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Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

TerraGreen 13 International 2013 - Advancements in Renewable Energy and Clean

Environment

Comparative Study of MPPT Controllers for PV System

Implemented in the South-west of Algeria

Mhamed Rebhi a ,Ali Benatillah a ,Mabrouk Sellam b,Boufeldja Kadri c

a
Energy Environement and Information
f system Laboratory , University of Adrar Algeria
b
Energies in Arid Zones Laboratory, University of Bechar Algeria
c
Telecommunications Laboratory , University of Tlemcen , Algeria
Abstract

The photovoltaic array characteristic is a non-linear curve that the maximum power point varies depending on the
fluctuation of the solar radiation and temperature; however the energy transfer from the generator to the load requires
an adapter circuit allowing the stabilization of system controlled by a command based on specific algorithm, in this
paper we want to analyze the electrical performances of DC-DC converter assisted by MPPT control in comparison
between Perturb & Observe,PID and fuzzy logic control (FLC) to loading a storage battery .Our contribution is to
explain the precision, the rapidity and the stability of the Stand-alone Photovoltaic System (SPV) under each MPPT
control , implemented in the south west of Algeria.

© 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the TerraGreen Academy

"Keywords: Photovoltaic, MPPT, Perturb & Observe, PID, Fuzzy logic Control"

1. Energy conversion and MPPT Control

The photovoltaic solar energy make up among the renewable energy having a great development
potential, the solar potential in Algeria covers a surface of 2381745 Km2 with 3000 hours of daylight per
year [1], however the exploitation of the solar energy is very significant because of sunny country, on the
other hand many villages in the south-west of Algeria are very far away from the productive electrical
central where this situation imposes some economical and technical problems such as a great investment
financing , several failures in the electrical network and an overload in use. The solar energy may be
exploited to avoid these constraints by installing a photovoltaic system in each rural community.
The photovoltaic panel is the base element to generate an electrical current after converting from the
sunlight through the semiconductor cells under a photovoltaic effect, this panel provides a non-linear
characteristic curve where its operating point called maximum power point varies depending on the
fluctuation of the solar radiation and temperature, hence for assuring a permanent transfer of energy from
the generator to the load, an adapter device is indispensable to adjust this maximum power point on

1876-6102 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the TerraGreen Academy
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2013.07.017
 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 143

optimal function , the designed apparatus is made up of a DC-DC converter controlled by a MPPT
command ( maximum power point tracking ) based on technical algorithm [2]
Our work was destined to study a DC-DC Boost converter connected to a photovoltaic panel and
controlled via three algorithms studied on acuity Perturb & Observe (P&O) algorithm, PID control and
fuzzy logic control, the objective of the comparison is to explain the performances of each algorithm and
to give the implementation selection in the experimental site designed by an hybrid photovoltaic diesel..

Nomenclature
PV Photovoltaic q charge of electron
I Current of the PV cell SOC state of charge of battery
V Voltage of PV cell Vb battery voltage
Rsc series resistance Ib battery current
Rph Parallel resistance nbat Charge and discharge efficiency.
T cell temperature D Battery self-discharge rate
KB Boltzmann’s constant nSbt Number of 2V cells in series
Iph photo-current P PV output power
L inductance nS number of cells in series
Voc open- circuit cell voltage VT thermal voltage

2. Conception and Modelling of the MPPT system

The MPPT Photovoltaic System (MPPTPS ) is considered as PV generator coupled with DC-DC boost
converter controlled by a MPPT dispositive ,permits to feed a storage battery by a direct current in
condition to reduce the variation influence of the radiation and the temperature on the Maximal Peak
Power (PPM)
The system being modeled is shown in fig.1, implemented in Matlab-Simulink, it consists a PV generator
feeding a storage battery through a boost converter controlled by MPPT algorithm, the control of charge
allows to supervise the state of charge (SOC) to avoiding the overcharge and over-discharge condition
when the battery voltage reaches some critical values . Each component of the system represents a
mathematical model plotted by some blocks hidden under mask.

