“IMPROVING MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKER OF SOLAR CHARGERS USING

FUZZY LOGIC”

Lyka Lopez Belicena

Gepel Vidal Ontanillas

Hannah Faith Leaño Sulong

Hanie Len Manejero Viejo

April,2019
Chapter 1 Introduction

Background of the Study

Renewable energy is a vital part of the society,

specifically a prime mover for the growth of our economy. This
increasing trends on renewable energy was due to the
shortcomings of the present non-renewable energies on the
market, such as oil and coal industries. Renewable energy comes
from natural resources such as sunlight which means that it has
a never-ending source that can be replenished naturally and is
favorable especially in promoting a cleaner and greener
environment.

This is why power generations are currently being overtaken

by the rapidly growing renewable energy such as solar energy.
Solar energy can be harvested through Photovoltaic (PV) cells
and then this energy can be converted to electricity. Even
though the PV generation systems has higher efficiency and comes
with a lower cost, the goal on maximizing the power harvested on
the PV system is still difficult to realize. And this is where
lingering problems arises; the low efficiency of the electric
power generation under low irradiation conditions and the effect
of the rapid changes of the weather conditions on the amount of
the electric power generated through the solar/ PV arrays. Since
the characteristic of the solar cell’s V-I is nonlinear and that
only varies on the irradiation and temperature, a unique point
on the V-I or V-P curve that is called the Maximum Power Point
(MPP) wherein the entire PV system operates on a maximum
efficiency and produces a maximum output power can be found.
Locating the MPP seems to impossible without the use of
calculation models or search algorithms. And this is where
Maximum Power Point Trackers (MPPT)techniques comes in handy.
MPPT are composed of a lot of techniques and each of them has
different aspects that would be helpful in maintaining the PV
arrays operating point to its MPP.

One of the important techniques and is widely used is the

Incremental Conductance (InC) Technique, this technique/ system
was intently designed to overcome the drawbacks on P&O
algorithm, which resulted to a better performance on tracking
time and in producing more energy on a wider irradiation
changing environments. This technique made it successful on
suppressing the oscillations around MPP point. And compared to
other techniques it has higher tracking accuracy specifically on
steady state and has better stability in terms of the constant
changes on the atmospheric conditions.

Another effective technique is the Fuzzy Logic Control

(FLC). FLC is based on theory behind the Fuzzy Logic which is
also comparable to theory of the Fuzzy Sets, wherein classes of
objects with unspecified boundaries are being related to certain
degree of membership (e.g. high, medium high, very high, etc.).
FLC has a great advantage when in terms of having imprecise
samples, doesn’t need a very accurate mathematical model and is
very compatible when it comes to handling nonlinearities. This
technique actually is composed of three stages; the
fuzzification, degree of membership table (for the bases of if-
then rules and inference for the system) and the
defuzzification. This technique helps to resolve the
fluctuations on the MPPT during the constant changes on the
atmospheric conditions.

See: (MPPT Based on Incremental Conductance–Fuzzy Logic Algorithm for Photovoltaic

System under Variable Climate Conditions); (Maximum Power Extraction in PV System
using Fuzzy Logic and Dual MPPT Control) ;(CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW); Chafle, S.
R., & Vaidya, U. B. (2013). Incremental conductance MPPT technique FOR PV
system. International Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics and
Instrumentation Engineering, 2(6), 2720-2726.);
https://www.mathworks.com/help/fuzzy/what-is-fuzzy-logic.html ; LITERATURE SURVEY ON
MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING (MPPT) TECHNIQUE FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) SYSTEM;
Application of fuzzy logic: A literature review

Statement of the Problem

General Objective

This study aims to determine the effects of membership

functions on Incremental Conductance MPPT with Fuzzy Logic

Controller.

Specific Objectives

Specifically, the study aims to:

1. Create a Fuzzy Logic instruction set for MPPT Solar

Charge Controller.

2. Determine the efficiency of the fuzzy Logic MPPT Solar

Charge Controller.

3. Compare the results of the modified Fuzzy Logic MPPT

Solar Charge Controller to the existing MPPT Solar Charge

Controller.
 Significance of the Study

The result of this study will be benefitted by the following:

Solar energy industry, the researchers’ algorithm may improve

the current MPPT for better efficiency of solar power

Solar power consumers, the individual Solar power consumers

will benefit if they are using MPPT charge controllers

The researchers, future researchers can further develop this

study.

Definition of Terms

For the purpose of clarity and understanding, the following

terms were defined conceptually and its operational definition

MATLAB is a high–performance language for technical

computing. It integrates computation, visualization, and

programing in an easy–to–use environment where problems and

solutions are expressed in familiar mathematical notation

(cimss.ssec.wisc.edu).

Maximum Power Point Tracker is an algorithm that is included

in charge controllers used for extracting maximum available

power from PV module under certain conditions (Leonics, 2013).

In this study MPPT was improved.

 Fuzzy logic a system of logic in which a statement can be

true, false, or any of a continuum of values in between

(Merriam-Webster, 2014). This will be used in the developing of

the algorithm.

Solar Charge Controller a device that manages the power

going into the battery bank from the solar array (altEstore,

2016). This device will be used to store and execute the Fuzzy

Logic algorithm.

Scope and Limitations of the Study

This study is limited in developing a “photovoltaic system

simulation model” that uses incremental conductance with fuzzy

logic algorithm as MPPT solar charge controller using MATLAB.

