Chennai and Dr.MGR University Second International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Intelligent System (SEISCON 2011) , Dr.

M.G.R. University, Maduravoyal, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. July. 20-22, 2011.

Articial Neural Network based Maximum Power Point Tracker for Photovoltaic system
S. D. Anitha*, S. Berclin Jeya Prabha#
*PG Student, Karunya University, #Lecturer, Karunya University

Keywords: Photovoltaic, maximum power point, Articial Neural Network.

Abstract
Most of the existing MPPT algorithms suffer from the drawback of being slow or wrong tracking. Due to this the utilization efciency is reduced. MPPT is used to maximize the output from the PV array by tracking continuously the maximum power point. Among all MPPT methods, Perturb and Observe (P&O) method is used for its simplicity. In this paper Perturb and Observe method is used. But it moves the operating point far from the maximum point due to rapidly changing condition. In order to bring the operating point to the maximum, Articial Neural Network (ANN) is used to improve the efciency by detecting the atmospheric condition.

power from the solar panel. The output from the MPPT is duty cycle used to trigger the MOSFET switch in the boost converter to track the maximum power from the solar panel using Articial Neural Network. Inverter is used to convert the DC voltage to AC voltage .It drives the AC load using the power tracked from the panel. It shows better performance compared to that of the Perturbation and Observation method.

Figure.1 Block Diagram of the proposed system

1 Introduction
As the worlds energy demand increases and resources become scarce, the search for alternative energy has become an important issue for our time. With advancement in power electronic technology, the solar photovoltaic energy has been recognized as an important natural energy resource because it is clean, abundant and pollution free. MPPT are used to maximize the output from the PV array by tracking continuously the maximum power point. Here the existing Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT) algorithms suffer from the drawback of being slow or being inaccurate or both. Due to this the utilization efciency is reduced. To improve the efciency this project tracks the maximum power from the PV panel using Articial Neural Network. MPPT tracks the maximum power even during climatic changes. Among all MPPT methods, Perturb and Observe (P & O) is the most commonly used for its simplicity and ease of implementation, however it presents the drawback of moving the operating point far from the maximum point, due to rapidly changing climatic conditions. In order to bring the operating point closer to the maximum point we are using Articial Neural Network.

3 Photovoltaic system
The Photovoltaic system literally means conversion of sunlight directly into electricity. It is a clean source, requires less maintenance and has long lifespan (>25 years), gains lot of attention in the recent decade. A typical photovoltaic system consists of two major parts: the solar panels to generate Dc power from sunlight and the power electronics circuit that convert DC into standard AC voltages. Most solar cells on the market can achieve 13-15% of energy conversion, and over 20% in lab environments. There are many issues concerning the development of a particular PV system, energy conversion, grid connection, etc. Due to the mismatch between load line and operating characteristic of the solar cells, the power available from the solar cells is not always fully extracted.

2 Proposed system
Solar panel receives the energy from the sun due to the irradiance. The received energy is converted in to voltage and current. The DC voltage is given to the Boost converter to boost up the voltage. The output power from the solar panel is given to the Articial Neural Network based Controller. MPPT is to track the maximum

Figure.2 PV Characteristics

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Artificial Neural Network based Maximum Power Point Tracker for Photovoltaic system

MPPT is a control technique to adjust the terminal voltage of PV panels so that maximum power can be extracted. The location of the maximum power point is subject to the suns irradiance and therefore must be tracked continuously during operation. The modules in a PV array are usually rst connected in series to obtain the desired voltage; the individual strings are then connected in parallel to allow the system to produce more current. The output characteristics of photovoltaic arrays are nonlinear and change with the cells temperature and solar irradiance. For a given conditions there is a unique point in which the array produces maximum output power. This point is called maximum power point (MPP) which varies depending of cell temperature and present irradiation level. To obtain the maximum power from a photovoltaic array, a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) is used. The Perturbation and observation is one of the most commonly used MPPT methods for its simplicity and ease of implementation. Table.1 Datasheet of USP 36
Maximum output power Short circuit current Open circuit voltage Current at maximum power point Voltage at maximum power point Number of cells 36W 2A 18V 1.8A 17.8V 36

In this ve solar panels are connected in series and one will be in standalone position. For this series-connected solar panel, output voltage is 133V and for stand-alone output voltage is 33V and it is given to the Boost Converter.

