Maximum power point tracker r

for a multiple-input Cuk

de-de converter
Sungwoo Bae 1 and Alexis Kwasinski
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Eng., The University of Texas at Austin, USA
'F-mail: sbae@mail.utexas.edu

Abstract - Photovoltaic modules require a maximum power

point tracker in order to achieve maximum conversion efficiency
when the maximum power point changes based on solar
irradiance, tem perature, cells age, and other factors. The need to
track the maximum power point while combining multiple-input
sources has stimulated research on maximum power point
trackers for multiple input de-de converters. When compared to
prior work, a multiple-input Cuk de-de converter seems to be an
adequate choice when combining PV modules with alternative
energy sources, such as fuel cells, because it provides current
source interface and is capable of stepping up and down input
voltages. This paper proposes a multiple-input Cuk de-de
converter topology. Ripple correlation control is used to find the
maximum power point of a photovoltaic array.
II. MULTIPLE-INPUT CUK DC-DC CONVERTER
Fig. 1 shows the proposed MI Cuk de-de converter
topology which has advantages when compared to previous
MI buck-boost converters [8-11]: continuous input current and
high flexibility [12, 13]. The proposed MI Cuk de-de
converter provides nearly continuous input current waveforms
because each input leg has a current-source interface. Hence,
the proposed converter provides more operational flexibility
than those other similar topologies because it allows the
integration of input sources that require a relatively constant
current, such as fuel cells [14].

I. INTRODUCTION

A multiple-input (MI) converter allows a variety of energy

sources to combine their inputs using a single common
converter. Future distributed generation-based power systems
may require combining input sources using MI converters, I

which increases systems' flexibility as hybrid systems "'KJut

integrating different renewable and alternative energy sources, •
such as wind turbines and photovoltaics (PV), become more
common. An MI converter has advantages over a combination Fig. 1. Proposed MI Cuk de-de converter
of single-input converters in terms of reduced components,
compactness and centralized control [1].
Photovoltaic modules require a maximum power point
tracker in order to achieve maximum conversion efficiency
when the maximum power point changes based on solar
irradiance, temperature, cells age, and other factors. In
addition, PV systems may typically need another source to
compensate incident energy variations. The need to track the
MPP while combining multiple-input sources has stimulated
research on MPP trackers for MI de-de converters [2-4]. In Fig. 2. Switching strategy
comparison to prior work, an MI Cuk de-de converter seems
to be an adequate choice when combining PV modules with
alternative energy sources, such as fuel cells, because it A. Formulae for Steady-State Operation
provides current source interface and is capable of stepping up in Continuous Conduction Mode
and down input voltages.
Assume all gate control signals whose initial edges are
This paper proposes an MI Cuk de-de converter topology
synchronized at a fix switching frequency as shown in Fig. 2
with nearly continuous input current waveforms and high
[9]. A capacitor in each input cell transfers the energy between
flexibility; and investigates an MPP tracker for an MI Cuk
an input and an output; consequently, the charges delivered to
converter using ripple correlation control (RCC) [4-7]. RCC is
a transfer capacitor through an input inductor are equal to the
chosen because of its good performance and simplicity.
charges dissipated through a sharing output inductor [12]. where D 1 is the duty cycle for the leg with an alternative
Thus, the following equation is obtained at node A of the source ~nl; and D 2 is the switching corresponding to the leg
common output stage (Fig. 1). with a PV source ~n2. It is assumed that ~n] > ~n2.
N The average input currents and input powers for each leg
lin (i) (1- Deff(i») = (L lin(J) + lout )Deff(i) (1) are as follows:
j r-i

The average input current for a generic leg, Ln(i), can be D1

lin 1 = - - l o u t (10)
obtained by solving the N equations derived from (1): I-Dz
I = Deff(i) Deff(i) I D Zeff
in (i) 1- "'D
L..J
. lout
eff(j)
= 1- m~x(D.) 1
out (2) I inZ =--1 t
1- o, au
(11 )
j 1

If ideal lossless components are assumed, the average

output voltage can be obtained from the energy conversion ~nl = Yinl
T,T [ Dl~ut ) (12)
Dl~nl + Deffz~nl
rule (L ~n(i)Iin(i) = ~utlout) •
N
~nZ = ~nZ [
Deffz~ut )
(13)
V
L Deff(i)~n(i)_
= _i=_1 D 1~nl + D eff z ~nl
(3)
out 1- m~x(Di) where Ln] and Pin] are the average input current and the input
1

where De.r{(i) is the effective duty cycle of each input cell, i.e. power of an alternative source ~nl; Ln2 and P in2 are the average
the effective time in which switch (i) is conducting current [9]. input current and the input power for the leg with a PV source
As assumed in [9], if the voltage indices are arbitrarily ordered ~n2 respectively.

