Comparative analysis of common MPPT techniques for solar PV system with soft switched, interleaved isolated converter

This paper presents the comparative analysis of most commonly used Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) techniques viz Open Circuit Voltage (OCV), Perturb and Observe (PnO) and Incremental Conductance (INC) methods that are capable of extracting maximum power from the PV generation system with Soft Switched Interleaved Flyback(SSIFB) converter. The OCV technique is an indirect MPPT method that tracks the Maximum Power Point (MPP) using empirical data or mathematical expressions with numerical corrections and approximations. The direct methods such as PnO and INC techniques measure the actual instantaneous values of PV voltage and PV current to seek the MPP. The steady state performance of each of the MPPT algorithms on PV-SSIFB system under different solar irradiations is compared in terms of accuracy, MPPT efficiency and tracking speed. MATLAB/SIMULINK software is used to simulate and investigate the suitability and limitations of the PV - SSIFB system implemented with MPPT algorithm. The simulation results prove that the OCV MPPT method provides an effective MPP tracking at low irradiations and INC MPPT method offers the better steady state performance at medium and higher irradiations.