A novel approach of maximizing energy harvesting in photovoltaic systems based on bisection search theorem

This paper presents a new approach of maximizing energy harvesting in photovoltaic (PV) systems using bisection search theorem (BST). The fundamental of the BST and its application into maximum power point tracker (MPPT) in PV systems are described. A microcontroller is used to control a DC/DC boost converter to realize the MPPT function. Experimental results from solar array simulator show that the proposed technique can track maximum power point very fast within a few steps. The feasibility of the proposed MPPT is also verified in natural environment condition with two solar modules in parallel. Since the proposed technique is simple in computation, cheap in implementation and fast in tracking, it is expected to be widely used to replace conventional MPPT techniques in PV systems.