A 0.18 µm CMOS on-chip integrated distributed MPPT (DMPPT) controller for cell-level photovoltaic solar systems

This paper proposes an on-chip integrated power management system with a Distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking (DMPPT) controller for photovoltaic (PV) cells to enhance energy extraction efficiency in partial shading and inhomogeneous conditions.

Each PV cell is allocated a single MPPT unit to achieve localized power maximization and loss reduction in contrast to centralized tracking systems. The proposed DMPPT controller is realized in 0.18 µm CMOS and integrates Ripple Correlation Control (RCC) and a synchronous boost converter for efficient cell-level tracking. Cadence Virtuoso simulations were carried out using a single-diode PV model at irradiance values from 100 W/m² to 1200 W/m² and a constant temperature of 25°C. The converter runs with a 100 kHz switching frequency, achieving 92 % peak efficiency and stable voltage regulation.

The suggested scheme achieves a mean output voltage of 12.3 V, 986.6 mA of current, and offers nearly twice the normalized power compared to centralized MPPT techniques under partial shading. The chip occupies an area of approximately 1.73 mm². The results verify the engineering feasibility and high efficiency of cell-level Distributed MPPT (DMPPT) for maximizing energy output and operational reliability of photovoltaic systems under non-uniform irradiance.