Figure.4 MATLAB/SIMULINK output for solar panel

4 DC-DC converters
The DC-DC converters are devices that receive a constant dc voltage on the input and then it convert this voltage into another value that can be increased. The DC-DC converters are very important for a photovoltaic system because they are responsible to connect the solar panels to the load or battery and also they have got two functions. First the converters should be able to regulate a chosen level of voltage on the input, keeping a constant value of voltage. The second function is to keep the system at the maximum power point tracking.

The P&O works well when the irradiance change slowly but it presents drawbacks such as slow response speed, oscillation around the MPP in steady state, and even tracking in wrong way under rapidly changing atmospheric conditions.
PV module (I)

Ipv

Vpv Ppv

Insolation

PV1

Terminator

Ipv

PV module (I)

Vpv Ppv

Insolation

PV2

Terminator1

Ipv

PV module (I)

Vpv Ppv

Fig.5 Boost Converter

Terminator2
Vpv

Insolation

PV3

1 Out4

Ipv

PV module (I)

Vpv Ppv

Insolation

PV4

Terminator3

It is necessary to calculate the proper values of inductance and capacitance in the converter. A boost converter operating in ideal condition has the relation between output voltage and input voltage given by Vi = Vo *(1 D) (1) The value of duty cycle (D) can be calculated using the input voltage (Vi) of the solar panel and output voltage that charge the batteries. With the value of D, it is possible to nd the minimum values for inductance and capacitance using the equations given below.
Lmin (1D) 2 *D*R 2* f

Ipv

PV module (I)

Vpv Ppv

2 Insolation Out8 PV5

Terminator4

Ipv

PV module (I)

Vpv Ppv

2 In2

3 Out9 In5

Insolation

(2) (3)

PV6

Terminator5

Add

Figure.3 Simulation diagram for PV panel

D*V0 Cmin Vr *R* f

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Chennai and Dr.MGR University Second International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Intelligent System

Figure.6 Simulation diagram for Boost Converter and Inverter cycle. If the power is increasing, the perturbation will continue in the same direction in the next cycle, otherwise the perturbation direction will be reversed. The P&O method presents some drawbacks such as slow response speed, oscllation around the maximum power point and even tracking in wrong way under rapidly changing atmospheric conditions. Perturbation & Observation method shows oscillation in tracking the maximum power. To overcome this problem Articial Neural Network is used to track the maximum power without oscillation.

Figure. 7 MATLAB/SIMULINK output for Boost Converter

Figure. 8 MATLAB/SIMULINK output for Inverter

Figure.9 Flowchart for perturbation and Observation Perturbation & Observation method shows oscillation in tracking the maximum power. To overcome this problem Articial Neural Network is used to track the maximum power without oscillation. B. Articial Neural Network A neural network is a collection of small individually interconnected processing units. Information is passed through these units along interconnections. An incoming connection has two values

5 MPPT Technique
A. Perturbation and Observation method: The Perturbation and Observation method has been used because of its simple feedback structure and fewer measured parameters which are required .It is operated by periodically perturbing (incrementing or decrementing) the array terminal voltage and comparing the PV output power with that of the previous perturbation

