Microcontroller-based maximum power point tracking methods in photovoltaic systems

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods are employed to withdraw optimum output power from the photovoltaic (PV) system under partial shading conditions (PSCs). A real-time power point tracker is a crucial part of the PV system. Unlike numerous studies concentrating on developing redundant soft computing MPPT algorithms, the focus of this paper is to highlight the importance role of microcontroller-based (MCU-based) MPPT techniques. Major power electronics (PE) MPPT methods and PV system architectures are briefly described as important factors to improve performance of PV systems under PSCs. It is notified that advanced features of nowadays' MCUs such as temperature and irradiance sensors as well as Wi-Fi connectivity can be developed in the context of power conversion.