2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Design and Small Signal Analysis of Solar

PV fed FPGA Based Closed Loop Control
Bi-Directional DC-DC Converter
Dogga.Raveendhra,
Department ofElectrical and
Electronics Engineering,
Graphic Era University,
Dehradun, INDIA.

Padmanabh Thakur,
Department ofElectrical and
Electronics Engineering,
Graphic Era University,
Dehradun, INDIA
.

of Bi-Directional DC-DC converter (BDC) for

solar application for charging and discharging
the battery based on availability of supply. BDC
can operated in two modes i.e., if supply is
available at solar PV side BDC acts as boost
converter otherwise acts as buck mode. During
day time when sunlight is available, BDC acts as
for charging the

battery.

During night time, when sunlight is not available

BDC acts as a Boost converter to provide supply
to the load from the battery.
Small signal analysis is used to design BDC
operating in both modes in Matlab. Transfer
functions of BDC in both modes are derived
using the aforementioned analysis. Bode plots of
the plant transfer function (buck & boost) were
plotted

to

judge

the

stability

of

BDC.

Controllers (type-3--boost, PID--buck) for both

modes

are

analysis.

designed

These

by

using

controllers

small

are

signal

designed

in

FPGA to generate PWM signals for controlling

the switches in BDC.
Keywords:

Bi-Directional

DC-DC

Converter,

Buck converter, Boost Converters.

1. INTRODUCTION

The subject of bidirectional DC-DC converter

(BDC) to power management with storage devices
has been of wide interest in several applications
over decades [2]. The battery backup system is
very essential for several applications such as
automotive power management systems and
renewable energy conversion etc... The challenge
lies in providing the energy from dependable and
sustainable sources while maintaining the pollution
free environment. Although the renewable energy

978-1-4673-4922-2/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE

resources are available in contrast to other energy

resources, it may not be the immediate answer to
the problem because renewable energy has major
drawbacks [1]-[6]. One, its dependency on
geographic location and the other is intermittent
nature. However, it can certainly provide a solution
to the energy needs when used in conjunction with
battery energy storage (BES) systems [2]. In
addition, the batteries are normally available at low
voltage (LV) levels, whereas DC loads and DC bus
from solar photo voltaic (PV) charge controllers are
at high voltage (HV) levels. Moreover it is a better
alternative compared with the conventional type of
energy sources for generating electric power.
Because it offers some other advantages like, it is
pollution free, easy to install, no rotational parts,
less noise, high mobility, low power to weight
ratio. The BDC is a best approach as it provides
both charge/discharge operations as compared to
two conventional converters in charge/discharge
applications. In addition, BDC provides other
benefits such as compact design, less weight, high
efficiency and low cost. Hence, BDC is an ideal
choice for an isolated solar PV grid system.
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
IS
an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a
customer or a designer after manufacturing, hence
"field-programmable". An FPGA is a field
programmable device suitable for switching
applications in the field of power electronics and
also, versatile processor for control system
applications. It can be easily programmed to design
a pulse width modulator (PWM) for control
applications [I]. Further its fast switching
capability and easy implementation of soft
computing algorithms make it preferred choice for
realising PWM techniques for power electronics
applications.

Abstract-This paper describes the development

a Buck Converter

B.L.Narasimha Raju,
Department ofElectrical and
Electronics Engineering,
National Institute of Technology
Warangal, INDIA

283

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

usable electrical form. Basic element of a PV

system is the solar cell. Solar cells can convert the
energy of sunlight directly into electricity. Solar PV
cell will converts light energy into electrical energy
by taking irradiation and temperature are inputs.
Solar PV cell acts as current source. Consumer
appliances used to provide services such as lighting,
water pumping, refrigeration, telecommunication,
television, etc. can be run from PV electricity.

In contrast to aforementioned aspects and issues,

this paper presents a solar PV modelling, design of
BDC with 24V LV side and 100V HV side.
Simulation analysis of open circuit voltage control
MPPT charge controller of PV system, and BDC
has been carried-out in MATLAB-SIMULINK
environment. In addition, FPGA based voltage
mode control PWM technique is implemented and
performance evaluations has been made.

Figure 3, illustrates a simplified equivalent circuit

of a solar PV cell which consists of a current
source in parallel with a diode. A variable resistor
is connected to the solar cell generator as a load.
When the terminals are short-circuited, the out
put voltage and also the voltage across the diode is
zero. The entire photocurrent (Iph) generated by

2. Proposed PV fed ROC System

Figure.l illustrates the block diagram of proposed

PV fed BDC system topology. The proposed
system is mainly consisting of three parts- first one
is Solar PV module, second is Open circuit voltage
method (MPPT) and third one is Closed loop
controlled BDC. Figure 2 illustrates the Circuit
diagram of proposed system.

