Review of current sensorless maximum power point tracking technologies for photovoltaic power systems

Studies have been conducted in recent years to improve the cost attributes associated with photovoltaic power systems. At PV inverter level, this can be achieved by reducing the number of components used in the power conditioning stage. In line with this, various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques without using current sensor have been proposed in the last decade. This paper presents an overview of some main current sensorless MPPT techniques available hitherto. The insight analysis and classification of the existing tracking strategies is important for further research in the area. The simulation results of the Flyback Inverter based PV power systems controlled by a current sensorless MPPT in MATLAB/SIMULINK are also presented to illustrate the estimation effectiveness.