European J ournal of Scientific Research

ISSN 1450-216X Vol.33 No.3 (2009), pp.515-524

EuroJ ournals Publishing, Inc. 2009
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm

A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power
Generation Systems


Tamer T.N. Khatib
National University of Malaysia, Department of Electrical
Electronic & System Engineering Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: tamer_khat@hotmail.com

Azah Mohamed
National University of Malaysia, Department of Electrical
Electronic & System Engineering Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: azah@eng.ukm.my

Nowshad Amin
National University of Malaysia, Department of Electrical
Electronic & System Engineering Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: nowshad@eng.ukm.my


Abstract

This paper presents a new controller scheme for photovoltaic (PV) power
generation systems. The proposed PV controller scheme controls both the boost converter
and the battery charger by using a microcontroller in order to extract maximum power from
the PV array and control the charging process of the battery. The objective of the paper is
to present a cost effective boost converter design and an improved maximum power point
tracking algorithm for the PV system. A MATLAB based simulation model of the proposed
standalone PV system has been developed to evaluate the feasibility of the system in
ensuring maximum power point operation

1. Introduction
Recently, the installation of PV generation systems is rapidly growing due to concerns related to
environment, global warming, energy security, technology improvements and decreasing costs. PV
generation system is considered as a clean and environmentally-friendly source of energy. The main
applications of PV systems are in either standalone or grid connected configurations. Standalone PV
generation systems are attractive as indispensable electricity source for remote areas [1]. However, PV
generation systems have two major problems which are related to low conversion efficiency of about 9
to 12 % especially in low irradiation conditions and the amount of electric power generated by PV
arrays varies continuously with weather conditions. Therefore, many research works are done to
increase the efficiency of the energy produced from the PV arrays [2]
The solar cell V-I characteristics is nonlinear and varies with irradiation and temperature. But
there is a unique point on the V-I and P-V curves, called as the maximum power point (MPP), at which
at this point the PV system is said to operate with maximum efficiency and produces its maximum
power output. The location of the MPP is not known but can be traced by either through calculation
models or search algorithms. Thus, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are needed to
A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power Generation Systems 516
maintain the PV arrays operating point at its MPP. Many MPPT techniques have been proposed in the
literature in which the techniques vary in many aspects, including simplicity, convergence speed,
hardware implementation and range of effectiveness. However, the most widely used MPPT technique
is the perturbation and observation (P&O) method. This paper presents a simple MPPT algorithm
which can be easily implemented and adopted for low cost PV applications. The objective of this paper
is to design a novel PV controller scheme with improved MPPT method.
The proposed standalone PV controller implementation takes into account mathematical model
of each component as well as actual component specification. The dcdc or boost converter is the
front-end component connected between the PV array and the load. The conventional boost converter
may cause serious reverse recovery problem and increase the rating of all devices. As a result, the
conversion efficiency is degraded and the electromagnetic interference problem becomes severe under
this situation. To increase the conversion efficiency, many modified step-up converter topologies have
been investigated by several researchers. Voltage clamped techniques have been incorporated in the
converter design to overcome the severe reverse-recovery problem of the output diodes [3]. In this
paper, focus is also given in the boost converter design. Another important component in the
standalone PV systems is the charge controller which is used to save the battery from possible damage
due to over-charging and over-discharging. Studies showed that the life time of a battery can be
degraded without using a charge controller..
The proposed new controller scheme for the standalone PV system controls both the boost
converter and the charge controller in two control steps. The first step is to control the boost converter
so as to extract the maximum power point of the PV modules. Here, a high step-up converter is
considered for the purpose of stepping up the PV voltage and consequently reducing the number of
series-connected PV modules and to maintain a constant dc bus voltage. A microcontroller is used for
data acquisition that gets PV module operating current and voltage and is also used to program the
MPPT algorithm. The controller adopts the pulse width modulation (PWM) technique to increase the
duty cycle of the generated pulses as the PV voltage decreases so as to obtain a stable output voltage
and current close to the maximum power point. The second control step is to control the charge
controller for the purpose of protecting the batteries. By controlling the charging current using the
PWM technique and controlling the battery voltage during charging, voltages higher than the gassing
voltage can be avoided.


