Wireless Sliding MPPT Control of Photovoltaic Systems in Distributed Generation Systems

Abstract

The aim of a photovoltaic (PV) system’s control is the extraction of the maximum power even if the irradiance, the temperature, or the parameters vary. To do that, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is required. In this work, a sliding control is designed to regulate the PV modules’ output voltage and make the panel work at the maximum power voltage. This control is selected to improve the robustness, the transient dynamic response, and the time response of the system under changeable environmental conditions, adjusting the duty cycle of the DC/DC converter. The DC/DC converter connected to the PV module output is a buck-boost converter. This configuration presents the advantage of providing voltages lower or higher than supplied by the photovoltaic modules to provide the required voltage to the load (including the voltages ceded by telecommunication loads, amongst others). In addition, a remote sliding control is developed to make the global supervision of the PV system in distributed generation grids. The designed algorithm is tested in an experimental platform, both locally and remotely connected to the base station, to prove the effectiveness of the sliding control. Thus, the communication effect in the control is also analyzed.