3 60 IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, Vol. 10, No.

2, June 1995

Identification of Optimal Operating Point of PV Modules using Neural Network

for Real Time Maximum Power Tracking Control
Takashi Hiyama, Senior Member, Shinichi Kouzuma, and Tomofumi Imakubo
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860, Japan

Abstract: This paper presents an application of a neural From August 1992, measurements have been performed on the I-
network for the identification of the optimal operating point of V characteristics of four poly-crystalline silicon PV modules,
PV modules for the real time maximum power tracking control. which aze set on the top of one of the buildings in the
The output power from the modules depends on the Kumamoto University campus. Two of the modules are fixed
environmental factors such as insolation, cell temperature, and so facing to the south with the slope of 30 and 90 degrees, and the
on. Therefore, accurate identification of optimal operating point rest of them are tracking the sun at every 5 minutes with the
and real time continuous control are required to achieve the same slopes of 30 and 90 degrees.[6] For the training patterns of
maximum output efficiency. The proposed neural network has a the neural network, we have chosen typical data measured on one
quite simple structure and provides a highly accurate of the fixed modules with the slope of 30 degrees on two days in
identification of the optimal operating point and also a highly September 1992 considering the difterence of cell temperature.
accurate estimation of the maximum power from the PV After training the neural network, the optimal operating point
modules. has been identiied, and the maximum power from the modules
have also been estimated, for all the modules from August 1992
Keywords: PV module, Neural Network, Poly-crystalline to January 1993. The highly accurate prediction of maximum
Silicon, Maximum power tracking control, Real time control power has been achieved by using the proposed neural network
despite the small quantity of learning patterns. Considering the
practical implementation, simple measurements of open circuit
1. Introduction voltage and short circuit current are required on the monitoring
cells for the PV modules.
The photovoltaic (PV) system technologies are rapidly expanding
and have increasing roles in electric power technologies,
providing more secure power sources and pollution-free electric 2. Real Time Control of PV Modules
supplies.[l-4] The PV systems are, by nature, non-linear power
sources that need accurate on-line identification of the optimal A micro-computer based power tracking control system is shown
operating point for the real time maximum power tracking in Fig. 1. This controller requires accurate real time estimates of
control. The maximum power from PV modules varies depending the peak power point of the PV module. The neural network
on the environmental factors such as insolation and cell estimator presented in this paper is suitable for application. The
temperature. Therefore, the optimal operating point varies widely switching controller is set up by using a micro-computer
over time. Non-linear equations, representing the I-V together with an AD and a DA conversion interface for the
characteristics, are usually utilized to identify the optimal point inverter. The operating point of the PV module is shifted by the
yielding maximum power, as well as the corresponding voltage switching control of the inverter to its optimal one in real time
and current at any given time.[4] according to the estimated optimal operating point obtained
through the proposed neural network on the micro-computer.
This paper presents an alternative method to identify the optimal
power source
operating point to achieve the maximum output efficiency of the PV modules I I
PV modules using a neural network.[5] The proposed neural
network has three layers, an input, a hidden, and an output layer.
The input signals are open circuit voltage, and information of the
time of day.

94 SM 419-2 EC A paper recommended and approved

by t h e IEEE Energy Development and Power Generation solar cells
Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society f o r for monitoring
presentation a t t h e IEEE/PES 1994 Summer Meeting,
San Francisco, CA, July 24 -
28, 1994. Manuscript
submitted J u l y 20, 1993; made a v a i l a b l e f o r p r i n t i n g Fig. 1. Configuration of Real Time Maximum
3 , 1994. Power Tracking Controller

0885-8969/95/$04.00 0 1994 IEEE

 361

The output current I d and the terminal voltage V d are measured most adequate information to identify the optimal operating point
at a specific sampling rate and compared with the voltage Vop* yielding maximum power. The short circuit current Zsc, from the
and the current lop*at the identifed optimal operating point solar cells monitoring the modules, gives the most adequate
information of the effective insolation.
which yields the maximum power from the PV module. Then
the control signal is generated to shift the operating point Zd and
V d , to the optimal one given by Zop* and Vop*. The optimal
operating point Zap* and Vop* are identified in real time through
the proposed neural network by using the short circuit current Zsc
and the open circuit voltage Voc measured on the monitoring
cells. These measurements are straightforward and inexpensive
compared with the measurements of the insolation, the cell
temperature, and the other environmental factors.

