International Conference on Electrical, Control and Computer Engineering

Pahang, Malaysia, June 21-22, 2011

A Voltage Controller in Photo-Voltaic System

without Battery Storage for Stand-Alone Applications
S.Senthil Kumar

Ganesh Dharmireddy

P.Raja

S.Moorthi*

Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
Tamil Nadu, India
(* Corresponding author: srimoorthi@nitt.edu)
power point tracking (MPPT), such as the constant voltage
tracking (CVT), the incremental conductance (INC) method,
the perturb-and-observe (P&O or hill-climbing) method, and so
on. At last, these algorithms modify the actual voltage in order
to increase the power output.

Abstract The paper proposes the new voltage controller in

photo-voltaic system for Stand-Alone Applications without
battery energy storage. The output of the PV array is
unregulated DC supply due to change in weather conditions. The
maximum power is tracked with respect to temperature and
irradiance levels by using DC-DC converter. The perturbation
and observes algorithm is applied for maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) purpose. This algorithm is selected due to its
ability to withstand against any parameter variation and having
high efficiency. The output of DC-DC converter is converted to
AC voltage by using inverter. The AC output voltage and
frequency are regulated. A closed loop voltage control for
inverter is done by using unipolar sine wave pulse width
modulation (SPWM). The regulated AC voltage is fed to AC
standalone loads or grid integration. The overall system is
designed, developed and validated by using MATLABSIMULINK. The simulation results demonstrate the effective
working of MPPT algorithm and voltage controller with SPWM
technique for inverter in AC standalone load applications.

Perturbation and Observation (P&O) method has a simple

feedback structure and fewer measured parameters. It operates
by periodically perturbing (i.e. incrementing or decreasing) the
array terminal voltage and comparing the PV output power
with that of the previous perturbation cycle. If the perturbation
leads to an increase (decrease) in array power, the subsequent
perturbation is made in the same (opposite) direction. In this
manner, the peak power tracker continuously seeks the peak
power condition. MPP is tracked by using DC-DC converters.
Much attention has been given to the single ended primary
inductor converter (SEPIC) topology recently because output
voltage may be either higher or lower than input voltage .The
output is also not inverted as is the case in a fly back or Cuk
topology. The input and output voltages are DC isolated by a
coupling capacitor and the converter works with constant
frequency PWM.

Keywords SEPIC, Photo-voltaic systems, Perturbation and

observe, MPPT, Inverter

I.

INTRODUCTION

The natural resources, which have been used for power

generation, are dwindling fast and the energy became very
expensive. So the entire world is looking for another option to
generate electrical energy. Among various renewable energy
systems, photovoltaic power generation systems (PV systems)
are expected to play an important role as a clean electricity
power source in meeting future electricity demands. Photo
voltaic systems are used in many applications such as solar
heaters, water pumping, battery charging, power supply to
home, swimming-pool heating systems etc.

Inverters are static power converters that produce an ac

output waveform from a dc power supply. The dc power from
SEPIC is fed to inverter to get ac output power. For sinusoidal
ac outputs, the magnitude and frequency should be
controllable. This is done by comparing a sinusoidal wave of
the same frequency as inverter output against triangular carrier
frequency wave. This technique called sinusoidal pulse width
modulation (SPWM) mainly used because of its simplicity and
ease of implementation. The output voltage magnitude is
controlled by closed loop control system using PI controller.

Due to the nonlinear relationship between the current and

the voltage of the photovoltaic cell, it can be observed that
there is a unique maximum power point (MPP) at a particular
environment, and this peak power point keeps changing with
solar illumination and ambient temperature. An important
consideration in achieving high efficiency in PV power
generation system is to match the PV source and load
impedance properly for any weather conditions, thus obtaining
maximum power generation. The technique is employed by
tracking the maximum power point which is called as
maximum power point tracking (MPPT). In recent years, a
large number of techniques have been proposed for maximum

A micro PV system structure in which three PV modules

connected in series is considered and it provides an output
power of nearly 240 Watt. To address the micro PV system
structure, this paper proposes a novel MPPT algorithm, which
is based on the improved research on the characteristics of the
PV array to track the global MPP even under non-uniform
insulation. The algorithm was verified with MATLABSIMULINK that it can track the real MPP very fast when the
temperature changes. The closed loop operation of proposed
system is verified with MATLAB simulations including Load
and source disturbances.

978-1-61284-230-1/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

269

II.

PROPOSED SYSTEM CONFIGURATION

When S1 turns OFF, the energy stored in inductor L1

transfer to CS. The energy stored in L2 will transfer to CO
through D1 and supplying the energy to loading. Fig. 3 shows
the voltage and current waveforms of SEPIC.

