algonthms The power, load current and output voltage is shown in figure
ll(b), ll(c) and ll(d) respectively. The power changes from
Table 1 shows the comparison among the incremental 55.6W at 1000W/m2 to exactly 30W at 670W/m2.
conductance technique and a proposed composite technique.
The steady state error is significantly reduced with the
implementation of the composite fuzzy logic MPPT. With the
implementation of the fuzzy logic to track maximum power
point the unwanted oscillations are minimized. The analysis
also shows that rise time and percentage overshoot is
decreased marginally.

Fig.!!. Output at constant temperature and variable irradiance

Fig.! O. Output at constant irradiance and temperature
C. At variable temperature and constant irradiance parameters simultaneously. Keeping in view, performance

In the below Fig.12, the cell temperature varies from 25C analysis of FL MPPT techniques under varying irradiance and

to 100C in form of step signal and also as ramp signal from temperature is carried out and presented in Fig. 13.

Is :S t :S 2s and 2s < t :S 3s respectively keeping the irradiance

constant. We notice a gradual decrease of power, load current The Fig.l3, shows the variation in power, current, voltage and

and voltage as the cell temperature increases gradually from duty cycle with gradual changing irradiance and variations in

40 C to 60 C at 2s < t :S 3s. Sudden increase in the cell temperature, according to the equation 10 and given below

temperature from 25 C to 40 C at 1s :S t :S 2s causes the Temperature = 25; when 0 :S t < Is (12)

power, current and voltage to reduce to 55.47W, l. 08A and Temperature = lOt; when 1 :S t <4s ( 13)
51. 36V. The variations in the power tracked, current and voltage on the
load side is depicted in the figure below.

Fig.12. Output at constant irradiance and variable temperature

D. At variable temperature and variable irradiance

It is clearly observed that there is a significant impact of
solar irradiance and temperature on the PV power generation.
Therefore it is utmost important to study the impact of these
Fig.13. Output at variable and variable irradiance
 VI. CONCLUSIONS
By knowledge based fuzzy rules, fuzzy control can track
maximum power point. It operates like a black box model,
requiring no detailed information about the PV system. After
learning relation between maximum power point voltage and
open circuit voltage and insolation and temperature. In varying
conditions such as, when the temperature and irradiance are
not constant, the proposed controller algorithm is practically
more feasible and provides less power ripples and voltage
fluctuations. Also has low response time in comparison to the
INC technique.
The controller by fuzzy logic provides more effective and
efficient than the traditional controllers for the nonlinear
systems, because there is more flexibility. The proposed
control technique is fast and steady. It makes it possible
indeed to find the point of maximum power in a shorter time
compared to the well-known INC controller.
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