3. Long Term Measurements of I-V Curve

3.1 Specification of PV Module
Table 1 indicates the specification of four PV modules used for
the long term measurements. These modules are composed of
poly-crystalline silicon solar cells. Two of them are fixed facing
to the south with the slopes of 30 and 90 degrees, and the rest are PC :Personal Computer IV : I-V Curve Tracer
tracking the sun at every 5 minutes with the same slopes of 30 MO : PV Module MS : Module Selector
and 90 degrees. PM : Pyranometer DL : Data Logger
T C : Thermo Couple
Table 1. Specification of PV Module
Fig. 2 Data Acquisition System
maximum power Pmax 45.0(W)
short circuit current Isc 2.90 (A) Fig. 3 shows the correlation between the short circuit current Zsc
and the current ZOp at the optimal operating point to yield
open circuit voltage VOC 21.2(v) maximum power Pmax measured on September 6 and 27 in
optimum operating current Iop 2.68(A) 1992. As shown in this figure, a linear correlation exists between
optimum operating voltage Vop 16.8(V) these two quantities. Therefore, the optimal current zap* can be
module size I
980x440 (mm) easily estimated from the short circuit current Zsc measured on
the monitoring cell.
(Ah44.5,1kw/m2,25 C)
31 1

3.2 Data Acquisition System

-2
Measurements have been performed every 5 minutes from 5 am 4
to 8 pm for the EV characteristics, the insolation, the cell a
0
temperature, the maximum power, as well as the corresponding - 1
voltage and current of each module. Totally, 181 data sets are
obtained for each module in a day. Fig. 2 shows the
configuration of data acquisition system. The data acquisition
system is mainly composed of two personal computers, an I-V 0
carve tracer, a module selector, and a data logger including 0 1 2 3 4
peripherals such as pyranometers and thermo couples. Isc (A)
Fig. 3. Correlation between Isc and Iop
4. Required Data for Identifying Optimal
Operating Point To estimate maximum power from the PV modules, the optimal
voltage Vop is also required. Fig. 4 shows the correlation
The maximum power, drawn from PV modules, mainly depends between the open circuit voltage VOc and the voltage Vop at the
on the insolation. The insolation is usually measured by using a optimal operating point. In this case, the correlation between
pyranometer. However, there exist differences in the spectral them is not linear. Therefore, non-linear identification is required
sensitivity between the PV modules and the pyranometer. for estimating the optimal voltage Vop* Namely, a neural
Therefore, the output from the pyranometer is not always the
network is utilized for the estimation of optimal voltage Vop* in
362
this study. The estimated maximum power is also derived by the
multiplication of both the identified Zap* and Vap*.
0' I
0 10 20 30
vac (v)
Fig. 4. Correlation between V O c and V o p
5. Identification of Optimal Operating Point
using Neural Network
5.1 Configuration of Neural Network
The block diagram, for identifying the optimal operating point
and also the maximum power output of the PV modules, is
shown in Fig. 5. As described in Section 4, the optimal current
Zap is almost proportional to the short circuit current Is,. The
constant K is equal to 0.888 from Fig. 3.
Voc(k) 4Neural I v6p(k)
.
Isc(k) o U
m \ I
Fig. 5 . Block Diagram for Identification
of Optimal Operating Point
The configuration of proposed three-layer feed forward neural
network is shown in Fig. 6. The neural network is utilized to
identify the optimal voltage Vop* of the PV module. The
network has three layers: an input, a hidden, and an output layer .
The numbers of nodes are three, five, and one in the input, the
hidden, aud the output layers, respectively.
The nodes in the input layer get the input signal V,, from the
monitoring cell aud another input signal of time parameter Tp
from the clock in the micro-computer. These signals are directly
passed to the nodes in the next hidden layer. The node in the
output layer provides the identified optimal voltage Vop*. The
nodes in the hidden layer get signals fiom the input layer and
send their output to the node in the output layer. For each node i
in the hidden and the output layer, the output Oi(k) is given as
follows:
Input Hidden Output
TP(4 -+c
<
'ime Parameter)
Bias
Bias -.o/
Fig. 6. Configuration of Neural Network
I
Oi(k)=
1 + e-'i
where the sigmoid function is utilized for the input-output
characteristics of the nodes. The term Zi(k) is the input signal to
the node i at the k-th sampling. The input Zi(k) is given by the
weighted sum from the previous nodes as follows:
Zi(k)= Z
i wg(k).Oj(k) (2)
In the above equation, wij is the connection weight from the
node j to the node i and Oj(k) is the output from the node j .
To identlfy the optimal operating point accurately, the
connection weights Wij must be determined by using typical
patterns. The process of determining the connection weights is
referred to as the training process.
In the training process, we need a set of input-output patterns for
the neural network as shown later. All the computations are
performed off-line during the training process. With the training
patterns, the connection weights Wij ate modified recursively
until the best fit is achieved for the input-output patterns in the
training data. A commonly used approach is the generalized delta
mle[5], where the sum of the squared errors described below is
minimized during the training process.
6
E = k = l (t(k)-O(k))* (3)
where N is the total number of training patterns. t(k) is the k-
th target output from the output node and O(k) is the computed
one. The connection weights Wij ate initially set to random
values. For all the training patterns, the error function E is
evaluated, and the connection weights Wij are updated to
minimize the error function E [5].
The input signals are the sampled open circuit voltage Voc(k)
from the monitoring cell at every five minutes, and the time
parameter Tp with an additional bias signal of 1.0. In the hidden
 363

