2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

Real-time and grid-connected control of PV power system

GUO XiaoYun, CHEN JinMei, LIU QiHui
North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China;

Abstract: This paper analyzes the equivalent model of photovoltaic cells and then discusses the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells. Using the RTDS (Real Time Digital Simulator) to build a real-time simulation system of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation that includes three-phase grid-connected PV systems, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods for PV arrays, grid-connected control of PV system, inverter control and filter design methods. This model achieves the maximum power tracking by the method of the photovoltaic cells self-optimization perturbation and observation based on the buck circuit. According to the control target of three-phase PWM inverter designing a amplitude and phase control system which makes the network systems realize separately control the active power output and reactive power output, in the meanwhile the DC bus voltage can be limited at the reference value. The simulation results show that the system cannot only track the maximum power point of photovoltaic cells quickly, accurately and effectively, it can realize the stability control of the DC bus voltage. Further, fit out the maximum power curves at different environmental changes (include the Ambient temperature and Illumination intensity) to verify the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells; enhance the grid-connected PV system applications generally.

Keywords: PV grid-connected, MPPT, BUCK control, amplitude and phase control, perturbation and observation

1 Introduction
In modern society, all countries of the world competed developing green renewable energy, the solar with its unique advantages such as inexhaustible, clean, no pollution, no regional limits and so on, becomes the focus of attentions. It has widely used in power generation, water supplying, heating and satellite energy etc, transforms the entire nation into a low-carbon society. Due to the important status of solar power in the global power energy system, as photovoltaic cell components price spiraling lower and photovoltaic technology development, solar resource has the potential to be the main alternative energy source to replace traditional ones in the future. Control of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation system is a comprehensive and coordinated process, which involves the cooperation between equivalent model of photovoltaic cells, system optimization, tracking control, DC/DC transform and grid-connected inverter technology orderly. Targeted control of grid-connected photovoltaic power generation system: Ref. [1] proposed a control strategy which based on maximum power point tracking and combine the three-phase PV grid voltage-controlled to maintain the system voltage stability; Ref. [2] according to

the three-phase bridge circuit theory, design a three-phase grid-connected PV system control. Ref. [3] combined the PV grid-connected control and reactive power compensation control into one, constitute a PV grid power conditioning system to improve power quality and reduce power loss. Targeted real-time problem simulation of traditional photovoltaic power generation system, A real-time grid-connected photovoltaic power generation simulation system is built based on RTDS, qualitative analysis of the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells, and add the maximum power tracking control algorithm based on BUCK circuit in the simulation system which can realize the photovoltaic power generation system maximum power tracking. Using amplitude and phase of three-phase inverter control achieve the PQ decoupled, it not only stabilizing the DC bus voltage, also verified the output characteristics of photovoltaic power generation system by simulation and fitting.

2 System Description
Photovoltaic power generation system is a new electricity generating system that directly converted solar photovoltaic effect of radiation into electric. A basic set of photovoltaic power generation systems typically include photovoltaic cells, MPPT controllers, inverters and grid, which is shown
APAP2011 www.apap2011.org

*Guo XiaoYun (email: ycxiaoyun@yahoo.com.cn)

___________________________________ 978-1-4244-9621-1/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE



2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Structure of photovoltaic power generation system

Taking into account the requirements of engineering precision, Figure 2 shows a practical equivalent circuit of a single model of photovoltaic cells, it is described as a constant current source which current is Iph paralleled with a positive diode. In this figure the Rs is series resistance which ideal situation is 0; Rsh is the shunt resistor which ideal situation is infinite. In the actual, the Rs is hoped as small as possible and Rsh as large as possible.
RS

I ph

ID

Ir Rsh

Figure 2

Single model equivalent circuit of photovoltaic cell

According to the equivalent diagram, photovoltaic cells V-I characteristics of a single equation can be calculated.
I I ph  I D  I r

