2016 13th International Conference on Power Electronics (CIEP)

Digital Simulation of a Predictive Current Control for

Photovoltaic System Based on the MPPT strategy
Marco Morales-Caporal, Jose Rangel-Magdaleno, R. Morales-Caporal
Israel Cruz-Vega Postgraduate Studies and Research Division Technological
Electronics Department, National Institute for Astrophysics Institute of Apizaco Tlaxcala, México
Optics and Electronics Tonantzintla Puebla, México [email protected]
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract- This paper presents a maximum power point tracking by minimizing a cost function[17], in [18] a predictive model
(MPPT) strategy, which consists on two main stages. On the first with this method is presented, also simulation and
part, a variable-step MPPT control is used to obtain the optimal
implementation showed the performance of the control against
current slope to extract the maximum power of a photovoltaic array.
The reference calculated by the MPPT stage will be used for the other control scheme. On the other hand instead calculate the
second stage, which improve the MPPT control by using a predictive value “on” or “off” to the next control cycle, the system should
current control for the dc/dc boost converter. MPPT with variable find the optimal value of the duty cycle [19], by using this
step-size is used in order to overcome the problems presented on strategy the predicted current control in a boost converter use
different MPPT algorithms. After that, to get an optimal duty cycle, the sampled inductor current and input (and depending of the
a predictive current control based on predicted mean value strategy design, the output) voltage to compute the duty cycle at the next
is used, which consists on calculate the optimal “on” time of the control cycle, so that, the error between the current reference
power transistor to the next scheme control cycle. The proposed and the predicted current is reduced to zero [20]. The inductor
algorithm is verified using MATLAB SIMULINK.
current and voltage can only sampled once in each switching
cycle, which is normally equal to the control period in a digital
Keywords—MPPT, predictive MPPT, boost-converter, predictive
control, PFV, variable-step.
control boost converter, the sample is obtain generally at the
beginning of the switching period.
I. INTRODUCTION
The main idea in the proposed MPPT is the use of variable-
In recent years, a large number of techniques have been step algorithm to ensure the current control signal. That signal
proposed for maximum power point tracking (MPPT), such as will be used in order to have a control based on predicted mean
the incremental conductance method (IncCond) [1-7], the value (PMV) [16,20], the PMV method takes into a count that
perturb-and-observe method (P&O or hill climbing) [2-6,8-11], the mean current for the instant i(k+1) should be equal to the
fuzzy logic (FL) [3,6,12-14], or artificial neural networks current reference during the next control cycle. To obtain the
(ANN) [14, 15]. Taking into account P&O strategy, a fixed-step duty cycle for the next sample control time it is necessary to
for the increasing of the duty cycle makes that the system calculate the value of current and voltage at the instant (k+1).
oscillate around the MPP. This situation is corrected by using The current of the boost converter can be estimated by using its
the IncCond strategy, but it maintains the fixed-step so, when mathematical current model considering that some elements
the solar radiation presents changes, it has a disadvantage in have a constant value.
comparison with a variable-step systems. In the case of systems
based on Fuzzy Logic and Neural Networks, the performance II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THE PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY
of the algorithms depend on the ability of the designer or
programmer to work well, besides Neural Networks must be A PV array has the solar cells arranged in Np (parallel) and
adapted when there are changes in the system. The use of a Ns (series), represented by:
variable-step to calculate the increment in the MPPT control
shows a good performance, but in this type of algorithm is ª q§¨Va + Ia N s Rs ¸· º Ns
necessary to correctly determine the size of the increment or « ¨© N p ¸¹
» Va + I a N Rs
decrement of current. The fundamental principle of the I a = N p I SC − N p I 0 «e N s nkT − 1» − p
(1)
predictive control is to use the actual inputs of the system to pre- « » N s
Rsh
calculate the optimal action for the next state. [16] The major « » N
¬ ¼ p
advantage of predictive control is its simple and comprehensive
design procedure. Existing different methods of predictive where I SC is the current due to solar radiation, Ia and Va are
control for boost converter [7-21], one way is determining the the output current and voltage of PV array, q is the electron
switching state of the semi-conductor for the next control cycle

