Optimized one-cycle control in photovoltaic grid connected applications

The use of one-cycle control (OCC) for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and power factor correction (PFC) in grid connected photovoltaic (PV) applications is discussed. Circuit and operating parameters of the one cycle-based controller of a cost-effective single-stage inverter are optimized in order to obtain the best performances of the system under different irradiance levels. Firstly, design constraints are formulated which allow to get a very efficient OCC operation in terms of power extracted from the PV array, stability, and PFC. Afterwards, such constraints are used to perform the parametric optimization of the one cycle controller by means of suitable heuristic approaches. Various selection criteria of the best parameters set under different conditions are discussed and applied. Finally, a customized perturb and observe (P&O) control is applied to the optimized one cycle controlled single-stage inverter in order to perform a real MPPT in presence of varying irradiance conditions. Subjects described here are covered by the Italian Patent Application SA2005A000014-13.07.2005 and PCT Application PCT/IT2005/000747-20.12.2005