Cuk Converters for Balanced Power Extraction in Photovoltaic Panels

This work presents a scheme of current balance implemented with Cuk converters for photovoltaic (PV) panels, which allows controlling the current that each cell generates and therefore drives each cell to its maximum power point (MPP). Ladder converter architectures offer substantial improvements compared to traditional solutions since each converter only needs to process the power difference between series connected PV devices (module, substring, cells). A simple case, connecting just three PV cells is studied in this work. The strategy for balancing the current produced by each cell is developed. The work describes the circuit topology under analysis, the control strategy for each converter and simulation results that validate the proposal.