VBattery terminal voltage; IphPhotocurrent; SLight intensity(W/m2); TBattery temperature(K); IDDiode reverse current; RSSeries resistance (RS=0.0419) RshShunt resistor (Rsh=2000) CTTemperature compensation coefficient (1.6mA/K) EgBandgap voltage(1.13eV); KBoltzmann constant (1.38e-23)J/K); qElectronic energy(1.6*10-19C); CDTemperature coefficient(CD=10.0); AP-N junction coefficient of semiconductor device in photovoltaic cells (A=1.11); IscShort-circuit current when S=1000W/m2, T=Tref (Isc=3A); As can be obtained from the above equation, the output current of solar photovoltaic has a close relationship with light intensity S and cells temperature T that is a kind of nonlinear function; it is obviously that the battery output power P with S and T also exist such nonlinear relationships. Figure 3(a), (b) are the I-V and P-V characteristic curve which at the same cell temperature but different light intensity conditions. Figure 4 (a), (b) are the I-V and P-V characteristic curve which at the same light intensity but different cell temperature conditions (Where the battery temperature and ambient temperature is approximately the relationship: T=Tair+0.035), and the current-axis corresponds means the battery short-circuit current Isc, the intersection with the voltage axis means the battery open circuit voltage.
1kW / m 2 1kW / m 2

(1)

0.75kW / m

0.75kW / m 2
0.5kW / m 2

0.5kW / m 2

I ph

S I sc u  CT u (T  Tref ) 1000
q (V  IRs ) I o e AKT  1

(2)

In the formula:
ID

(3)

Figure 3

I-V and P-V characteristic curves at the same cell temperature and different light conditions

Io

CDT e

qEg AKT

(4) (5)

Ir

V  IRs Rsh

Calculated
I I sc u S  CT u (T  Tref ) 1000 qE g q (V  IRs ) V  IRs   CDT 3 e AKT e AkT  1  Rsh

(6)

In the formula: ILoad current;

According to Figure 3 (a), (b), in a certain battery temperature and different light intensity circumstances, the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells has the following characteristics: 1) Output short-circuits current linearly increased followed light intensity increases. 2) In Figure 3 (a), before A point the output current is approximately think as the short-circuit current of photovoltaic cells, showing a constant current state; and when the voltage exceeds the A point, the output current decreased rapidly, showing a constant voltage state. 3) The maximum power alters with light intensity(S), the greater the light intensity the maximum power point higher to move up, rising trend is shown as red in Figure 3 (b).



2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

0qC
25qC 50qC
0qC

MPPT algorithm, compared with the actual value through the PI regulator to get the control signal of power management of BUCK circuit, control strategy of power management is shown below.

25qC 50qC

Figure 4

I-V and P-V characteristic curves at the same light and different cell temperature conditions

Figure 6

BUCK circuit control strategy

According to Figure 4 (a), (b), in a certain light intensity but different battery temperature, the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells has the following characteristics: 1) The temperature has little effect on the output short-circuit current of photovoltaic cells, when the temperature rise the output short circuit current increased slightly. 2) The maximum power output point of the battery rises while the temperature falls which shown in Figure 4 (b) in red.

3 MPPT control
Figure 5 shows the BUCK power converter topology. The circuit can simulate any light intensity, temperature and load conditions on the electrical performance of photovoltaic cells. BUCK converter in the power tube control by the V-I characteristic curve of photovoltaic cells, the control strategy as shown in Figure 6 the LC filter design parameters are as follows:

There are many MPPT algorithms such as the incremental conductance method, neural networks, curves fitting, and the perturbation and observation method. The essence of strategy is a dynamic self-optimizing process which detecting the real-time of the output power of photovoltaic cells through some control strategy, using a certain control algorithm predicts the largest photovoltaic power output may be at a certain situation, by changing the duty cycle of the power tube to meet the maximum power output requirements. In this paper, solving the maximum power point current and voltage by using perturbation and observation method (P & O) which flow shown in Figure 7. The process is as follows: preliminary design a photovoltaic cell operating voltage firstly. Then periodic disturbance output voltage of the PV cells by adjusting the duty cycle of the power tube to, for example to increase it, then compare the former and the later output power of the PV, if output power increase, then dP/dV> 0 which demonstrate that the photovoltaic cells work at the left of maximum power point and should be maintained in the next cycle increasing the output voltage of photovoltaic cells; on the other hand, if the output power decreases that is dP/dV <0, shows that the battery is working on the right side of the maximum power point, what means the current perturbations will make the operating point away from the direction of maximum power point. Though, we should change the direction of disturbance so that the output of photovoltaic cells voltage decreases. Repeated adjusting, approaching the operating point of PV maximum power point finally.

