Modeling of a PV Panel and Application of Maximum Power Point Tracking Command based on ANN

The Photovoltaic (PV) systems are renewable and environmentally friendly. However, they still have numerous disadvantages such as high investment cost and low efficiency. For getting highest efficiency from a PV system in different operation conditions, PV panels and arrays should be operated at Maximum Power Points (MPPs). At MPP, PV arrays produce the electric energy at maximum efficiency and minimum losses. Some algorithms are used in PV systems to provide maximum efficiency and minimum losses. In this paper, a new PV panel model is proposed employing Matlab/Simulink, and three commands of the MPP Tracking (MPPT), are applied in our proposed PV system. These MPPT commands are (P&O), the Incremental Conductance (IC) and the ANN based one. Then, a comparative study between these three commands is performed. The simulations results obtained from Matlab/Simulink software, are presented for these approaches under rapid variation of insolation and temperature conditions. Those results confirm the effectiveness of the ANN based command both in terms of efficiency and fast response time and this compared to the two other commands (P&O and IC). Also compared to P& O and IC, negligible oscillations around the MPP is the main advantage of this ANN based command.