Abstract
The main advantages in terms of a simple algorithm, easy to use, fast maximum power point tracking (MPPT) speed of the incremental conductance (InC) and perturbation and observation (P&O) algorithms have been adopted in the literature. Besides, the oscillation phenomenon around the maximum power point (MPP) is a major drawback of these typical algorithms. More specifically, these traditional algorithms failed to find the global maximum power peak when the PV system was operating under partial shading conditions where multiple peaks appeared on the PV curve characteristic. Therefore, a new approach based on the conventional InC algorithm is proposed in this paper. By evenly dividing the search area at the early stage, this proposed method avoids the regional traps encountered by the traditional InC algorithm. Then select the regions where there is a high probability of finding the global MPP to implement the conventional InC approach. After finishing this process, the location with the best power is selected and the MPP search is further performed using the various step-size InC algorithm for the final stage. With this improvement, the steady-state oscillation amplitude of the proposed method is significantly reduced. The implementation process and simulation results show that the proposed method has key advantages in terms of simplicity, fast convergence speed, and reduced steady-state oscillation amplitude. Simulation and experimental results are also compared with the conventional P&O and PSO methods to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in both uniform illuminance and partial shading conditions.
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Notes on contributors
Sy Ngo
Sy Ngo received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE), Vietnam, in 2006 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Chung-Yuan Christian University (CYCU), Chung-Li, Taiwan, in 2022. Since 2010, he has been with Institute of Engineering and Technology, Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam, where he is currently a Lecturer. His research interests include renewable energy, power converters, and optimization.
Thanh-Dong Ngo
Thanh-Dong Ngo received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE), Vietnam, in 2015. He has been with Institute of Engineering and Technology, Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam since 2021, where he is currently a Lecturer. His research interests include renewable energy, optimal control, and fuzzy logic control.
Cao-Tri Nguyen
Cao-Tri Nguyen received the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE), Vietnam, in 2012. Since 2010, he has been with Institute of Engineering and Technology, Thu Dau Mot University, Vietnam, where he is currently a Lecturer. His research interests include renewable energy, power electric, solar inverter, and lighting engineering.
Chian-Song Chiu
Chian-Song Chiu received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the Chung-Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li, Taiwan, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Since 2008, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Chung-Yuan Christian University, where he is currently a Professor. His current research interests include fuzzy control and solar power systems.