Experimental study of interleaved MPPT converter for PV systems

In this study, design and implementation of an interleaved boost converter have been proposed. Proposed converter doubles the switching frequency effect by means of phase shifting to overcome the limitations of power semiconductors. In addition, small size of core in building the converter has been used to reduce the cost. Interleaved converter operates in a single converter mode at low power levels and in interleaved converter mode at high power levels to obtain the maximum efficiency in all operation area. A hybrid maximum power point tracking method is also introduced to get the obtainable maximum power from photovoltaic systems. A flyback converter is designed to supply the power required by control system, so a self supporting converter structure is achieved. Proposed converter is controlled with a low cost PIC18F452 microcontroller. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed converter structure has higher efficiency than other topologies and the proposed maximum power point tracking method provides fast and dynamic response.