2. Design of the Proposed Photovoltaic System
Most of the standalone PV systems operate in one mode only such that the PV system charges the
battery which in turns supply power to the load. In this mode of operation, the life cycle time of the
battery may be reduced due to continuous charging and discharging of the battery. The proposed
standalone PV system as shown in terms of a block diagram in Figure 1 is designed to operate in two
modes: PV system supplies power directly to loads and when the radiation goes down and the
produced energy is not enough, the PV system will charge the battery which in turns supply power to
the load. To manage these modes of operation, a controller is connected to the boost converter by
observing the PV output power
517 Tamer T.N. Khatib, Azah Mohamed and Nowshad Amin

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of the proposed PV system



2.1. Boost Converter
A boost converter is a power converter with an output DC voltage greater than its input DC voltage. It
is a class of switching-mode power supply containing at least two semiconductor switches (a diode and
a transistor) and at least one energy storage element. Filters made of capacitors in combination with
inductors are normally added to the output of the converter to reduce output voltage ripple [4]. By
implementing the pulse width modulation technology (PWM) techniques on the boost converter, a
stable output voltage from a non stable input voltage can be obtained by changing the duty cycle of the
switched input pulse. In this paper, an improved boost converter design is presented by modifying the
voltage gain equation which is function of the duty cycle. The voltage gain can be increased by adding
more clamping devises so as to deal with the severe reverse-recovery problem. Figure 2 shows the
circuit diagram of the proposed boost converter consisting of an inductor in the primary side (L),
clamping diodes, D1,D2, capacitor C2 used to form a regenerative circuit to sink the reverse recovery,
high voltage capacitor, C1 and an output filter circuit formed with diode, Do and capacitor, Co.

Figure 2: Boost Converter Design



PSPICE simulation of the converter was done by considering the component values of C1=
1F, C2 =6.8 F, Co =680 F and L=9 H. D1, D2, D0 are Schottky diodes, Q is MOSFET
IRFP2907, frequency, =20 kHz. Figures 2 and 3 show the simulation results in terms of the
converter voltage gain and efficiency which is about 93%, respectively, for the converter driving loads
up to 5 kW
A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power Generation Systems 518
Figure 3: Voltage gain of the boost converter


0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
Duty Cycle
V
lo
a
d
/
V
m
o
d
u
le


Figure 4: Boost converter efficiency



Based on the PSPICE simulation results of the proposed converter as shown in Figure 3, the
voltage gain of the converter which is in the form of a logarithmic curve is obtained as given by,
(1)

2.2. Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm
The maximum power extracted from the PV array depends strongly on three factors: insulation, load
impedance and cell temperature, assuming fixed cell efficiency. When a PV system is directly
connected to the load, the system will operate at the intersection of the I-V curve and load line, which
can be far from the MPP. The MPP production is therefore based on the load-line adjustment under
varying atmospheric conditions. The variation of the output I-V characteristic of a commercial PV
module as a function of temperature and irradiation shows that the temperature changes mainly affect
the output voltage, while the irradiation changes affect the PV output current (Salas 2006).
Nevertheless, PV systems should be designed to operate at their maximum output power levels for any
temperature and solar irradiation levels at all times. Another significant factor which determines the
PV power is the impedance of the load. However, load impedance is not constant. When a PV system
is directly connected to the load, the system will operate at the intersection of I-V curve and load line,
which can be far from the MPP. The MPP production is based on the load-line adjustment under
varying atmospheric conditions. To adapt the load resistance to the PV modules and extract maximum
power from them, the duty cycle is set to its optimal value which corresponds to its optimal operating
point (Vop. Iop), see Figure 5 [5]
519 Tamer T.N. Khatib, Azah Mohamed and Nowshad Amin

Figure 5: PV system operating points with varying loads



In order to draw maximum power from the PV array, usually a DC/DC converter is inserted
between the PV array and the battery. An MPPT controller is also connected to the DC/DC converter
to ensure the operation of the PV array at its MPP by means of implementing an MPPT algorithm. In
MMPT algorithm, when the solar radiation and temperature are varied, each of the MPP corresponds to
only one value of the input resistance of the converter. Thus, as the solar radiation or temperature
changes, the value of input resistance seen by the PV modules will also change so as to locate the new
MPP. This can be achieved by varying the duty cycle which is then used to control the switching mode
of the converter
A simple MPPT algorithm is proposed as shown in Figure 6. Firstly, the load voltage and the
PV voltage are observed. Depending on these two observations, the controller will generate a suitable
duty cycle for the converter. The optimum duty cycle, D can be determined from equation (2) and it is
given by,
(2)

Figure 6: Proposed MPPT algorithm


YES
NO
START
Determine the rated
load voltage
Obtain PV & Load
operating Voltage
V load =V load rated
Calculate D using eq.2


2.3. Charge Controller
Another important element of a stand-alone PV system is the charge controller which is used to control
the voltage and charging current that is applied to the battery in order to protect it from being over
charged and over discharged [6]. Commonly, lead-acid batteries are used because of their wide
A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power Generation Systems 520
availability in many sizes, low cost and well understood performance characteristics [7]. Generally,
battery manufacture refers to four distinct charging stages within a battery charging cycle, namely,
bulk, absorption, equalization and float as shown in Figure 7. However, not all battery chargers have
the four stages. The proposed charger controller uses the PWM charging technique in order to deal
with the gassing voltage problem at the equalization stage.