978-1-5090-1775-1/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

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charge, k is the Boltzmann constant, n is the ideality factor or diL vin − vc v
= ⋅ (1 − D ) + in ⋅ ( D ) (2)
constant to the ideal diode, T is the cell temperature, I 0 is the dt L L
saturation current or reverse saturation current of diode, Rs and
dvC ª iL vc º vc
Rsh represent the series and shunt resistance respectively, and =« − » ⋅ (1 − D ) − ⋅ ( D) (3)
dt ¬ C RLoad C ¼ RLoad C
Ns and Np represent the number of PV on string and parallel.
IV. PROPOSED MPPT ALGORITHM
III. BOOST CONVERTER
The basic idea of the proposed MPPT control is to change
the voltage, current or duty cycle values and to reach maximum
Boost converter increases the DC input voltage (Vin) to a
power point, on photovoltaic system using a variable step. Then,
higher DC output voltage (Vout). The used topology consists of
an optimization function is needed to determine the next optimal
two power semiconductors, the controllable switch (S), and the
maximum power point. According to IncCond algorithm the
diode. The inductor (L) is used to store and deliver energy
maximum power point is tracking when the power variation
depending on the operating mode of the converter, while the
with respect to the voltage is zero [6]. By measure of
filter capacitor (C) is connected in parallel with the load (RLoad)
instantaneous values of i(k) and v(k), and past values as i(k-1)
to ensure a constant output voltage during steady-state operation
and v(k-1), the MPPT control calculates the new value of
of the converter. The advantages of the boost topology is a
voltage, current or duty cycle to the next iteration. Most of the
reduced number of components, and the output voltage
algorithms proposed in the literature [1-15] a fixed-step or fixed
increasing by varying only the duty cycle. From Fig. 1, only
increment is used. To obtain the best performance, the proposed
two-mode circuit operation is allowed and maintained through
MPPT controller can change the step, but in order to change the
constraints on the switch state S(t) ‫{ א‬0,1}, “S=1” denoting
increment, the controller should know the direction and size of
“closed” or “on” during a period fraction from 0 to dTs, it is
such increment. To obtain the best value of the increment of
called Duty Cycle (D) and “0” denoting “open” or “off”
current (ǻI), it is necessary to calculate the slope of the power
condition (S=0) during the rest of the sampling period from dTs
curve. This slope represents the change on the power (see fig.
to Ts. The system work only in this two-mode, avoiding that
3) according to the change on the current, it can be used to
the inductor current goes to zero, when it happens the converter
calculate a factor N, which allows changing the increment of the
work in a third mode of operation so called discontinuous
current (ǻI) size using a fixed current increment (ǻIref). With a
conduction.
low value of N, the change on power point is slow, with a high
value of N, the change of the power point is fast. Eq. (4) gives
Equation (2) and (3) correspond to the behavior of current
the current increment ΔI using (5) and (6).
and voltage respectively, on the boost converter on steady
operation, fig. 2. I k = I k −1 ± ΔI (4)
ΔI = N ⋅ ΔI ref (5)
L diode
dP
dI (6)
iL 0< N = <1
+ 2
dP
+ + 1+
vin C Vc RLOAD vout dI
- S
- -
P
dP/dI = 0
dP/dI > 0 dI/dV = -V/I
Pmp p dV/dI > -V/I
ǻP dP/dI < 0
Fig.1. Boost converter. dV/dI < -V/I

L L

iL iL
+ +
+ + + + RLOAD
vin vc
C
vout
RLOAD
vin vc
C
vout
- -
- - - -
ǻI Impp ISC I
Fig. 3. P-I curve of a photovoltaic module.
A) B)
Fig.2. Equivalent circuit of the boost converter A) S=1 B) S=0.

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 SW=ON SW=OFF

Current
measurement i(t) Slope f1(k) Slope f2(k) Slope f1(k+1) Slope f2(k+1)
i(k)
i(k+1)

ǻi(k)
i(k+2)
ǻi(k+1)
i*

tON(k) Ts-tON(k) tON(k+1) Ts-tON(k+1)

Ts Ts

k K+1 K+2 t
Control cycle

Fig. 4 Typical steady-state current ton a boost converter

The prediction of the time “off” is obtained by:
The value of slope determinate if the increment is positive
or negative. So the value of the current to the next iteration will
be: toff ( k + 1) = Ts − ton ( k + 1) (11)

i (k + 1) = i ( k ) ± Δi (7) The value of the current I at the instant i(k+1) can be