Charge ContrOller

solar radiation which flows to the output. The

solar cell current has its maximum (/se). If the
load resistance is increased, this results in an
increasing voltage across the p-n junction of the
diode, a portion of the current flows through the
diode and the output current decreases by the same
amount. When the load resistor is open-circuited,
the output current is zero and the entire
photocurrent flows through the diode. The
relation-ship between current and voltage may be
determined from the diode characteristic equation.

Load

R,

Ip

ID

Jpv

Figure 1: Block Diagram Solar PV fed BDC system

Isc

VPV

Rp

VD

(IPH)

(R,h)

Figure 3: Solar PV cell equivalent circuit

Usually, one solar PV cell generates a voltage of
0.6V - 0.7V range which is in the form of variable
dc. For conversion of such a low voltage variable
DC into high level, it is required to connect solar
PV cells in series. The series/parallel connection of
more than one PV cell is called as solar PV
module.

Figure 2: Circuit Diagram of Proposed System

2. 1 Solar PV module:

The density of power radiated from the

sun (referred as "solar energy constant") at the
outer atmosphere is 1.373 kW/m2 . Part of this
energy is absorbed and scattered by the earth's
atmosphere. The final incident sunlight on earth's
surface has a peak density of I kW/m2 at noon in

ID

Ipv

the tropics. The technology of PV is essentially

concerned with the conversion of this energy into

284

VpV
10 [ e<XVT

Isc

10

1] ,

q(Vpv+lpv.Rs)
akT

(I)
Vpv+lpvRs

- --'--'--Rsh

(2)

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

The VMPP and Voc has a linear relationship which

can be given by

(3)
Where,
ID = Diode current
10 = Reverse saturation current
V pv = Panel voltage
VT = Temperature voltage.
Ipv = Current through Panel
Isc = Photon Current.
a = Ideality or completion factor
VT = kT/q
(4)
K = Boltzmann's constant (J/K) (1.380xl O-23)
T = PV cell temperature (K)
q = electron in charge (C) (-l .602 x 10-19)

VMPP = kVoc
Where, Voc is the open circuit voltage, VMPP is the
voltage at the maximum power point. The factor k
is usually between 0.71 and 0.78 [7], therefore

can be calculated by using above formulae

and set as a reference. The instantaneous input
voltage from the panel is taken and compared with
the reference voltage, if there is any error that error

VMPP

is further amplified and used as a duty cycle which

is input to the DC-DC boost converter.
2.3 Bidirectional DC-DC converter:

Bi-Directional DC-DC converter (BDC) is

basically used to transfer power between two
networks. It is used for DC-DC power conversion
applications. To improve the energy quality, most
of the renewable energy systems include an energy
storage element charged by the bi-directional OC
DC converter. The applications of BOC include
energy storage in renewable energy systems, fuel
cell energy systems, hybrid electric vehicles (HEV)
and uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
If buck and boost converters are designed
individually then losses will be more and it reduces
the efficiency, cost and size that's why we use BDC
in place of Buck and Boost converter for
uninterrupted power supply round the clock. Figure
5 illustrate the BOC circuit.

From the above equations, it can be observed that

solar PV module output current and voltage are
depends on temperature and irradiance. Under
normal operating conditions, solar PV module has
one unique optimal power point. It is required to
draw maximum power from solar PV module to
enhance the efficiency of the solar PV System. In
past literature, many authors have addressed
various MPPT methods to track maximum power
from solar module. Among all methods open
circuit voltage (OCV) method is one of the best
methods to implement according to economical
point of view. Hence, in this paper open circuit
voltage method is considered for implementation.
2.2 OCV MPPT charge controller:

By controlling the parameters like current

or voltage or both the pinnacle can be obtained.
The constant voltage method is among one of the
easiest and cheapest method to implement and
extract maximum power point from the solar panel.
FigureA illustrates the constant voltage MPPT
algorithm.

L
Vh

Ch
Sd

VI

Figure 5: Circuit diagram of BOC

In above figure
Vh=High - Level DC Voltage
VI= Low - Level DC Voltage
In this diagram Supply Vh acts as a solar
photovoltaic cell and supply VI is a battery.
BOC can be used either as a Buck converter or as a
Boost converter. When Switch SI is on then it acts
as a boost converter and When Switch S2 is on then
it acts as a buck converter. During Day time when
sunlight is available Buck Converter is used for
charging the battery, whereas during night time

Figure 4: Constant voltage MPPT algorithm

285

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Boost converter will provide supply with the help

of battery.

When switch is ON, diode is reverse biased

isolating the output. The energy is stored in the
inductor, voltage across inductor Vx =Vin. When
the switch is OFF the output will be drawn from
inductor as well as from the input. The voltage
across inductor is given as Vx =Vo' In steady state,
the average inductor current must be zero. i.e.,

2. 3. 1. BDC in Buck Mode

BDC acts in Buck mode, whenever there is a need

to convert high voltage DC to low voltage DC.
Unregulated DC from solar PV module will be a
regulated DC under any operating conditions by
using BOC. As the input voltage is greater than
output voltage, hence it is also called as a step
down converter. Figure 6 shows the circuit diagram
of buck converter.

