Robust Nonlinear Control of a PV system for MPPT under Variable Atmospheric Conditions

In the present paper, we report a robust and efficient controller based on terminal sliding mode controller (TSMC) for maximum power tracking (MPPT) of photovoltaic (PV) system. The studied PV system consists of a PV module, a DC-DC converter, MPPT control circuit and load. First, the power slope method based on PV power characteristic curve is used for maximum power point voltage seeking. The proposed TSMC is designed in order to make the PV system performs at the desired reference maximum power voltage (MPV), by regulating the control duty cycle. Despite the atmospheric conditions variations, the designed approach assures a robust and fast tracking response convergence in finite with a very low tracking error. In order to demonstrate the designed controller effectiveness and robustness, a comparative study, includes the proposed approach and the conventional sliding mode control (SMC), is presented through various simulations.