Chapter 2 Related Literature

Solar Power System

The Solar Power system mentioned in this study will consist of

a solar panel, solar charge controller, battery and load. The

solar panel converts the light rays from the sun into electrical

energy (insert citation). This electrical is then passed to the

solar charge controller where its voltage and current is

regulated (citation1) and passed through the battery. A deep-

cycle battery is used to store the energy.

Solar Charge Controllers

Solar charge controllers regulate the output of the solar panel

to prevent the batteries from over charging (citation1). There

are three commonly used types of solar charge controllers. Shunt

solar charge controller which use relays or shunt transistors to

connect or disconnect the solar panel depending whether the

battery is to be charged or not (citation1). Pulse Width

Modulation solar charge controllers which lowers the amount of

power applied to the battery as it gets close to being fully

charged (citation2). Last is the Maximum Power Point Tracking

(MPPT), it converts the excess voltage generated by the solar

panel in to current so that it has more power when charging the

battery (citation1) (citation2).

Maximum Power Point Tracking

 Maximum power point tracking has different techniques some

these are, Perturb & Observe, Incremental Conductance and Fuzzy

Logic Control.

Hussein et al. presented different techniques followed in

tracking the maximum power of PV arrays with a particular

emphasis on the conventional P&O technique. The drawbacks of the

P&O algorithm, especially in case of rapidly varying atmospheric

conditions, were discussed and analyzed. Mathematical models

were used to simulate the PV array for their performance

analysis under randomly varying atmospheric conditions. To

overcome the disadvantages of slow convergence and oscillation

around the MPP, Salas et al, has improved the P&O method by

using the PV panel current as the variable for the calculation

of the duty cycle. In this technique, a new low cost MPPT

controller was implemented considering current from the PV panel

as the only control variable and was compared with the

conventional MPPT configurations under different atmospheric

conditions. The results obtained show that based on the charge

state of the batteries; the MPPT can increase the overall

efficiency of the system. In P&O technique, fixed step size

perturbation consumes much time to track MPP and the steady

state power loss associated is high due to oscillations of 13

operating point around MPP. Without considering the state of

charge of the batteries and to overcome the disadvantages of the

traditional P&O method, a simple and effective MPPT scheme based

on 2-dimensional lookup table was proposed. In this scheme, the

MPP voltages of PV module are maintained at a reference value

using PWM technique for variable irradiances and temperatures.

The PV module voltage values are directly obtained from a 2-

dimensional lookup table and the maximum power is obtained. INC

technique overcomes the disadvantages of perturbation based

techniques as it has high precision of tracking even under

rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. In this technique, the

perturbation size is wisely selected such that the oscillations

around the peak point are avoided and ensures soft starting of

the system under all the possible variations in the solar

irradiance. Though there are some improvements over P&O

technique, research results show that while adapting the INC

method, the improvements are at the cost of increased complexity

of implementation. FLC is an effective tool to extract the

maximum power from the PV system as this method is robust and

simple to design and also it can handle non-linear systems.

These techniques have the advantage of utilizing the human

expert knowledge instead of mathematical models to address the

real world problems. But the main drawback with the fuzzy logic

based approach is that as the number of variables increases, the

number of membership function and the fuzzy rules also

increases.

Fuzzy Logic

Fuzzy logic is a mathematical term, whose use is observed

by many researchers in different fields during different time

periods. Fuzzy logic is a proposition that may be true or false

or have an intermediate true value. It is formed to handle the

concept of partial truth. Degree of truth is represented by

membership function. A membership function on a set X is any

function from X to a real unit interval [O, l]. The value 0

represents the false value, represents truth value and the value

between 0 and l represents partial truth. One of the major

advantages of fuzzy logic is that it

Fuzzy Logic Controller

FLCs have been widely used for industrial processes owing

to their heuristic nature associated with simplicity and

effectiveness for both linear and nonlinear systems (Veerachary

et al. 2003). Fuzzy Logic Controller is one branch of the

intelligent control in which the concept of Fuzzy Logic

Controller is achieved by mimicking and adopting the behavior of

human being (Radianto et al. 2015). Fuzzy logic is one of the

most powerful control methods. It is known by multi-rules-based

resolution and multivariable consideration (Sankar et al 2017).

Summary

MPPT Solar Charge Controllers can be further improved. P &

O and IC method can be further improved by using FLC.

Chapter 3 Methodology

Research Design

The research design is a developmental research. The

researchers will create an algorithm using fuzzy logic for MPPT.
An instruction set for the FLC will be created. The efficiency
of the InCFLC MPPT charge controller will be determined. The
gathered results will be then compared to the existing IC MPPT
charge controller.

InC Flowchart Fuzzy Logic Simulation &

instruction set Data Gathering
Diagrams of
existing Data Simulation Model Evaluation of
Simulated Model
FLC

MATLAB

Design and specifications

Materials, tools and equipment

Laptop, this will be used to run the software needed in

conducting this study.

MATLAB, this software will be used to develop and execute

the algorithms.

Excel, this software will be used in tabulating and

calculation of gathered results.

Construction procedure

A photovoltaic system simulation model will be created in

Matlab Simulin. The Incremental Conductance MPPT with Fuzzy
Logic controller will be implemented on the simulation model. A
membership function will be formulated for the fuzzy logic
controller.

Sources of Data

The data will be gathered from the output of the simulated

model. Existing data will be gathered from other sources.

Data analysis procedure

The gathered simulation data will be then compared to the

existing data about INC MPPT. The results will show the
differences of the two data. The results will be then tabulated
and analyzed. The deviation of the IC MPPT will be compared to
the deviation of the IC with Fuzzy MPPT. The results will be
then compared and the difference of the deviation will be
calculated.