Study and implementation of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm for Photovoltaic systems

This paper deals with the design, simulation and experimentation of a simple but efficient Photovoltaic system. It provides theoretical and experimental studies of Photovoltaic array consist of 36 cells, which provide a maximum power to the load at Maximum Power Point. However, Photovoltaic generators exhibit nonlinear I-V characteristics and Maximum Power Point that vary with solar insolation. An intermediate converter can therefore increase efficiency by matching the Photovoltaic system to the load and by operating the solar cell arrays at their Maximum Power Point. In this paper, an Maximum Point tracking algorithm using Perturb and Observe method with array voltage (V_pv) and array current (I_pv) is developed and verified in simulation for water pumping system. The simulated and experimental result of I-V & P-V characteristics with varying Temperature and Insolation are presented. From the results, it is observed that simulation and experimental results are exactly matching. The simulation results for MPPT with cúk converter are also presented.