Figure 5

BUCK circuit

G Ts L t I VCAP (1  G ) lim 2 T C t s (1  G ) ( Vo ) 'Vo 8L

(7)

Where is the duty cycle of BUCK circuit, VCAP is the input voltage, TS is the switching cycle, Ilim is the minimum current of BUCK circuit between the continuous and discontinuous current mode, Vo is the output voltage, Vo is the maximum output voltage variation allowed. Sampling of VCAP and ICAP then calculate the optimal input voltage by



2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

I AC LAC uPWM u AC

u AC
I AC

uL

uPWM
Figure 9 Single-phase equivalent circuit and vector graphics of the inverter

Figure 7

Flow program of perturbation and observation method

4 Convert control
The main circuit of three-phase PWM inverter is shown in Figure 8, constituted by three phase inverter, series reactors and DC link capacitance. Its output directly connected to the grid and the input connected MPPT controller of photovoltaic systems. There are direct current control and indirect current control methods, the former need to detect the AC side current. Through the current regulator to keep the actual value of AC current followed the reference value in order to control the power factor; the latter control the reactive power and active power system by controlling the voltage amplitude and the phase deviation with the supply voltage at the AC side, what called the amplitude and phase control.

Figure 9 shows the single-phase equivalent circuit and phase diagram of three-phase PWM inverter. The resistance is small that can be neglected. The amplitude and phase control get the carrier voltage signal by controlling the amplitude of PWM and the angle that lag the power grid voltage u AC, indirect control the inverter current. Further reckoned get that the inverter reactive power changes influence the AC inverter output voltage amplitude, and the power inverter active power determines the change of the angle . Based on this, it can be referred Phase and Amplitude Control as a PQ decoupling control. To meet the control objectives, according the proportional relationship between the active power and the DC bus voltage of system, we take the DC bus voltage as the reference value of PI regulator which control the modulating wave voltage angle, take the value of reactive power as the reference value of PI regulator which control the modulating wave voltage amplitude. The control strategy is in Figure 10.

Figure 10

Inverter Control Strategy

5 Simulation results
Table 1 and Table 2 are photovoltaic cells parameters and filter parameters in the real-time simulation system based on RTDS
Table.1 Figure 8 Three-phase inverter Parameters Open circuit voltage Voc Solar cell parameters Value 21.7V 3.35A 17.4V 3.05A 36 1 25 C 1000 W/m2

There are two control objectives of three-phase PWM inverter: one is transfer energy at the maximum power factor; another is to control the DC bus voltage stably. The control strategy goal is to generate the required modulated wave signal for PWM signal, thus can directly take modulate wave signal amplitude and phase as the control objectives, utilize it generated the control signal what needed.

Short-circuit current Isc Maximum power point voltage Maximum power point current Serial Number Parallel Number Reference temperature Reference light intensity



2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

Table.2 P & Q parameters and the LC filter parameters Value 5ms 10V 0.001H 0.08F

Parameters Sampling cycle Voltage step L C

As Figure 11 shows, the fitting result is similar to the curve of maximum power in Figure 3(b), verify the PV curve that the maximum power increased as the light intensity S enhanced.
Table. 3 Circumstance T=25/S=400 T=25/S=600 T=25/S=800 T=25/S=1000 T=25/S=1200 T=25/S=1400 The maximum battery power at different light intensity Battery voltage (kV) 0.770 0.800 0.830 0.835 0.840 0.843 Maximum power(W) 19.82 30.93 41.70 52.20 63.50 74.58

enlarged curves of VCAP and Vref to verify the effectiveness of perturbation and observation method (P & O), the simulation voltage step is 10V. Figure 17 shows the DC bus voltage curve, verified that amplitude and phase inverter control could stabilize the DC bus voltage. Above simulate results demonstrate that the system's maximum power increases with the light intensity once again. Simulation: Light intensity S step changed from 1000W/m2 to 1200W/m2.

