An improved PV system based on dual axis solar tracking and MPPT

This paper presents the design and construction of a photovoltaic system (PV system) using dual axis solar tracking and maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller to improve the efficiency of PV cell output power. The dual axis solar tracking technique is designed to track the sun both the azimuth angle and altitude angle to enable the solar panel perpendicular to the illumination of the sun. The MPPT algorithm is designed to keep the PV system operating at maximum power point, a modified variable step size incremental conductance algorithm has been proposed in this paper to meet the requirements of response speed and dynamic stability. Both the solar tracking and MPPT algorithms are implemented into TMD320F2812 controller. Simulations and practical experiments have been made through Matlab/Simulink and prototype device respectively. The results show that both the solar tracking and MPPT algorithms could improve the efficiency of PV array output power.