Figure 7: Stages in battery charging




3. Methodology
For the purpose of estimating the mathematical models developed for the proposed standalone PV
system, simulations were carried in terms of the MATLAB codes. Each PV module considered in the
simulation has a rating of 80 Watt at 1000 W/m
2
, 21.2 V open circuit voltage, 5A short circuit current.
The PV module is connected to a block of batteries with of sizing 60 Ah, 48 V. Figure 8 describes the
algorithm for the new controller scheme of the PV system in terms of a flowchart.
521 Tamer T.N. Khatib, Azah Mohamed and Nowshad Amin

Figure 8: Controller scheme for the PV system


YES
NO
YES
YES
NO
YES
YES
YES
NO
NO
NO
NO
Set the reference test conditions: Isc, Voc, Irradiation, Number of series and parallel cells per
modules, cell temperature, air mass and speed and thearea of the module [(dV/dI)Voc]
Calculate Voc per cell and Isc per cell at the
reference and actual temperatures
Calculate diode current at the reference temperature (Tref)
Calculate the actual diode current
Calculate the output current at Tref
Calculate the actual output current
Calculate the PV modulecurrent
Definethe PV modulevoltageobtained
fromtheoperating irradiation
Set thenumber of series and the parallel modules of the PVarray
Calculate Varray, I array and Parray
Calculate charging voltage (Vcharge) and resistance (Rcharge)
START
V
Bttery
>V
gassing

PWM charging
>9 cycles
>HVD2
No Charging
>HVR
>HVD1
Determine the rated load power
ppowerpowervoltage
Obtain the load operating voltage
V
load
=V
load rated
Calculate D using eqn.2
Parray >= Pload
Load
Calculate discharging
voltage (Vdischarge) and
resistance(Rdischarge)
CalculateVbattery
Calculate the Depth
of charge ( DOD )
>.75
Disconnect the Load
YES
YES
NO
NO

A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power Generation Systems 522
4. Results and Discussion
The simulation results of the standalone PV system using a simple MPPT algorithm and an improved
boost converter design are described in this section. Simulations were carried out for the PV system
operating above 30o C ambient temperature and under different values of irradiation. Figure 9 shows
the PV array I-V characteristic curve at various irradiation values. From the figure, it is observed that
the PV current increase linearly as the irradiation value is increased. However, the PV voltage
increases in logarithmic pattern as the irradiation increases. Figure 10 shows the PV array I-V
characteristic curve at various temperature values. It is noted from the figure that, the PV voltage
decreases as the ambient temperature is increased.

Figure 9: I-V curves at various radiation values


0 5 10 15 20
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
Voltage
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
G =500W/m.m
G =600W/m.m
G =700W/m.m
G =800W/m.m
G =900W/m.m
G =1000W/m.m
Ta =30 C


Figure 10: I-V curves at different temperature values


0 5 10 15 20 25
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
Voltage
C
u
r
r
e
n
t
10C 60C


Figure 11 compares the PV array P-V characteristics obtained from using the proposed MPPT
algorithm and the classical MPPT P&O algorithm. From this figure, it can be seen that by using the
proposed MPPT algorithm, the operating point of PV array is much closer to the MPP compared to the
using the classical P&O algorithm.
523 Tamer T.N. Khatib, Azah Mohamed and Nowshad Amin

Figure 11: Comparing P-V characteristics


0 5 10 15 20
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Voltage
M
o
d
u
l
e

P
o
w
e
r
MPP
MPP by
proposed
method
MPP by
clasical
method


In addition, the proposed boost converter is able to give a stable output voltage as shown in
Figure 12. In terms of PV array current, it can be seen from Figure 13 that the PV current is closer to
the MPP current when using the improved MPPT algorithm. Thus, the track operating point is
improved by using the proposed MPPT algorithm. In terms of efficiency of the standalone PV system
which is calculated by dividing the load power with the maximum power of PV array, it is noted that
the efficiency of the system is better with the proposed MPPT algorithm as compared to using the
classical P&O algorithm as shown in Figure 14.

Figure 12: Boost converter output voltage



Figure 13: Comparing PV currents


A New Controller Scheme for Photovoltaics Power Generation Systems 524
Figure 14: Comparing efficiency of PV system




5. Conclusion
This paper has presented an efficient standalone PV controller by incorporating an improved boost
converter design and a new controller scheme which incorporates both a simple MPPT algorithm and a
battery charging algorithm. The simulation results show that the PV controller using the simple MPPT
algorithm has provided more power and better efficiency (91%) than the classical P&O algorithm. In
addition, the proposed boost converter design gives a better converter efficiency of about 93%. Such a
PV controller design can provide efficient and stable power supply for remote mobile applications.


References
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using Lead Battery and EDLC. Proceedings of the Power Electronics and Motion Control
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Algorithms for Stand-alone Photovoltaic Systems. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells 90:
15551578.
[3] Wai, R. et al. 2007. High-performance stand-alone photovoltaic generation system. IEEE
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[7] Bopp, G., Galber, H., Preiser, D., Sauer, D. U., Schmidt, H., 1998. Energy Storage in
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