Distributed maximum power point tracking for overcoming mismatch losses in PV system’s, applying minimal auxiliary power processing

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• Dr. Doron Shmilovitz, School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University
• Tuesday 20 March 2012, 14:00-15:00
• Seminar Room 1109A, level 11, EEE Dept. .

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Michael Sokolov.

Along with increasing deployment of photovoltaic generators and the constant pressure to reduce the cost of photovoltaic generated energy, the interest in distributed maximum point tracking increases. As mismatch losses constitute a major loss mechanism in photovoltaic (PV) power systems (especially in urban installations), distributed maximum point tracking (DMPPT) facilitates a significant boost of the power extracted from photovoltaic generators. In this talk different distributed maximum power point architectures are compared and categorized into two main groups; those which process the entire generated power and partial power processing based architectures. The first ones are found to be easier to control while the second ones exhibit higher efficiency. Some delicate control issues are emphasized; a distinction is made between maximum power point tracking and negative feedback control. The required number of maximum point tracking units within a DMPPT based PV system and their adequate location within a global architecture is derived. Only the right number of units guarantees extraction of the entire potential power as well as system stability. In contrary, the occurrence of instability due to a redundant control structure is demonstrated. Moreover, a photovoltaic topology, which applies internal power feedback converters to restore the system’s symmetry, is presented. Compared to state-of-the-art front-end distributed topologies, the proposed topology is shown to significantly decrease the power processed by the converters and, consequently, their losses. Two maximum power point (MPP) trackers suitable for the proposed topology were compared for stability and speed. Experiments were conducted with a 114 W solar string, consisting of three solar modules of 38 W each. The experimental results validate the proposed approach; under low shading, the conversion efficiency exceeded 98%.

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