A Novel Control Methodology for Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems Utilizing Maximum Power Point Tracking

Abstract

This paper introduces an innovative Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique to extract maximum available power from a Photovoltaic (PV) system irrespective of temperature, solar irradiation and load anomalies. A single-stage DC-DC buck converter that extracts maximum power from the connected PV module and controls the output battery state of charge (SoC) is a key component in achieving this target. The introduced circuit consists of three subsystems: a PV module, a Buck converter and an MPPT plus voltage regulation controller. MPPT is achieved via a novel methodology, not only applies to maximum energy extraction of the PV module but also combined with a feedback optimization of the battery charging and discharging modes. The developed system is geared towards Internet of Things (IoT) based wireless sensor nodes (WSN). In the proposed solution, power harvested from the PV module is combined with the battery power; to guarantee that the connected load receives a full supply of power. To maximize the energy conversion a converter controlled MPPT algorithm-Perturb and Observe (P& O) which considers the non-linear output of the PV is utilized with the aid of the buck converter. The validity of the introduced system is tested using the simulation model in PSIM and the results are presented and discussed.