Maximum power point search method for photovoltaic panels which uses a light sensor in the conditions of real shading and temperature

Janusz Mroczka; Mariusz Ostrowski

doi:10.1117/12.2184818

21 June 2015 Maximum power point search method for photovoltaic panels which uses a light sensor in the conditions of real shading and temperature

Janusz Mroczka, Mariusz Ostrowski

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9526, Modeling Aspects in Optical Metrology V; 95261L (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2184818
Event: SPIE Optical Metrology, 2015, Munich, Germany

Abstract

Disadvantages of photovoltaic panels are their low efficiency and non-linear current-voltage characteristic. Therefore it is necessary to apply the maximum power tracking systems which are dependent on the sun exposure and temperature. Trackers, that are used in photovoltaic systems, differ from each other in the speed and accuracy of tracking. Typically, in order to determine the maximum power point, trackers use measure of current and voltage. The perturb and observe algorithm or the incremental conductance method are frequent in the literature. The drawback of these solutions is the need to search the entire current-voltage curve, resulting in a significant loss of power in the fast-changing lighting conditions. Modern solutions use an additional measurement of temperature, short-circuit current or open circuit voltage in order to determine the starting point of one of the above methods, what decreases the tracking time. For this paper, a sequence of simulations and tests in real shading and temperature conditions for the investigated method, which uses additional light sensor to increase the speed of the perturb and observe algorithm in fast-changing illumination conditions was performed. Due to the non-linearity of the light sensor and the photovoltaic panel and the influence of temperature on the used sensor and panel characteristics, we cannot directly determine the relationship between them. For this reason, the tested method is divided into two steps. In the first step algorithm uses the correlation curve of the light sensor and current at the maximum power point and determines the current starting point with respect of which the perturb and observe algorithm is run. When the maximum power point is reached, in a second step, the difference between the starting point and the actual maximum power point is calculated and on this basis the coefficients of correlation curve are modified.

Citation Download Citation

Janusz Mroczka and Mariusz Ostrowski "Maximum power point search method for photovoltaic panels which uses a light sensor in the conditions of real shading and temperature", Proc. SPIE 9526, Modeling Aspects in Optical Metrology V, 95261L (21 June 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2184818

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