Design and Implementation of Modified INC, Conventional INC, and Fuzzy Logic Controllers Applied to a PV System under Variable Weather Conditions

Abstract

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are used in photovoltaic applications to extract the maximum power that the photovoltaic (PV) panel can produce, which depends on two inputs that are: temperature and irradiance. A DC-DC converter is inserted between the photovoltaic panel and the load to obtain the desired voltage level on the load side. In this paper, incremental conductance (INC) algorithm, modified INC, and fuzzy logic controller (FLC) are designed and assessed to improve energy conversion efficiency. These algorithms are applied to the control of boost converter for tracking the maximum power point (MPP). The modified INC offers fast response and good performance in terms of oscillations than conventional INC and FLC. The Matlab/Simulink environment is used to analyze, interpret the simulation results, and show the performances of each algorithm; and Proteus-based Arduino environment is used to implement the three methods in order to compare the Matlab simulation results with measurements acquired during implementation that is similar to real experiment.