The block diagram of the proposed solar energy conversion

scheme is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of PV array driven by
SEPIC converter interfaced to the stand-alone load through a
single phase Inverter. The output Power of the SEPIC
converter is varied due to temperature and irradiations. Hence,
the Maximum power is tracked and extracted from the PV
array and transferred to the stand-alone load through single
phase Inverter. The controller generates the gating pulses for
the SEPIC and Inverter to extract maximum power and to
maintain desired ac output voltage and frequency across load
terminals.
PV module

SEPIC
converter

Inverter

Filter

L2

Co

IGBT
S1

Fig. 2 The scheme of sepic converter

Load

Vgs
S1

S2

Load

S3

Il1
I

S4

Ic1

t
t

V
MPPT

SPWM

PI

Vl1

Fig. 1 Block diagram of single phase Inverter with PV driven SEPIC

Vl2

A. Sepic converter
Although the boost converter usually has higher efficiency
than the SEPIC, however, it is only applicable for cases where
the battery voltage is higher than the PV module voltage. The
buckboost feature of the SEPIC widens the applicable PV
voltage and thus increases the adopted PV module flexibility.
Among all the available converters, SEPIC has the merits of
noninverting polarity, easy-to drive switch, and low inputcurrent pulsating for high-precise MPPT that makes its
integral characteristics suitable for the low-power PV charger
system. The small-signal model of such a SEPIC will be
derived, and upon which, the PV voltage controller and the
MPPT controller will be designed.

Vin
-Vin

Vo

Ts

Fig. 3 The voltage and current waveforms of SEPIC converter

B. Solar PV panel
Fig. 4 shows the equivalent circuit of the ideal photovoltaic
cell. The basic equation from the theory of semiconductors
that mathematically describes the I-V characteristic of the
ideal photovoltaic cell is:

Fig. 2 shows the scheme of SEPIC. It can raise the output

voltage to a suitable range, and can supply an isolation route to
isolate the input and output terminal after terminate charging.
But this circuit has two disadvantages; one is low efficiency
and the other needs two inductors. The efficiency is not the
major factor when charger is designed and use of coupling
inductor solves the other disadvantage. Therefore the SEPIC is
a good choice for constant current converter design.

I = Ipv,cell - Io,cell[exp(qV/akT)-1]

(1)

where Ipv, cell is the current generated by the incident light

(it is directly proportional to the Sun irradiation), Id is the
diode current, I0,cell [A] is the reverse saturation or leakage
current of the diode , q is the electron charge [1.60217646 *
1019C], k is the Boltzmann constant [1.3806503* 1023J/K], T
[K] is the temperature of the p-n junction, and a is the diode
ideality constant.

The operation principle of SEPIC is: when S1 turns ON, the

input source stores energy in the inductor L1. The inductor
current IL1 increases linearly. At this time the inductor voltage
equals to input voltage, and the energy stores in capacitor CS
will transfer into inductor L2. The energy for the load is
supplied by capacitor CO.

The basic equation (1) of the elementary photovoltaic cell

does not represent the I-V characteristic of a practical
photovoltaic array. Practical arrays are composed of several
connected photovoltaic cells and the observation of the
characteristics at the terminals of the photovoltaic array

270

However, if the PV power has decreased, the voltage should

do the same.

requires the inclusion of additional parameters to the basic

Eqn. 1.

V + IRs
I = I PV I o exp
Vt a

V + IRs
1
Rp

(2)

Beginning

Where Ipv and I0 are the photovoltaic and saturation

currents of the array and Vt = NskT/q is the thermal voltage of
the array with Ns cells connected in series. Cells connected in
parallel increase the current and cells connected in series
provide greater output voltages.
Ideal PV cell

Measure: VPV(t1), IPV(t1)

Vref =VPV(t1)
PPV(t1)= VPV(t1)* IPV(t1)
Measure: VPV(t2), IPV(t2)
Vref =VPV(t2)

I
Rs

Ipv

Id

PPV(t2)= VPV(t2)* IPV(t2)

Rp

PPV(t2)= PPV(t2)- PPV(t1)

NO

Fig. 4 Mathematical model of PV array

Vref(t3) = Vref(t2) - D

If the array is composed of Np parallel connections of cells

the photovoltaic and saturation currents may be expressed as:
Ipv=Ipv, cell Np, I0=I0,cell Np. In Eqn. 2, Rs is the equivalent series
resistance of the array and Rp is the equivalent parallel
resistance.

YES

Vref(t3) = Vref(t2) + D

Fig. 5 P&O algorithm

Nevertheless, a disadvantage of this method appears in the

case of a sudden increase of irradiance, Fig. 6, where the
algorithm reacts as if the increase occurred as a result of the
previous perturbation of the operating voltage. In order to
better understand this phenomenon, see Fig. 6. Thus, the case
is considered in which the irradiance is such that it generates
the PV curve characteristics, curve 1. In this way, the
operating voltage initially oscillates around the maximum
point, from A to A1. Now, an increase in the power will be
measured because the solar irradiation has increased from
curve 1 to curve 2. Then, if one assumes that being in point A,
that it comes from a diminution of the voltage, and before the
following disturbance takes place, the irradiance is increased,
with the curve characteristic being now curve 2, and the
operation point will occur at B1. Indeed, since there has been a
positive increase in power, the disturbance will continue in the
same direction, see Table 1.

