Contribution on the Combination of Artificial Neural Network and Incremental Conductance Method to MPPT Control Approach

This paper proposes a robust approach to design a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller based on artificial neural networks (ANN). This approach is developed by combining the incremental conductance (IC) method and ANN. The first step presents the MPPT control system using the conventional IC method (MPPT_IC). Then, a second step proposes an algorithm exploiting the IC method to generate the appropriate training data for the ANN. The results show the ability of the ANN controller (MPPT_ANN) to provide the best control performance under various solar irradiance and temperature values. Its effectiveness of tracking has been compared to the traditional MPPT_IC controller. The test results presented show the performance of the proposed MPPT_ANN controller. The study results are simulated and validated by MATLAB/Simulink software.