Stopping the Drift Problem in the Tracking of Maximum Power Point for Photovoltaic System by Using Modified Variable Step Size Incremental Conductance Method

Abstract

Received: 10 March 2020 Accepted: 26 May 2020 The variable step size incremental conductance method (VSS-INC) is a very effective method. However, the VSS-INC method suffers from drifting during a rapid change of irradiation. Drifting is caused by the wrong decision made by the conventional VSS-INC method of the first step size perturbation delivered to varying the duty cycle at a rapid change in irradiation. Modified VSS-INC method has been proposed to stopping the drift problem by incorporating necessary information about the decision-making process during a rapid change of irradiation. The information used is the change in current, change in voltage and the derivative of the irradiation function. Drift problem is clearly shown in this paper for the conventional VSS-INC method. The Boost converter used to verify the efficacy of the modified VSS-INC method. The proposed method demonstrated a high efficacy in stopping the drift problem in the tracking of MPP at the rapid change of irradiation.