2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

Design of FPGA based Open Circuit Voltage

MPPT Charge Controller for Solar PV System
Dogga. Raveendhra
Assistant Professor
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
Graphic Era University,

Babloo Kumar (student),

Dehradun, India-248002.

Devesh Mishra(student},
Department of Electrical and

Department of Electrical and

Meenakshi Mankotia(student}
Department of Electrical and

Electronics Engineering,

Electronics Engineering,

Graphic Era University,

Graphic Era University,

Graphic Era University,

Dehradun, India-248002.

Dehradun,lndia-248002.

Dehradun, India-248002.
Abstract:

The main objective of this paper is

demand and the rapidly depleting fossil fuels, there is

requirement of giving more attention to the
renewable energy resources, so the time had come to
shift the world's energy scenario from non
conventional to conventional source of energy.
Among which the solar energy is the most useful and
commonly used renewable energy resource. Solar
energy is one of the leading conventional energy
sources which have given impressive results over last
few years [10]. Solar energy is among the most
abundant resources we are blessed with but due to
technological problem we are unable to draw benefit
from it.
Solar PV cell is the basic building block in the solar
electric system which directly converts light into
electrical energy. Different PV cells connected in
series or parallel forming a module and further an
array. The output parameters like current, voltage of
the solar panels depends upon the solar radiation
intensity and temperature [1]. The solar photovoltaic
system consists of solar PV array, power
conditioning system, energy storage element and
load. In normal operating conditions it works at a
single point where it can give maximum power[3].
There are different techniques through which this
point can be achieved.

implementation of open circuit voltage MPPT

controller for solar PV System based on FPGA.
MPPT controllers are plays a major role in solar
PV system due to its advantage like increases
efficiency by tracking maximum power from the
panel

under

all

conditions.

Among

all

other

existing methods open circuit method is one of the

simplest method to draw maximum power.
In case of fractional voltage type MMPT
utilizes the concept of solar module voltage at
maximum power condition is follows the linear
relation with open circuit voltage under different
temperature and insulation conditions.

In this

paper, mathematical modeling of solar module

and design of DC-DC converter and small signal
analysis of charge controller are presented.
Keywordsmodule,

Converter,
Control,

Solar,

Power

Boost

Level

PV,

Solar

Conditioning
Converter,

Shifted

PV

System,

System,

PV

DC-DC

Voltage

sinusoidal

Pulse

Mode
width

Modulation FPGA.
1. INTRODUCTION

In this modem era, everyone is running towards the

new technological advancement and their economic
reputation. Everyone is fighting for their existence
and wants to among the top powerful personalities. If
we see the other side of the coin energy crisis is the
hot issue which every country is facing today and the
developing countries are least bothered in doing any
positive step as they are totally dependent on
developed countries for their technology. People are
becoming more concern about their livelihood and
becoming trendy. We know that we have limited
stock of fossil fuels and new ones yet to be
discovered but still we are misusing it, without
thinking anything about future generations. In last
few decades petroleum prices have shown a steep rise
in their graph and the pollution problems caused by
nontraditional energy resources had seek the interest
of scientific research scholars towards traditional
energy sources. With the non competing energy

978-1-4673-4922-2113/$31.00 2013 IEEE

Electronics Engineering,

2. PROPOSED PV SYSTEM

Figure.l shows the proposed PV system which is

single stage power conditioning system, used for
feeding the DC loads.

Charge Controller

Load

Figure1: Block Diagram of Power Conditioning PV

System

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2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

As mentioned above the PV system consists of

different elements like solar PV array, power
conditioning system, energy storage element and
load. The main elements used in the proposed PV
system are explained in detail in the next articles.

VT = Temperature voltage.
Ipv= Current through Panel
Isc = Photon Current.
a = Ideality or completion factor
VI = kT/q
(5)
2
K = Boltzmann's constant (J/K) (1.380x 10- 3)
T = PV cell temperature (K)
q = electron in charge (C) (-1.602 x 10-19)

Rs

1p'1:

2. 2 MPPT Technique

Rsh

01

There are different methods through which the

maximum power point in the P-V curve can be
obtained. The I-V and P-V characteristics of a PV
cell depend upon the solar radiation intensity and
temperature [5]. By controlling the parameters like
current or voltage or both the pinnacle can be
obtained. Perturb & observe is frequently used
because of its low difficulty level in building block
and implementation. In this, a reference current is
taken and power is measured at that instant of time,
then current is increased in steps and if power
increases we keep it increasing current and
simultaneously measuring the power till the pinnacle
is obtained, otherwise if by increasing the current
power decreases then we decreases the current
simultaneously measuring the power and we stop at
the point where maximum power is obtained [6]. This
method has a disadvantage in the case when there is
frequent change in the solar radiation level causing
oscillations in the system. The drawback of the P&O
method can be overcome by using incremental
conductance method. This method is based on the
stats that sum of instantaneous conductance and
incremental conductance is zero at maximum power
point, positive on left of pinnacle and negative on the
right of pinnacle [7].

