Design and characterization of a HMPPT technique for PV applications

In the last years, with the focus on greener sources of power, photovoltaic has become an important source of power for a wide range of applications. Even with higher efficiency and lower cost, the goal remains to maximize the power from the PV system under various lighting and temperature conditions. In PV applications, under mismatching conditions, the Maximum Power Point Tracking technique both to regulate the voltages of the PV modules of the array and the DC input voltage of the inverter is used. In this paper a new hybrid method based on the periodic scan of the Power vs. Voltage characteristic at the input of the inverter is presented to improve the performance of MPPT for solar PV system. Its main advantages are the high MPPT efficiency and the high speed of tracking. Design, simulation and laboratory characterization of the presented technique are discussed.