Comparative Study of Maximum Power Point Tracking Techniques in Photovoltaic Arrays

This paper presents a modeling of a photovoltaic (PV) array connected to a Boost-type DC-DC converter to perform a comparative analysis between two maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods. It was chosen a conventional method, Disturbance and Observation (P&O), for its wide use, and an artificial intelligence method, Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC), for its robustness and independence to the PV arrangement model. The comparison between the techniques considered steady state error, dynamic response and efficiency over a wide power range. The P&O and FLC algorithms were used to establish the reference voltage and the cyclic ratio, respectively, to regulate the terminal voltage of the PV array. In general, the MPPT Fuzzy and MPPT P&O methods performed efficient and accurate maximum power point tracking and the advantages of each technique were discussed.