Fig.1 Photovoltaic System with MPPT Controller

144 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

2.1. Photovoltaic Generator

A solar cell is a semiconductor device that absorbs light to converting it into electrical energy. Today
most common cell is a mass manufactured single p-n junction Silicon (Si) cell with efficiency up to about
17% [2],the cell characteristic is an implicit function given by (H.tarik ) as [3]:

§ § q V  Rsh * I · · V  RS .I (1)
I ph
I s ¨ ¨
¨ exp¨ D * k * T
¸ ¸
¸  1¸ 
© © B ¹ ¹ R ph

Where Rsc is the series resistance of the cell (Ω), Rsh is the shunt resistance (Ω), α is the ideal factor
(usually α=1.2), T is the cell temperature (K) ,q is the electron charge (1.6021x10-19 C) ,K is the
Boltzman’s constant (1.3854x10-23 JK-1 ), Iph is the photo-current (A) and Is is the saturation current
(A), V is cell terminal voltage , this equation can be represented as an equivalent circuit of solar cell :

Fig.2 : Equivalent circuit of PV cell

The photovoltaic characteristic varies according to the radiation and the temperature that the increasing of
radiation augments the produced power and the current but it decreases the terminal voltage, while the
output power is reduced by increasing the temperature, the PV generator is modeled as below [4].

V  nS .Voc  I .RS .nS / nP (2)

I nP .I ph[1  exp( )]
nS .VT
4
60
3.5 MPP
50
3

40
Current ( A)

2.5
Power ( W)

2 30

1.5
20
1
10
0.5

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 25
Voltage (V) Voltage (V)

Fig3:I-V and V-P characteristics under Standard Conditions

 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 145

2.2 DC-DC converter

The solar panel is rarely connected directly to a load, the DC-DC converter is necessary to be found
between the generator and the load allowing to tracking the maximum power point based on MPPT
control providing a duty cycle by exciting the converter’s electronic switch, there are several converters
used for this purpose, in our work the BOOST converter or step-up converter is proposed to enhance the
output voltage supplying the storage battery, its equivalent circuit is given as [5]:
.

Fig.4. DC-DC Boost Converter

The functioning principle of the boost consist to excite the switch (MOSFET) transistor with a duty cycle
D produced by the MPPT control, when the switch is closed the inductor L is loading during T.D time,
afterward the switch is opened the inductor supplies the load R through the diode during (1-D).T, the state
equations during the functioning is given by:

1) Switch closed: 2) Switch opened:

dVCe 1
dVCe 1 .[I  I L ]
[Ie  I L ] dt Ce
dt C1e
dI L 1
.[Ve  VS ]
dI L Ve dt L
dt L
dVCS  I0 dVCS 1
.[I L  I e ]
dt CS dt CS
We can put: . dVCe , . dI L , . dVCS , V VS
X1 X2 X3 CS
dt dt dt
The equation system combination is modeled as follow:

­ 1
.
1
° X1 * X2  * IS
° CCE CCE
° . D 1
° 1
®X 2 * X 3  * VS (3)
° L L
° . 1 D 1
°X3 * X2  * X3
CCS R * CCS
°
¯
146 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

2.3. Storage battery

The battery model was based on lead-acid battery, its cells consist of two plates immersed in dilute
sulfuric acid solution, and it has two mode of operation: charge and discharge, the battery in charge mode
when the input current is positive, and in discharge mode when the current is negative, the battery is
characterized by some parameters [6]:
- The initial state of charge: SOC.
- Number of 2V cells in series : nsb
- The maximum state of charge (SOCm)
- Charge and discharge efficiency.: nbat
- Battery self-discharge rate : D
The equivalent circuit of battery is given as follow:

Fig.5: Equivalent circuit of battery

When the modeling of battery voltage is represented by: Vbat V 1  I bat * R1 (4)

In the charge mode: V 1 [2  0.148 * SOC (t )]* nsb . (5 )

0.1309
0.758 
[1.06  SOC (t )] * n
R1 St
SOCm (6)
In the discharge mode:
V 1 [1.926  0.124 * SOC (t )].nSb (7)
0.1037
0.19  (8)
[ SOC (t )  0.14] * nSb
R1
SOCm

The current state of charge SOC (t) chosen for unit time (second) is given by:

SOC(t  dt ) SOC(t ) * [1  D * dt / 3600]  nbat * [Vbat * Ibat  R1* Ibat

2
] * dt / 3600 . (9)

To simulate for time unit (minute) the equation can be written as:
(10)
SOC (t  dt ) SOC (t ) *[1  D * dt / 60]  nbat *[Vbat * Ibat  R1* Ibat
2
] * dt / 60

t ª (n *V 1* I bat ) SOC (t  1) * D º
SOC (t ) SOC (t  1)  ³t 1 « bat  » * dt. (11)
¬ 60 * SOCm 60 ¼

It can put: SOC (0) =SOC1= initial state of charge.