C. MPPT Algorithm
The P&O method is that which is most commonly used
in practice by the majority of authors. It is an iterative method
of obtaining MPP. It measures the PV array characteristics,
and then perturbs the operating point of PV generator to
encounter the change direction. The maximum point is
An example algorithm
reached when (dPpv/dVpv) =0.
flowchart of the most basic form is shown in Fig. 5.
Doing this, the operating voltage of the PV generator is
perturbed, by a small increment Vpv, and the resulting
change, Ppv, in power, is measured. If Ppv is positive, the
perturbation of the operating voltage should be in the same
direction of the increment. However, if it is negative, the
system operating point obtained moves away from the MPPT
and the operating voltage should be in the opposite direction
of the increment. The logic of this algorithm is explained in
Table 1 and Fig. 6. True table associated with the operation for
the Perturbation and Observe (P&O) method.
TABLE I.

PPV(t2)
>0

OPERATION FOR THE P&O METHOD

Ppv (t2 )

V pv (t 3)

>0
<0

+
-

The +sign refers to an increment and - sign to a

decrease. In accordance with Table 1, if the PV power has
increased, the operating point should be increased as well.

Fig. 6 Deviation from the MPP with the P&O algorithm under rapidly

271

In other words, the voltage will diminish and go to point B.

Furthermore, if the irradiance is increased again quickly to
curve 3, there will be another increase in positive power, with
which the operation point will now be C. That is, due to two
increases of irradiance, the operation point has been
transferred from A to C, moving away from the maximum
point. This process remains until the increase of the irradiance
slows or stops.
III.

IV.

The simulation results of the proposed scheme such as

active power fed to load, load voltage and load current, DC link
voltage and current are shown in figures. Three similar solar
panel with open circuit voltage Voc = 21.2V and Isc 5.17A are
connected in series which triples the Voltage keeping current
same. The change in climatic conditions affects the inverter
voltage and current. The maximum power rating of each panel
is 80W, as the panels are connected in series maximum power
will be 240W. The main objective is to extract the maximum
power. SEPIC converter specifications are tabulated below:

PWM INVERTER

The block diagram of closed loop operation of single phase

inverter is shown in Fig.7. Output voltage of inverter is
controlled by using PI controller. Sine wave pulse width
modulation (SPWM) is used to control the four switches of
inverter.

S1

S1, S4

S2

L
O
A
D

10V to 54V DC
0.855
0.5
240W
10Khz

For above specifications the inductor and capacitor values

are calculated by using standard design equations.
L1 = 2.5e-6 H, L2 = 2.5e-6 H, C1 = 4e-6 F, Co = 100e-6 F
Due to change in the temperature and irradiance the
respective maximum power changes. The following MATLAB
simulation shows how MPP is tracked when there is irradiance
change. One PV panel is disconnected at 1.25 sec to check the
working of MPPT algorithm. Before 1.25 sec the maximum
power tracked is 240W.so if one PV panel is disconnected
under normal conditions, the maximum power will be 160W.
The maximum power is tracked at 70% duty cycle.

PI
sin

SEPIC CONVERTER SPECIFICATIONS

Input Voltage
Maximum Duty cycle
Minimum Duty cycle
Out Put power
Switching Frequency

S4

ramp

S2, S3

TABLE II.

S
C

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

VREF

Fig. 7 Closed loop operation of PWM inverter

Modulating wave
(Vcontrol)

Carrier wave
(Vtri)

Fig. 9 Maximum power output of SEPIC converter

Van
Vbn

Vd

V01

0
-Vd
Fig. 10 Output voltage of sepic converter

Fig. 8 unipolar pulse width modulation

272

Fig. 16 Output current of inverter due to change in reference voltage

Fig. 11 Duty ratio of sepic converter

The output voltage waveforms of inverter due to change in

irradiation levels is shown in Fig 17-19.

The output voltage and current waveforms of inverter for

changes in the reference voltage is shown in Fig.12-16.

Fig. 17 Voltage change in PV array due to change in irradiation levels

Fig. 12 Required output voltage (Vreference)

Fig. 18 Output voltage of inverter due to change in irradiation levels

Fig. 13 Error voltage (i.e. reference voltage output voltage)

Fig. 19 Magnified Output voltage of inverter at change in irradiation levels

Fig. 14 Output voltage of inverter due to change in reference voltage

V.

CONCLUSION

The development of a method for the mathematical

modeling of photovoltaic array has been analyzed. When the
PV array is used as a source of power supply to stand alone
loads, it is necessary to use the MPPT to get the maximum
power point from the PV array and implemented with
MATLAB/SIMULINK for simulation. The MPPT is
implemented by using a SEPIC-Converter, which is designed
to operate under continuous conduction mode. The
perturbation and observe Algorithm is used as the control

Fig. 15 Magnified Output voltage of inverter at change in reference voltage

273

algorithm for the MPPT. From results of simulation, it can be

seen that the P&O MPPT algorithm which is able to improve
the dynamic and steady state performance of the PV system.
At the same time, output results of inverter with SPWM
control strategy have better voltage control and simulation
results of system demonstrate that the PV system has the fast
and effective response under changing irradiance levels. So
the PV generation system based P&O MPPT method and
SPWM control for single-phase voltage source PWM inverter
is feasible and effective.
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