Figure 12

Light intensity and battery temperature

0.08 0.07 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.74 0.76 0.78 0.8

P-V POWER

Figure 13

PV active power

0.82

0.84

0.86

Figure 11

T = 25

C, the fitting curve of PV when light intensity changes Figure 14 PV output power

Table 3 shows the maximum power output of PV cells under different light intensities. Fitting according to the Table 3, Figure 12 to Figure 17 shows the amounts change when the battery temperature T= 25 C, light intensity S make a step change vary from 1000W/m2 to 1200W/m2. Figure 13 shows the maximum active power output of PV cells. The results show that the system can quickly adjust the maximum power output as the light intensity step changed. Figure 14 shows the entire output power curve of PV system, in which active and reactive power appears small fluctuations as light intensity step changed. Figure 15 shows the reference voltage Vref and actual voltage VCAP get by MPPT algorithm in real-time calculation, the results showed that perturbation and observation method (P & O) can quickly get the right reference voltage Vref which corresponding to the maximum power of the PV cells under different environmental conditions, then through the PI regulator get the actual voltage. Figure 16 shows the

Figure 15

The reference voltage Vref get by MPPT algorithm and the actual voltage VCAP



2011The International Conference on Advanced Power System Automation and Protection

trol. Simulation results show that the system can track the photovoltaic cells quickly, accurately and effectively, also realize the stability of the DC bus voltage control. The maximum power curve fitted at different environmental changes verified the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells. Enhance the overall applications of grid-connected PV system.
Figure 16 Magnified of Vref and VCAP 1 Chen J M, Chen L. Solar photovoltaic maximum power point indirectly tracking algorithm. Water Power Resources and science, 2010, 28(1):148-150 Chen J M, Chen L. Photovoltaic maximum power tracking method. Science Technology and Engineering, 2009, l9(17):4940-4945 Wang X L, Zhang H, LI Z H. Analysis and improvement of maximum power point tracking for PV system. Journal of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, 2010, 18(6):47-50 Zhao Z M, Liu J Z, Sun X Y. Solar photovoltaic power generation and application. Sciences Press, 2010, 18(6):47-50 Zhao Z M, Liu J Z, Sun X Y. Research on MPPT control algorithm based on numerical method for PV generation systems. Electric Power Science and Engineering, 2009, 25(7):1-5 Zhang L, Sun K, Feng L L, Wu T J, Xing Y, Ge H J.A Modular Grid-Connected Photovoltaic Generation System. Proceedings of the CSEE,2011,31(1):26-31 Chen S Y, Bao H, Wu C Y, et al. Direct grid-tie power control method for distributed photovoltaic generation. Proceedings of the CSEE, 2011, 31(10):6-10 Jiao Y, Song Q, Liu W H. Practical simulation model of photovoltaic cells in photovoltaic generation system and simulation. Power System Technology, 2011, 34(11):198-202 Dou W, Xu Z G, Peng Y C, et al. Current controller optimum design for three-phase photovoltaic grid-connected inverter. Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society, 2010, 25(8):85-90 Zhang C, He X N, Zhao D A. Research on variable perturb step MPPT control of photovoltaic system. Power Electronics, 2009, 43(10):47-49

2 3

4 5 Figure 17 DC bus voltage fluctuation 6

Conclusion
7 8

This paper analyzes the equivalent model of photovoltaic cells and studies the output characteristics of photovoltaic cells. Based on the RTDS (Real Time Digital Simulation) built a model that realizes the real-time maximum power tracking control MPPT by using the system P & O perturbation and observation method. According to the structure of photovoltaic grid-connected systems, adopting the amplitude and phase control to achieve DC bus voltage stable control, improved the system power factor by the PQ decoupled method, as a whole reached the MPPT-voltage con-

10