Design, simulation and implementation of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) for solar based renewable systems

This paper presents a holistic view of the concept of Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) generally used and implemented for solar applications, so as to maximize the output for a conventional solar panel. This paper comprises of detailed study in the field of MPPT in a simulative environment using MATLAB and the same results are reproduced in hardware using Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm. Improvement in the performance of a conventional solar panel is seen through the simulation in terms of output voltage of the boost converter connected as the main DC-DC converter device. This is performed by changing the irradiance to the solar panel. The waveforms of current, voltage and thus the output power show its maximized value. The hardware results include the change in duty cycle with change in irradiance and thus signify the change in output voltage and current for a flyback converter controlled by the MPPT algorithm.