'i/i
layer, another bias signal of 1.0 is utilized as shown in Fig. 6. the training process, the learning rate is specified to 0.2 and the
The output signal is the identified optimal voltage Vop*(k). The momentum is specified to 0.85.
open circuit voltage Voc includes adequate information about the 0.1
cell temperature and the information is improved by adding the
time parameter which gives the gradient of the variation of the
cell temperature[6].

5.2 Training of Neural Network t

0
t
Fig. 7 shows the measured results on the fixed module with the &
slope of 30 degrees on September 6 and 27, 1992. These patterns
have been utilized for the network training. As shown in (b), the
time parameter Tp is deiined by a continuous parameter ranging -... -...... -
..
from - 0.5 to 0.5. The input patterns are the open circuit voltage .. . . ..t .

V,,,, and the time parameter Tp. The target patterns are given by 0
the measured optimal voltage Vop for training the neural 1000
network.
1 Iterations
Fig. 8. Convergence of Error
(a) Open Circuit Voltage

6. Evaluation of Identified Optimal Operating

Point
In order to investigate the availability of the trained neural
network, the estimation error is evaluated as follows:

v ~~~~

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1920
Time (hour)
&)Time parameter

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Time (hour)
(c)Optimum Operating Voltage
where M is the total number of patterns in a day. Pman(k),
Zop(k), and Vop(k) are the measured maximum power, optimal
current, and optimal voltage, respectively. Pma*(k), Zop*(k),
and Vop*(k) are the identified ones.

