4 Section method for MPPT optimization in Solar Panel Experiments under PSC v221023

At uniform solar radiation, the P-V characteristics only consist of one Maximum Power Point (MPP) along with its functional operating voltage, but naturally this condition rarely occurs. Solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays often experience Partial Shading Condition (PSC), which can occur due to building shadows, passing birds or cloud shadows etc. which causes the P-V characteristics of solar cells to change from uniform solar radiation conditions. This partial shadow condition will give rise to complex P-V characteristics with multiple MPPs. So, the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm might get stuck at a local peak, which is smaller than the global peak. The previous research has used the Global Maximum Power Point Detection (GMPPD) method to identify all the peaks and choose a global peak accurately. However, the method requires a complete reading of voltage data to identify the GMPP, which will need a lot of iterations, especially when irradiation changes frequently, so the GMPPD may have to restart again and again to read all the voltage data to locate the new GMPP. The research proposes an approach to reduce the computation time by identifying which part of the voltage data range has a peak in it. That part will be processed further. The rest of the voltage data range will be skipped. The method is a bracketing method to find zero of dP value which is developed from bisection method. The method has been tested with experimental data which contains noise and uncertainty to prove its effectiveness and accuracy.