Maximum power point tracking using improved perturb an observe technique stand-alone photovoltaic system

• Main Author: Dolah, Asban
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/107055/1/AsbanDolahPFTIR2021.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/107055/; http://dms.library.utm.my:8080/vital/access/manager/Repository/vital:156411?site_name=GlobalView&query=20240319-121220&queryType=vitalDismax
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Solar photovoltaic systems for off-grid power applications are widely used in rural lighting, telecommunication base stations, and remote monitoring among others. The base stations or remote antenna units (RAU) of the fibre-wireless (FiWi) system are deployed in remote or blind-spot urban areas where grid connected power supplies are unavailable. Therefore, the use of a stand-alone photovoltaic system is required. The different power output of photovoltaic cells due to weather conditions in Malaysia can cause severe problems in power efficiency and performance of solar power system. The Perturbation and Observation (P&O) method is a power-detection tracking technology that enables the DC-DC converter to work at Maximum Power Point (MPP). The main objective of the research is to improve the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm by improving P&O with variable step size for the buck converter to reach MPPT faster and more efficiently. The objective of the hardware section is to design and fabricate a DC-DC converter with a variable step size for use in the MPPT algorithm. In monitoring the performance of the DC-DC converter, measuring the output voltage that is close to its reference value should provide excellent accuracy of the converter. The proposed MPPT algorithm and DCDC converter have been validated through simulations and experiments. The simulation and modelling of the photovoltaic cell have been conducted using MATLAB/Simulink®. The proposed models have been employed to predict the behaviour of the photovoltaic cell under different physical and environmental parameters. Based on the simulation results, the proposed method effectively reduces oscillations and simultaneously maintains sufficient tracking capability. The results also indicate that it is able to regulate MPPT, reduces oscillations, maintains the output voltage of the DC-DC converter at a constant state and provides better accuracy performance under rapid solar irradiance changes. The speed detected for MPPT is approximately 0.12 seconds. On average, the accuracy of power of the proposed method is substantially 98 per cent.