such that V]> V2> ... > VN , then

i-I C. Alternative Operational Modes
o , D i <L Deff(J)
j=1 The proposed MI Cuk de-de converter can be used in a
Deff(i) = i-I i-I
(4)
bidirectional operation mode because a Cuk converter is
D i - L Deff(i)
j=1
,Di ~ L Deff(J)
j=1 completely symmetrical with respect to the input and output
The output voltage ripple is terminals [12]. Thus, the proposed MI Cuk de-de converter

Av
a _
J:z (1- m~x(Di))
1 _
n? (1- m~x(Di)) 1
(f JZ
c (5)
can be operated in bidirectional mode if the diode D in the
common output stage is replaced with a switch and the
Va 8LC 2 Is appropriate control signals are applied to each switch.
The output voltage ripple can be minimized if the comer
frequency fc of the output filter is made significantly smaller
III. CONTROL
than the switching frequency Is [15].
The power supplied by each input is obtained from the
A. Overall Control Scheme
product of the average input current given in (2) and the input
voltage ~n(i): Fig. 3 depicts the overall control scheme in the proposed
MI Cuk converter. To regulate the output voltage and
p V[
Deff(i)
inU) = Inri) I-m~(Di)
I)
out
(6)
supplement the required load power, a proportional integral
controller is used in input leg # 1. It is assumed that the PV
module is connected to input leg #2. In some cases, a PV array
If the output power P out= Vourlour is plugged into (6), each is not able to reach the MPP with this control in MI converters
input power is given by strategy because D2e.r{ cannot be controlled in a fully
independent way.

~n(i) = ~n(i) (7) Voutrej

Alternative
source Vin l
B. Formulae for a maximum power point tracker
If a two input case is considered for simplicity, the steady
state output voltage for continuous conduction mode and ideal
components is given by

V =
»r: +Dzeff~nz (8)
Fig. 3. Overall control scheme

out 1- o,
D Zeff = o,- D 1 (9)
B. Ripple Correlation Control
The switching action of the power converter attached to a
PV array produces voltage and current ripple on the PV array.
Hence, the PV array's power has also ripple due to the
switching action. Ripple correlation control (RCC) uses
information contained in the current and voltage ripple of the
converter to track the PV array's MPP [3, 5-7].
According to [7], the time derivative of the time-varying
PV array power p is correlated with the time derivative of the
time-varying PV array current i or voltage ~. As indicated in
Fig. 4, if v or i is increasing (~> 0 or i> 0) and p is increasing
(p > 0), then the operating point is below the MPP (V < VMPP
or I < I MPp ) . On the other hand, if v or i is increasing ( ~ > 0 or
i> 0) and p is decreasing (p < 0), the operating point is
above the MPP (V> VMPP or I> I MPp ) . Thus, RCC tracks the PV
array's MPP based on the fact that p~ or is positive
below the MPP, negative above the MPP, and zero at the MPP.
From (8) and (11), the increase on the effective duty cycle
D2e.ff of the input leg #2 also increases the average input current,
but reduces the average input voltage. Hence, increasing the
effective duty cycle d2e.g(t) increases iin2(t), but decrease Vi1l2(t).
Therefore, the effective duty cycle for the converter, which the
RCC system is controlling, is given by
d
2eff
(t) = -kJp'in2 vin2 dt
or
d 2ejf(t) = kfp: n2
ii~2 dt
where k is a positive constant. Equation (14), rather than (15),
was chosen to implement the RCC controller because the
input filter capacitor on the terminals of the PV array causes a
phase shift in the current ripple at high switching frequency
[3].
P but the D 1 and D 2 were adjusted at 0.25 and 0.5. The input
PM PP - - - - - - - - - - - -
v M PP or IM PP
Fig. 4. PV array's P-V and P-I characteristic curves
IV. RESULTS
A. Experimental Results
for Validating the Proposed Circuit Topology
A two-input Cuk de-de converter operating in continuous
conduction mode was investigated without loss of generality
and for simplicity. Each input inductance was 402.1 flH (45
mfz). The common output inductance was 300.2 ul-l (31 mfz),
These inductors were realized with Micrometals [16] T300D-
26 cores. The series capacitors in each input were high-
frequency, 50-V, 33-flF electrolytic capacitors. The output
capacitor was a 250- V, 1500-flF electrolytic capacitor. The
MOSFETs were 100-V, 31-A Fairchild IRFP140A and the
diodes were Fairchild FESI6DT. The switching frequency
was fixed at 50 kHz.
Fig. 5 shows the ideal and measured output voltages in
continuous conduction mode. The output voltages were
measured when the D 2 was fixed at 0.5 and the D 1 was varied.
The input voltage of source 1 was 10 V, while the input
voltage of source 2 was 5 V. In Fig. 5, the measured and
calculated data show the same trends. Diodes and series
capacitors losses may be the main contributors to the
differences in results.
pi
14.00
12.00
E 10.00
~
OJ)
~ 8.00
;,
1 6.00
o-=
(14) 4.00
2.00
(15)
0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7
D1
Fig. 5. Output voltage in CCM (D} varied while D 2=O.5)
Fig. 6 shows input current waveforms in continuous
conduction mode. The input voltages were applied as in Fig. 5,
current waveforms (Ch3, Ch4), corresponding to each of the
-
inputs (10V, 5V), can be seen with the switching functions
(ChI, Ch2) in Fig. 6. Each input current waveform is
continuous as expected. Fig. 7 shows the shared inductor
current (Ch2), the input currents (Ch3, Ch4) and the output
voltage (ChI) at the same condition of Fig. 6. In Fig. 7, the
two different increasing slopes in each current (Ch2, Ch3, and
Ch4) reflect the influence of each dissimilar input source (10
V, 5V) during its effective duty cycle.
V or I
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6.0 -------------~-----____ ;' /\ 80
5.4 PV array curre~~ '. , 72
", -"'\11 ~