The terms Ep , Ei , and Ev represent the total estimation errors

I Z+ , and Vme are the total maximum power, total current, and
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Time (hour)
Fig. 7. Patterns for Training Neural Network
Fig. 8 shows the convergence of error during the training
process. For each one of those two days, 181 patterns are
obtained for the training of the proposed neural network. During
of maximum power and optimal current, and the averaged error of
optimal voltage, in a day, respectively, where the terms P& ,
averaged optimal voltage, in a day, respectively.
Fig. 9 indicates the estimated and the measured optimal current
lop, optimal voltage ?fop, and maximum power P m m from the
fixed PV module with the slope of 30 degrees on September 6,
1992. These measured patterns are included in the training set.
The identified maximum power outputs are almost equal to the
measured ones.
3 64

September 6, 1 9 9 2 January 2, 1993

3 , 3
- Measured Iday=855(Ah)

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

2o I
Eg l105 :
+ 5.
7 r"""l?
- Measured Vave=U.l(V)
E l105 ;
- Measured Vave=15.6(V)

0 '
1 - Estimated
. . .
Ev=0.36(V)
I
b
- Estimated Ev=O.370
' ' ' ' ' . '' '
_ ' ' '
0' ' ~ ' ~ " " .
5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
50
- Measured
- Measured Pday=136.1(Wh
40

E 20
n

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 9 2 0 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 1 4 1 5 16 17 18 1 9 2 0
Time (hour) Time (hour)
Fig. 9. Measured and Estimated lop,V o p , and PmaX Fig. 10. Measured and Estimated lop,V o p , and Pmax
on Fixed Module with Slope of 30 Degrees on Fixed Module with Slope of 3 0 Degrees

Fig. 10 also shows the estimated and the measured Zop, Vop, and
P m a of the fixed module with the slope of 30 degrees on January 2, 1993
January 2, 1993. These measured data for this module are not
included in the training patterns for the neural network. However,
lop, VoP, f"a are accurately estimated as shown in Fig. 10. ' - Measured Pday=136.1(Wh)
As shown in these two figures, the seasonal differences do not 40 - Estimated Ep=24.64(Wh)
degrade the estimation accuracy of the proposed neural network h

trained by using measured patterns on two specific days in & 30

September 1992. For comparison studies, Fig. 11 also shows xmE 20
the estimated maximum power P m a from the same module on n
the same day. The maximum power P m a is identified by using 10
an equation obtained experimentally for the same module. The
experimental equation is given by[7] 0
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 9 2 0
f " a * ( k ) =aZ&k) + b Temp(k) + c W i d & ) + d (10) Time (hour)
where a = 41.22, b = -0.16, c = -0.27, and d = 3.33. In
addition, Zdk), Temp(k), and W d ( k ) indicate the insolation
[kW/m2], the temperature [degrees in Celsius], and the wind Fig. 11. Estimated Maximum Power by Eqn.(lO)
velocity [m/s], respectively. o n Fixed Module with Slope of 30 Degrees
 365

Fig. 12 shows the measured and the estimated Zop , Vop , and
Pma for the module tracking the sun at every 5 minutes on
October 24, 1992. Even for the tracking module, the proposed . - Measured Pday=105.2(Wh)
neural network gives accurate prediction of lop , Vop , and
- 40 . - Estimated Ep=26.57o;vh)
Pma.
k 30
October 24, 1992 :
&
20
3 10
0
- 2
s 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
8 Time (hour)
3 1
Fig. 13. Estimated Maximum Power by Eqn.(lO)
on Tracking Module with Slope of 90 Degrees
0
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
25 I I
20 r 1
20
15
2 10
= 5
- Estimated E~=0.59(V) 0
0 ' l ' ' ' ' ~ ' ~ . ~ ' . . . ' ' . ~ . ~ ' ~ ' ~ . ~ . ~

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
1992 1993
50

40
30
I
E 20
b
10 Ev
0
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
Time (hour) 1992 1993

