GLOBAL MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING UNDER PARTIAL SHADING CONDITION USING MODIFIED SEPIC CONVERTER

Abstract

Tracking of maximum power point (MPP) is an inevitable part of a system of energy conversion using
photovoltaic (PV) array. Under uniform solar irradiance the popular conventional maximum power point tracking
algorithms are effective. However, under solar irradiance mismatching conditions (partially shaded conditions
(PSCs)) defects the current-voltage and power-voltage characteristics of photovoltaic system significantly.
Especially partial shaded phenomenon affects the power-voltage characteristics because it contains multiple peaks
and steps. So, the conventional tracking algorithms fails to guarantee successful tracking of the real MPP (Global
Peak (GP)), and it tend to stay in local peak power point which considerably reduce the energy and efficiency of the
PV system. In this paper, a new algorithm called improved hill climbing algorithm is used to track the global peak
power from PV array under partially shaded condition and modified SEPIC converter is used as a DC-DC
interface. The performance of proposed maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is analyzed and verified by
simulations with the help of MATLAB/SIMULINK.