Maximum Power Point Tracking: A PSPICE Circuit Simulator Approach

As the photovoltaic source exhibits non-linear v-i characteristics, which are dependent on solar insolation and environmental factors, development of an accurate circuit - oriented model is essential to simulate and design the photovoltaic integrated system. In this paper a simple photovoltaic source PSPICE circuit-oriented models are developed useful for integrated PV system design. These include modeling of solar array, maximum power point algorithm, and converter modules. The solar array module takes care of cell temperature variation, solar insolation and incident angle, while the maximum power point tracking module adjusts the operating point. This module is integrated with a dc-dc converter to extract maximum power from the photovoltaic array under all operating conditions. For verification a SEPIC converter supplied photovoltaic system is considered in this paper. The developed model is validated with experimental results. In all the cases the developed models are working without any convergence problems.