Fig. 12. Measured and Estimated l o p , V o p , and 300

v
Pmax on Tracking Module with Slope
a 200
of 90 Degrees
Y
Fig. 13 shows the estimated maximum power by eqn.(lO) for 2 100
the fixed module with the slope of 30 degrees. As shown in this
fgure, eqn.(lO) is not available for the modules with the different 0
settings. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan.
Fig. 14 shows the long term evaluation of the identification
1992 1993
accuracy for the fixed module with the slope of 30 degrees.
Throughout these six months, the proposed neural network gives Fig. 14. Long Term Evaluation of Identification
the accurate estimations for the optimal operating point and the Accuracy for Fixed Module with Slope
maximum power f%om the fixed module with the slope of 30 of 30 Degrees
degrees.
366
Fig. 15 also shows the long term evaluation of the identifed [2] S. Rahman and K. Tam, "A Feasibility Study of
maximum power from the tracking module with the slope of 90 Photovoltaic-Fuel Cell Hybrid Energy System", IEEE Trans. on
degrees. Even for the tracking module, the proposed network Energy Conversion, Vol.EC-3, No.1, March 1988, pp.50-55.
gives quite accurate estimation for these six months. [3] Z. Salameh and W. Lynch, "Multi-Stage Dual Priority
Regulator for Photovoltaic Systems", IEEE Trans. on Energy
Conversion, Vol.EC-4, No.3, Sept. 1989, pp.308-313.
400 I i [4] M. G. Jaboori, M. S. !Xed, and A. A. R. Hanafy, "A
Contribution to the Simulation and Design Optimization of
300 Photovoltaic Systems", IEEE Trans. on Energy Conversion,
W Vol. EC-6, No.3, Sept, 1991, pp.401-406.
3 200 [5] R. P. Lippmann, "An Introduction to Computing with
Actual Neural Nets", IEEE ASSP Magazine, 1987, pp.4-22.
5
a 100 [6] T. Hiyama and S. Kouzuma, "Application of Neural Network
& for Predicting Maximum Power from PV Modules", Proceedings
of APSCOM'93, at Hong Kong in December 1993, pp.349-354.
0 [7] O.Ishihara, T.Hiyama, S.Kouzuma, and S.Fujihiro,
Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. "Measurements and analysis of influence factors and efficiency of
1992 1993 PV system Part 2. Analysis of results from annual
measurements", presented at the Annual Meeting of the Japan
Solar Energy Society, Dec. 1993.
Fig. 15. Long Term Evaluation of Estimated
Maximum Power from Tracking Module
with Slope of 90 Degrees Biographies
These figures indicate the wide availability of the proposed neural Takashi Hiyama was born at Kitakyushu, Japan in 1947. He
network for predicting optimal operating point of the PV received his B.E., M.S., and PhD degrees all in Electrical
modules. The prediction is quite accurate, and the accuracy is not Engineering from Kyoto University, Japan in 1969, 1971, and
&&ed by the seasonal changes, the degree of slope of the 1980, respectively. He joined Kumamoto University in 1971,
modules, and so on. For the real time maximum power tracking and he has been a Professor from 1989. During the period of June
control, on-line measurements of the short circuit current and the 1985 through September 1986, he was at Clarkson University,
open circuit voltage on the monitoring cells are required, and was involved with power system harmonic research. His
however, these measurements are straightforward and current interests include intelligent excitation control using fuzzy
inexpensive. logic control scheme and neural network, fuzzy logic switching
strategies for FACTS devices such as series capacitors, shunt
reactors, breaking resistors, and SVC, and measurement and
7. Conclusions control of photovoltaic systems. He is a Senior Member of
IEEE, a Member of IEE and SICE of Japan, and Japan Solar
The efficiency of the proposed neural network has been presented Energy Society.
for identifying the optimal operating point for the real time
maximum power tracking control of the PV modules. Despite Shinichi Kouzuma was born at Osaka, Japan in 1964. He
the small set of patterns utilized for the training of the neural received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from
network, the network gives accurate predictions over a wide Kumamoto University in 1987. Since 1987, he joined Sanyo
variety of operating modes. The accuracy is not degrded Electric Co., Ltd. Currently he is a graduate student of the
following the seasonal variations of insolation and temperature. Department of Energy Engineering, and he is studying for his
Experimental studies are now being planned for the real time PhD degree in Electrical Engineering. His current interest is
maximum power tracking control. optimal operation of PV systems, application of neural network
to PV systems. He is a Member of IEE of Japan, and Japan Solar
Energy Society.
Acknowledgment
Tomofumi Imakubo was born at Fukuoka, Japan in 1971.
The authors would like to appreciate Sanyo Electric Co., Lid. for He received his B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from
the cooperation to this work. The authors also would l i e to Kumamoto University in 1993. Currently he is a graduate
thank Prof. Ishihara of the Department of Architect, Kumamoto student of the Department of Electrical Engineering and
University for his assistance to the long term measurements for Computer Science. He is studying for his M.S. degree in
the PV modules. Electrical Engineering. He is an Associate Member of IEE of
Japan.