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Artificial Neural Network based Maximum Power Point Tracker for Photovoltaic system

associated with it, an input value and a weight. The output of the unit is a function of the summed value. ANNs while implemented on computers are not programmed to perform specic tasks. Instead, they are trained with respect to data sets until they learn patterns used as inputs. Once they are trained, new patterns may be presented to them for prediction or classication. An ANN can handle many inputs and produce answers that are in a form suitable for designers. ANNs can be considered as simplied mathematical models of brain-like systems and they function as parallel-distributed computing networks. However, in contrast to conventional computers, which are programmed to perform specic task, most neural networks must be taught, or trained. They can learn new associations, new functional dependencies and new patterns. Neural network need to use complex mathematically explicit formulas, computer models and impractical and costly physical models. Some of the articial neural networks are wide universally used in non linear dynamic system. They emulate nonlinear systems using a back propagation neural network. Neural networks have the potential to provide an improved method of deriving non-linear models which is complementary to the conventional techniques. This work deals with the application of an articial neural network based MPPT of PV system. Back propagation neural networks are utilized as pattern classier. Back propagation neural network is an example of non-linear layered feed-forward networks. Neural networks have self adapting capabilities which make them well suited to handle non-linearity, uncertainties and parameter variations which may occur in a controlled plant.

Figure.11 Simulation result of Neural Network After simulating the network ,neural network will train till the mean squared error reaches the goal.Then calculate the output weight for hidden layer and output layer.

Figure.12 Validation of network The weight from the neural network is given for a set of unknown values of input and then output from the network is compared with actual data and maximum error is 0.0469. Figure.10 Articial Neural Network The Neural network used has a three layer structure, i.e. input layer, hidden layer and output layer and uses the back propagation model. The network is fully connected to all neurons in the hidden layer through a weight which is not shown in gure. Also bias signal is coupled to all the neurons through a weight. All three layers of neural network have a hyper tangent sigmoid transfer function. The algorithm used for training is back-propagation. The backpropagation training algorithm needs only inputs and the desired output to adapt the weight. This method performs a gradient descent on the error surface which is a function of the line current error. A gradient descent minimization can be performed on the error function. A number of neural network systems have been developed to predict the optimal operating points of photovoltaics. Back propagation training is referred to as supervised training. The neural network was trained using MATLAB software.

6 Hardware Implementation
The boost converter circuit for the operation of PV panel in maximum power point. In this open circuit voltage and short circuit current is used for the calculation of MPPT algorithm for getting the duty cycle to operate the PV panel in maximum power point. In this Q1 is tuned off initially for measuring the open circuit voltage through the potential divider, keeping Q1 off Q2 is turned on so that we can measure the short circuit current through resistor R1. These values are given to the micro controller for calculating the duty cycle for the boost operation through the mosfet Q3, and then it is ltered through the capacitance C. Thus we get the boosted output from the boost converter. The pulses from the microcontroller are isolated through optocoupler and given to the driver circuit which is cascaded amplier conguration to increase the voltage gain.

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Chennai and Dr.MGR University Second International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Intelligent System

Figure.13 Simulation Diagram of the proposed system

Figure.14 MATLAB/SIMULINK output for the proposed system

Figure.15 Hardware implementation of Boost Converter

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Artificial Neural Network based Maximum Power Point Tracker for Photovoltaic system

The inverter circuit with 4 mosfet switches and driver IC IR2110. The frequency of 50Hz pulses are given to the inverter circuit from the microcontroller. The pulses from microcontroller cannot drive the mosfet switches and it should be isolated. For isolation we use optocoupler circuit which will isolate the microcontroller circuit from power circuit. The output pulses from the optocoupler are given to the driver circuit for driving the pulses for the switching of mosfet switches.

Figure.16 Output for the Boost Converter The output of the boost converter is given to inverter circuit for the conversion of DC to AC. Output of the microcontroller is given to the driver IC IR2110 for the boostrap operation and is given to the mosfet. +15 volt supply is given to the driver IC.

Figure.19 Prototype of the ANN based MPPT

7 Conclusion
An effort has been put in this paper to track the maximum power using Articial Neural network. This shows the better performance compared to that of the perturbation and observation method. The oscillation has been decreased in tracking the maximum power

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[2] Figure.17 Hardware implementation of Inverter [3]

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[7] Figure.18 Output for the Inverter

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