based
MPPT

Figure 2: Proposed FPGA Controlled Power

Conditioning System
2.1 PV Module

When we combine several PV cells in series or

parallel a PV module can be formed with the
increasing output voltage or current in the manner of
their combination, similarly combination of several
module give rise to an array. The output obtained
from the panel is variable DC voltage, this voltage
depends upon the solar radiation intensity and
temperature[2-3]. The simple equivalent circuit of PV
cell is shown in figure 3.

Ip

ID

+
Isc

(fm)

Ipy

+
VPV

Rp

VD

R,

(R,h)

P = VI
(6)
Where, P = Output power
V= panel voltage
1 = panel current
Differentiating both sides w.r.t voltage, we get

Figure 3: Solar PV cell equivalent circuit.

From the above circuit[I],
vpv

(7)

ID = 10 [e ",VT - 1],
Ipv = Isc - 10

q(Vpv+lpv.Rs)
akT

)
-1 -

(1)
Vpy+lpyRs
Rsh

For maximum power,

(2)

Ipv= Ise- ID ,

(3)

Vpv=cx:VTln[(Ise-Ipv)/Io + 1].

(4)

this implies that

+!..=O
v
dV

dP

dV

(8)

This is condition for achieving maximum power

point. Only disadvantage in this method is that there
is large number of iterative process in calculation of
maximum power point.

Where:
ID = Diode current
10 = Reverse saturation current
V PV = Panel voltage

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2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

The constant voltage method is among one of the

easiest and cheapest method to implement and extract
maximum power point from the solar panel. As
already mentioned panel voltage depends upon the
solar radiation intensity and temperature. The VMPP
and Voc has a linear relationship which can be given
by [8]
(9)
VMPP
kVoc
Where Voc is the open circuit voltage which is
provided by the manufacturer of the solar PV panel.
VMPP is the voltage at the maximum power point. The
factor k is usually between 0.71 and 0.78[7-8],
therefore VMPP can be calculated by using above
formulae and set as a reference. The instantaneous
input voltage from the panel is taken and compared
with the reference voltage, if there is any error that
error is further amplified and used as a duty cycle
which is input to the DC-DC boost converter.

1
v,

ic

+
R

V.

Figure 5: Circuit diagram of D.C-D.C boost converter

Here in the circuit we can see that when we close the
switch S for time t\ the current in the inductor rises
and energy is stored in inductor L, the corresponding
equivalent circuit is shown at figure 2. When we
open the switch S for time t2 , the energy which was
stored in the inductor is transferred to resistive load
through diode D and at the same time inductor
current will fall which is shown in figure 7 below.
The role of capacitor in the circuit is for producing
continuous output voltage Vo[1-2].

The algorithm used in this method is mentioned

below.

v,

V.

Figure 6: D.C-D.C boost converter when switch is

closed.

ic

Figure 4: Algorithm of constant voltage method

iK

v.

2.3 DC-DC BOOST CONVERTER:

In D.C-D.C Boost converter output voltage

is greater than input voltage. They operate both in
continuous and discontinuous conduction mode[4].
They can be used to provide voltage isolation. Basic
circuit diagram is shown in figure.5.

Figure 7: DC-DC boost converter when switch is

open
Different waveform like voltage along inductor,
current through inductor, capacitor, diode current[9]
is shown in figure 8.

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2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

.... ..,.. ...................

or

solar PV module, Charge Controller has to be

designed according to the load requirement. In this
paper, proposed boost controller is designed at
conversion of low voltage 24V to 48V high voltage
for 50watts, 46.0800 ohm load at 10kHz switching
frequency with 2% ripple voltage at output. Digital
Controller i.e., FPGA is used to control the boost
converter in this proposed system. Designs procure
and simulation results of proposed system are
depicted in below in detail.

iL
]lnax

- -77"<.- - - - - - -7;;>"'..."",

flnill

IAiL
L

Specifications of P V System:

Temperature variations range of PV System (T) =

(293K-307K)
2
Irradiance (G)=1000W/m
Simulation results of PV Module current and voltages
are presented in figure 11 and 12 respectively; it can
observe that the module voltage and currents are
varied with temperature and irradiance level. This
voltage is made constant by using closed loop DC
DC Boost converter; this can be clearly observed
from the figure 14.
24 to 48v,50w Boost Converter Small Signal Transfer
Function analysis:

Input Voltage Vi = 24V

Output Voltage V0 = 48V
Output Power Po = 50W
Switching Frequency Fs = 10000Hz
Ts = 1.0000e-004Sec
Duty Ratio D=0.5
Output Current 10 = 1.0417A
Load Resistance R, = 46.0800 Q
From the specification of DC-DC boost converter,
Plant Transfer function (Tp) is given by
8
-0.1922s2 -3.238*104 s+8.572*10
(11)
S2 + 936.2s+1.072*107

Figure 8: Different Waveform of D.C-D.C boost

converter.
The relation between output voltage and source
voltage is given as:
v.0
=

(10)

(l-D)

To achieve closed loop stability margin double lead

integral control is designed. The block diagram of
close loop boost converter is shown in figure 10

Plant with Modulator Transfer function (Tmp):

9
-0.4806s2 -8_094*104 s+ 2.143*10

T,(s)

S2 + 936.2s+1.072*107

VI

(12)

Feedback Factor with Tmp Transfer function (Tk):

-0.01001 S2 -1686s+ 4.465*10 7
S2 + 936.2s+1.072*107

(13)

Controller Transfer function (Tc):

1.236*107s2

Figure 9: Closed loop Boost Converter Block

Diagram.

+1.688*1010 s+5.762*1

S3 +4.625*105 S2 +5.349*10'Os

3. SIMULATION RESULTS

d2
(14)

Bode plot of closed loop DC-DC boost converter is

shown in figure 13, from this we observed that PM is

To design Charge controller there is need to observe

the PV module voltage and current. From this data of

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2013 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2013]

nearly 44S i.e., which meets required stability

margin (30_60).

50
40

IV

30

10
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Figure 14. Boost converter voltage

3,--------+-----"

4. CONCLUSIONS

..

This paper addressed the Small Signal Analysis and

Design of FPGA based Fractional Open Circuit
Voltage MPPT Charge Controller for Solar PV
System. Simulation analysis of open circuit voltage
control MPPT charge controller of PV system has
been carried-out in MATLAB-SIMULINK and
Xilinx System Generator environments. Transfer
functions of Charge Controller are derived using
Small signal analysis. Thus, the controller for DC-DC
boost converter is designed. Bode plots Frequency
domain is used to judge the stability of DC-DC Boost
Converter. In addition, FPGA based voltage mode
control PWM technique is implemented and
performance evaluations has been made which shows
the good performance of the controller.

Figure 10. Temperature Variations at input

side solar PV Module
45

3.5

25

1.5

0.5

Figure 11. Solar PV Module Current

Waveform

5. REFERENCES

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simulator for utility interactive studies," JEEE Trans. Energy
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power systems," JEEE Trans. Power App. Syst., vol. 102, pp.
3031-3037, Sept. 1983.
[3] Mukund R. Patel, Ph.D., P.E. (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy
Kings Point, New York)Wind and Solar Power Systems pp.1820,34.
[4] M.A.S. Masoum, H. Dehbonei, and E.F. Fuchs, "Theoretical
and experimental analyses of photovoltaic systems with voltage
and

---------+-----+.--------".

'.

current-based

maximum

power-point

JEEE

tracking,"

Transactions on Energy Conversion, 17 (4), 514-522, 2002.

[5] N.Femia, G.Petrone, G.Spagnuolo, and M.Vitelli, Optimization

Figure 12. Solar PV module Voltage

Waveform

of perturb and observe maximum power point tracking method,"

IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 20 (4), 963-973,2005.

[6] K.H. Hussein, "Maximum photovoltaic power tracking: An

:L

algorithm for rapidly changing atmospheric conditions," lEE

Proceedings of the Transmission and Distribution, 142 (I), 59-64,
1995.
[7] T.Esram, and P.L. Chapman, "Comparison of photovoltaic
array

maximum

power

point

tracking

IEEE

techniques,"

Transactions on Energy Conversion, 22 (2), 439-449, 2007.

[8] Abraham .r. Pressman, "Switching Power Supply Design", Tata

McGraw-Hill publications, 1991.

[9]

Raveendhra,

Dogga.;

Pathak,

M.K.;

Panda,

A.;

"Power

conditioning system for solar power applications: Closed loop DC

DC convertor fed FPGA controlled diode clamped multilevel

Figure 13. Loop Gain Bode Plot of Boost

Converter

inverter," Electrical.

Electronics

and

Computer

Science

(SCEECS). 2012 JEEE Students' Conference on , vol., no., pp.I-4,

1-2 March 2012.

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