<4.8 ./ \\ 64-<
~4.2 \\
\\ 56~
~
Cl.)

Mean
CH3 ~3.6 ,,/~ \\ 48"S-
326mA ~3.0 PV oytput pow-er \\, 40-g
~
cd
~2.4 \\ 32
\\ ~
>1.8
~
\, 2 4 :E
1.2 \;'1, 16~
MATH Oft '1;1

None 0.6 ~8
WI 5.00»s 0.00 0
CH3+'OOmA 10-Jan-m 07:35 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
PV array voltage [V]
Fig. 6. Input currents and switching functions (qI,q::) Fig. 8. I-V and P-V characteristics for the simulated PV circuit model

MEAStH PV+

0.463 0
14.40

CH3
Mean 13.60 200
327mA 6.5A t

PV -
:~ ~~~. M5.00..us
if:ll.!ll',I, Ext r 2.38V
CH3+1()()rnA CH~ .. 100mA lo-Jan-GS 07:51 SO,647tti1l Fig. 9. PV's circuit based model

Fig. 7. Current and output voltage waveforms

B. Simulated Photovoltaic Circuit Model
for a Maximum Power Point Tracker
The I-V characteristic of a PV array is non-linear. Several
models have been proposed for modeling PV arrays in the
literature. For the simulation, a circuit-based model was
chosen in this paper that uses a current source with three
diodes and bypass resistors connected in series [17].
Fig. 8 shows I-V and P-V characteristics of the simulated
PV circuit based model in Fig. 9. One can see that the
maximum power for this PV model is about 82 Watts. As the
voltage of the PV terminal increases, the current always
decreases in this model. This means that there are no local
maximum power points, so the MPPT in this paper should be
able to find the only true global maximum power point (MPP).
This paper will not consider the somewhat rare problem of
local maximum power points. The PV I-V curves in Fig. 8 are
only valid for one particular state of a PV cell or array. For
example, if the solar irradiance decreases, the whole I-V curve
will shift down. In the circuit model simulation, it is assumed
that the I-V characteristics stay constant throughout the
operation.
C. Simulation Results for a Maximum Power Point Tracker
The same two-input Cuk de-de converter investigated in
the previous experimental section was used to simulate a
maximum power point tracker. The switching frequency was
fixed at 20 kHz. To supplement the required load power, a 30-
V de voltage source was used in input leg # 1 with a
proportional integral controller. The PV array whose
characteristics are shown in Fig. 9 was connected to input leg
#2. The output reference voltage was set to 24 Volts.
Fig. 10 shows the inputs and output of the RCC block
during the simulation. As indicated in Fig. 10, RCC block
output (d2eff) is increasing while PV output power (Pin::) is
increasing and PV panel voltage (~n::) is decreasing. Thus, the
operating point of a PV array is moving toward the MPP
based on (14). After the transient response, RCC block output
(d 2eff) is settled at 0.13 and the PV array is operated at the
MPP (82 Watts).
 sources, such as fuel cells, because it provides current source
interface and is capable of stepping up and down input
voltages.

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:;s -221Ii,' \--- Output voltage (VOlt!)
-24 ~~'---~"'~~~~-----~~-~~----'-'--'-'---.-"'---.-.--
-26 0 4 8 12 16 ao 24
Simulation time [ms]
Fig. 11. MI CUk output voltage and PV output power (Pin::)
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A steady-state analysis of the MI Cuk de-de converter
topology was investigated for renewable and alternative power
conversion systems. The analysis was based on continuous
conduction mode and ideal components. Experimental results
were presented for a two-input case to validate the circuit
topology.
A maximum power point tracking method based on ripple
correlation control was presented for an MI Cuk converter
with a photovoltaic input (Pin::). A de power source (P inJ) was
used in input leg # 1 with a proportional integral controller to
regulate the output voltage and to supplement the required
load power. Compared to previous MI buck-boost converters,
the proposed MI Cuk converter seems to be an adequate
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