References
[l] J. Applebaum, "The Quality of Load Matching in a Direct
Coupling Photovoltaic System", IEEE Trans. on Energy
Conversion, Vol.EC-2, No.4, Dec. 1987, pp.534-541.
 367

Discussion
C . W.LIM (Electronic and Computer Engineering
Dept., Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore): The
authors are to be commended for their effort in
applying a neural network for identifying the
optimal operating point to yield maximum output
efficiency of PV modules.
In order to provide further insight into
the method reported in this paper, the authors
inputs to the following issues are appreciated:
(a) Data For Training The Neural Network
(a) We selected the measured data on September 6 and 27, 1992,
for the training of the proposed neural network considering the
difference in the cell temperature. The variations of the
insolation and the cell temperature are shown in Fig. C1 and in
Fig. C2, respectively. As shown in Fig. C2, there exists
significant difference in the cell temperature on these two days.
@) We are now investigating a method to identify the optimal
operating point for large-scale PV systems. For the large-scale
PV systems, we need a number of monitoring cells for the
corresponding grouped modules, therefore, the optimal operating
point of the total system should be estimated from the
corresponding optimal operating points of the grouped modules
identified by using the proposed neural network in the paper.

(c) We have been evaluating the proposed maximum power

Data measured on 6 and 21 Sept 92 were
specifically chosen for training the proposed
neural network. Would the authors comment on the
criteria which were used to select the above
dates ?
(b) Large-scale PV Systems
tracking control scheme on a small sized PV system connected to
the commercial power source through an inverter. We have
already submitted a paper on the evaluation for E E E PES
Meeting. The estimated maximum power is more than 99%
from the actual one when applying the proposed control scheme
to the PV system.
1.2 I

It could be readily deduced that for a G

E 1.0
large-scale PV system, the effective area of PV
E 0.8
1

modules would render the configuration of the

v
monitoring cells of Fig. 1 inadequate. In such a 2 0.6
system, would the authors comment on the modifi- E
cations to be made to the monitoring cells and :.a 0.4
P
other related issues, if any ?
U
c: 0.2
0.0
( c ) Real-Time Maximum Power Tracking Control
5 6 7 8 9 1011121314151617181920
The final objective of the work reported in Time (hour)
this paper is to achieve maximum power tracking
control of the PV system. Would the authors Fig. C1. Variation of Insolation
please provide typical real-time results in this
70 I
direction ? Do the authors have any figure on
the efficiency of their PV system ?

The authors are to be congratulated for their

interesting paper.

Manuscript received August 11, 1994.

T. Hiyama(Kumamot0 University, Dept. of Electrical Eng. &
Computer Science, Kumamoto 860. J a ~ a d : The authors would
like io thank Dr. Lim Choo Min for h:s &erest in the paper and
his valuable comments.
0 ~ ~ " " " " " " " " " " " ' " ' "
5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1213 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0
Time (hour)
Fig. C2. Variation of C e l l Temperature
Manuscript received October 25, 1994.