Vin Ton + (Vin - Vo)Toff = 0

By rearranging, the gain of boost converter is given

by

Vo
Vin

Vx

T
----Toff (i-D)
1

3. RESULTS ANALYSIS

------.d ,------t--'
IL
I
Vin

The simulation of the proposed system is carried

MATLAB
SIMULINk
environment
and
performance evaluations are made. The varying
temperature and irradiance inputs given to the PV
array are presented in Figure 8 and Figurre 9
respectively. It can noticed from Figure 8 and
Figure 9, that the output of PV array vary
constantly with the variation of temperature and
irradiance. Even at these conditions the voltage
supplied tothe load should be of constant in
magnitude. In order to design the solar system a
varying temperature and irradiance inputs are to be
considered.

Vout

Figure 6: Circuit diagram of buck converter

To analyse the voltages at the input (Vin)and output
(Vo) of the circuit, the changes in the inductor
current over one cycle are considered. For steady
state operation the current at the start and end of the
period T will not change. To get a simple relation
between the voltages, no voltage drop across
transistor or diode is taken. Thus during the ON
time

(Vin - Vo)Ton - Vo Toff=o

By rearranging, the gain of buck converter is given

by

Vin

Ton_
T D

So, the voltage relationship between input and

output becomes Vo= DV;n' With account of power
matching condition, the relationship between input
and output currents is given as lin = 0 10,
-----+,,--.

2.3.2. BDC in Boost Mode

TIf)

BOC acts in Boost mode, whenever there is a need

to convert low voltage dc to high voltage dc. As the
output voltage is greater than input voltage, hence
it is also called as a step-up Converter. Figure 7
shows the circuit diagram of boost converter.

Vin

Vx

l
J

ILbl

I
T

Figure

Output

8:

Variation of irradiation

g
1'"
,

Vout

Figure 7: Circuit Diagram of Boost converters

.--+,--,&--,,,----,
"'I""

Figure 9: Variation of temperature

286

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

With the inputs of temperature and irradiance as

mentioned above given to the PV array, the output
current and voItages are presented in figures 10 &
1l .

Current Sinution
rme:tOOlJms

Oms 10ms 10ms 30ms 40ms 5{)ms 60ms 10ms 80ms 90ms lOOms II0ms 110n

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
!all:_oe_bar 0
!aIl:Jhlil 0
1(dOSe
0
UllJ1JlJl ru lJlJlJlf lJUlJlJlJlJ lJW1J 1
!dauainset I

a ! PERl0DI3tOl 1.. I
321100006112
\
IDUTUYCU 0.5
0.5
i
a ! OffSE3tOI 1..
3111000000(4
(
!
L (
a !all:'ltl OI
14110000
i
!ce
0
0
Idk
\\\

Figure 12: Gate pulses from xilinx ISE simulator

Boosl Converler Vollalge

120

11

100

Figure 10: PV module output current

090
>
60
"

40

20
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2
0.25
Time(sec)

03

035

Figure 13: Boost Converter Output Voltage

B oosl Converler Currenl

Figure 11: PV module output voltage

The operation of the DC-DC converter depends on
the gating signals provided to the switches. FPGA
is used to generate the firing pulses as in the
Figurel 2. From the above figures the output
voltage and currents are varying. By using a DC
DC converter the voltage is boosted to a high value
and maintained at 100 volt with a ripple of 1%..
Figure 13 shwos the converter output voltage.
In the proposed system, it can noticed from Figure
15, that the output to the load is derived upto 0.06
sec from the battery and from 0.06-0.12, the supply
to the load is drawn from solar PV module.

0.15

0.2
0.25
Time(sec)

03

035

Figure 14: Boost Converter Output Current

40 ,-----,--,
",20
;:0

If

20 L---L---L---
0.12
o
0.02 0,04 0,06 0.08 0.1
lime(sec)
Figure 15: Battery voItage

287

0.4

0.4

2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

4. CONCLUSIONS

This paper addressed the FPGA based PV fed BDC

for
application.
charge/discharge
system
Simulation analysis of open circuit voltage control
MPPT charge controller of PV system, and BDC
has been carried-out in MATLAB-SIMULINK
environment. Transfer functions of BDC in both
modes are derived using Small signal analysis.
Thus, the controllers for both modes are designed.
Bode plots Frequency domain is used to judge the
stability of BDC. In addition, FPGA based voltage
mode control PWM technique is implemented and
performance evaluations has been made which
shows the good performance of the controllers.
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analysis

of

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inductor

bidirectional

DC-DC

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Tracking

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for

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288