 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 147

2.4. The Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT)

The P-V panel characteristic is a non-linear that output power varies in function of the irradiance
and the temperature, there are two ways to increase the power coming from the photovoltaic panel, one
can make a sun tracking system to raise the irradiance on the surface of the panel perpendicularly at each
time , or another way to extract the optimal output power by using a maximum power point tracking
control, the last method is our objective that we propose three MPPT controllers : Perturb & Observe
algorithm ,PID control and fuzzy control .The V-I and V-P characteristic curves (fig.3) specify a unique
operating point at which the maximum possible power is delivered, at the MPP, the PV operates at its
highest efficiency [7].

2.4.1. Perturb and Observe Algorithm

The Perturb & Observe algorithm has been broadly used because of its practical implementation , the
MPP tracker operates by periodically incrementing or decrementing the solar panel voltage, current or
the duty cycle comparing to the PV output power with that of the previous perturbation cycle ,if a given
perturbation leads to increase ( or decrease ) the output power of the PV ,the successive perturbation is
generated in the same ( or opposite ) direction.[ ], on figure 7 , we consider that the maximum power
point (MPP) is Xm, if the operating point Xi is on the left of MPP , we must decrease the duty cycle until
MPP, if the operating point is on the right of the MPP , we augment the duty cycle to MPP [8].

Fig. 6: Flowchart of the Perturb and Observe method

148 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

Fig .7: Implementation MPPT System P&O

80

70

60

50
Power (W)

40

30

20

10

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Time(S)

Fig.8 Power curve according to P&O Controller

2.4.2 Fuzzy logic control

Fuzzy logic control (FLC) is used mainly in control engineering; it is based on approximate
reasoning which employs linguistic rules in the form IF-THEN [ ], Fuzzy logic control is very important
when there is no specific mathematical model or while the process to control has no linearity imprecision,
the regulator based on fuzzy logic can be represented by the following scheme [9]:
 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 149

Table1: Inference Rules combination

CE
NB NS ZE PS PB
E
NB ZE ZE PB PB PB
NS ZE ZE PS PS PS
ZE ZE ZE ZE ZE NS
Fig.9 Fuzzy Logic steps PS NS NS NS ZE ZE
PB NB NB NB ZE ZE

Fig.9: Error Membership

Fig.11: Error variation Membership Fig.10:Error Membership

Fig.12: Output Membership

150 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

Fig.13: PV System controlled by Fuzzy MPPT

1
120
0
100
-1

80
Duty Cycle

-2
Power (W)

60 -3

40 -4

-5
20
-6
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Time(s)
Time(s)

Fig.14: Power from the Boost with Fuzzy MPPT Fig.15: Duty Cycle out Fuzzy MPPT

2.4.3 PID control

Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID ) controller is a robust in wide range of performance that allows
the system to compensate the difference between the set-point and the actual response ,in the process
control industrial, it used to optimize the system performance like the stability , the rapidity and the
precision .the PID tuning can be effected by many methods as Ziegler Nichols technique , the PID
control is not suitable for non-linear system , to exceed this drawback ,it can be exploit the Fuzzy logic
Control (FLC ) for carrying out a MPPT control [10]
 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 151

Fig 16: PID Control System Conception

Fig17:MPPT Photovoltaic System with PID

60
50
40
Power (w)

30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time(s)

Fig.18: Power Plot from the PVG with PID

152 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153

The Fuzzy-PID hybrid control can be implemented as the same way according to another tuning of PID
with fuzzy sets.

Fig.19: PV System controlled by Fuzzy-PID MPPT

Fig.20: Fuzzy-PID MPPT under Mask

60

50

40
Power (W)

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time(s)

Fig.21: Actual Power and Power set-point with Fuzzy-PID controller

 Mhamed Rebhi et al. / Energy Procedia 36 (2013) 142 – 153 153

3. Analysis and Performances of MPPT Controllers

The MPPT control is a technique to track the Maximum Power Point under the influence of the
variation of the radiation and the temperature to feed a storage battery , The proposed power conversion
system was simulated using Matlab-Simulink simulation program to validate the control strategy and
evaluate the performance of the system. According to the four previous configurations, the Perturbation &
Observe control gives the permanent phase after too long time (90 s) as shown in fig.8, which makes
some difficulties for the stability and the precision , otherwise ,the Fuzzy MPPT control provides a
performance to arrive at the stable step during less than 5 s, another word in spite its robustness the PID
control regulates the system but without tracking the Maximum Power Point under the variation the
radiation and the temperature, while the combination between the PID and the Fuzzy logic is necessary to
optimize the output power according to the demanded energy and to seek the MPP at the same time .
The simulations have highlighted on the different techniques and proved that the fuzzy-PID control is the
best method which regulates the Power set-point and the actual Power to improve the efficiency and the
performances as the rapidity, the precision and the stability .

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