approximate by (2), assuming that during the very short time
The increase or decrease of the reference signal of current of the control cycle the current slope is lineal, thus the current
in the boost converter changes the point of maximum power. can be predicted through a lineal prediction as:
This signal is used to calculate the “on” time for the next
control cycle. ­° ª§ v ( k ) vc ( k ) · § vc ( k ) · º ½°
i ( k + 1) = i ( k ) + ® «¨ pv − ¸ ⋅ Ts + ¨ ¸ ⋅ ton ( k ) » ¾ Ts
°¯ «¬© L L ¹ © L ¹ »¼ ¿°
V. PROPOSED PMV CURRENT CONTROLED
(12)
The main characteristic of the predictive control is to use
To obtain the value of f1 and f2 is necessary to know the
the mathematical model of the system to predict the future
value of vc (k+1), (3) is used.
behavior of the controlled variables using the last know values
of the system. It is possible using the theory of the output
°­ ª§ i ( k ) vc ( k ) · § vc ( k ) · º ½°
prediction [22]. This information gives an optimal operation, vc ( k + 1) = vc ( k ) + ® «¨ L − ¸ ⋅ (1 − ton ( k ) ) + ¨ ¸ ⋅ ton ( k ) » ¾ Ts
«
°¯ ¬© C R C ¹ R
© Load ¹ »
¼ °¿
according to a predefined optimization criterion. [16]. Load

(13)
The principal idea of the predictive controller based on PMV
[20], is calculate the “on” time for the next control cycle (8) The values of RLoad can change, so this equation can be
reformulated as follows, where vc depends only of the inputs
2 ªi * ( k + 1) − i ( k + 1) º¼ − f 2 ( k + 1) ⋅ Ts values.
ton ( k + 1) = ¬ (8)
2 f1 ( k + 1) − f 2 ( k + 1)
§ i (k ) · § Ppv ( k ) ⋅ (1 − ton ( k ) ) · (14)
f1 and f2 are the values of current when the power transistor is vc ( k + 1) = vc ( k ) − ¨ L ¸ ⋅ (1 − ton ( k ) ) − ¨¨ ¸ ⋅ Ts
¸
© C ¹ © v ⋅ C ¹
“on” and “off”, respectively, as shown in Fig. 4. The value of pv

i* is obtain from the MPPT stage and is the reference current.

Equation (14) substituted in (10) to obtain the value of f2
By assuming that the power transistor is turned “on”, the (k+1).
current slope f1 at the control cycle (k+1) is:
v pv The value of ton calculated tries to reduce the difference
f1 ( k + 1) = (9) between the reference current obtain by the MPPT and the
L predicted mean value of the current for the instant (k+1).
And when the power transistor is turned “off” the energy
storage on the inductor is applied to the load, and the slope f2 Where e in the eq. 16, is the error, so the error decreasing
for the same instant is calculated as: with the time.

v pv v c ( k + 1) error ( k + 1 | k ) = 0 (15)
f 2 ( k + 1) = − (10)
L L

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 ­ i ( k + 1) + f1 ( k + 1) ⋅ ton ( k + 1) i ( k + 1) + f1 ( k + 1) ⋅ ton ( k + 1) − f 2 ( k + 1) ⋅ Ts − f 2 ( k + 1) ⋅ ton ( k + 1) ½
i * ( k + 1) − ® + ¾ Ts
¯ 2 2 ¿ =e (16)
2

L D ILoad

NS
NP +
TOperating Temperature S C RLOAD VLoad
Solar Irradiance
-

Duty
VPV
I*
IPV MPPT PMV

Fig. 5 PV system with a MPPT control Fig. 8. Duty Cycle of the Transistor.

The fact that the predictive control is applied by sliding

horizon strategy, forces performance to be recalculated at each
sampling period, so that, it is provided feedback to the system
and therefore a certain robustness.

VI. SIMULATION ON MATLAB/SIMULINK

Figure 5 shows the system used in the simulation of the

proposed algorithm. The system has two panels in series and
two in parallel working at 25 ° C, the simulated array produces Fig. 9 Comparison between the output power of IncCond and Proposed
Algorithm against Maximum Power Theoretical.
880W max theoretical.
Figure 9 shows a comparison of power output between
Fig. 6 shows the response at different solar radiation levels
Incond and proposed MPPT technique in relation to the
of the power output of the system with MPPT and predictive
Maximum Power Theoretical, the efficiency of the systems
current control proposed. The time to reach the MPP change
can be measured by the next equation:
with the load or the maximum increment of the reference.
t2
In Fig. 7 is observed how the current of the inductor of the
η MPPT =
³t1
Pdt
(15)
Boost converter tries to keep at the reference current. t2
³ t1
Pmax dt

where t1 is the start time and t2 is the end time of the system,
P is the output power and Pmax is the theoretical maximum
power.

TABLE I. EFFICIENCY OF THE PROPOSED ALGORITHM

Fig. 6. Power Output of Proposed Algorithm at different level of solar
radiation. Algorithm Tracking efficiency, η MPPT (%)

Proposed MPPT with Predictive

99.06
Current control

IncCond
97.73

Fig. 7. Reference Current Signal.

298
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