A buck converter with simple maximum power point tracking for power electronics education on solar energy systems

This paper introduces a solar photovoltaic (PV) system suitable for undergraduate engineering education and training. The system consists of a buck converter using a simple maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method. Constant voltage control method is used for the approximate tracking and is implemented by analogue circuits. The circuit simplicity helps students to appreciate the benefit of MPPT in a short period of time without the need to work on complicated circuits and software coding. The proposed converter has been successfully implemented and served as a mini-project in a unit of study in power engineering studies.