Buck-booster converter simulation with RPMP per HC applied to photovoltaic modules

Abstract

Solar energy tends to spread widely in everyday use to meet the growing energy demand, it has a range of benefits and advantages in its implementation, mainly due to its low-polluting character to the environment. Photovoltaic panels only reached the current levels of generation thanks to the development of power electronics, which is used in the processing of photogenerated energy, but the efficiency is still around 17%, while the electrical parameters of the modules are directly influenced by climatic and environmental factors, making its control complex. For this, techniques have been created in order to keep photovoltaic systems operating at their maximum efficiency regardless of the factors. Such techniques are called Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), which uses converters controlled by algorithms that track the maximum power point (PMP), and thus keep the solar panels delivering their maximum useful power. There are several MPPT control techniques in the literature, the one addressed in the present work will be called Hill CLimbing. The modeling of an MPPT control system was developed in Matlab/Simulink software using the buck-boost type converter controlled by the Hill Climbing algorithm. After modeling, the functioning of the algorithm was analyzed through PMP tracking and compared with the values obtained experimentally from the ZW85X115 module. The comparison between the experimental and simulated values occurred satisfactorily.