International Conference on Materials, Electronics & Information Engineering, ICMEIE-2015

05-06 June, 2015, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh

www.ru.ac.bd/icmeie2015/proceedings/

Maximum Power Point Tracking Using DC/DC

Cuk Converter for Photovoltaic Systems
Md. Rabiul Hasan, Md. Saif Iftekhar, Rana Banik
Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department
Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology
Chittagong, Bangladesh
E-mail: rasel.ctg125@gmail.com, iftekhar_saif@yahoo.com, ranabanik129@gmail.com

Abstract The I-V characteristic curve of solar PV

system shows non-linearity where the desired maximum power
point can easily be found. Cuk converter has been used in this
particular system with the purpose of extracting solar power out
of PV arrays with greater stability. For the purpose of assessing
the duty cycles of cuk, MPPT controller is used. This converter is
the most suitable DC chopper for evaluating ripple free current
in PV side. The energy transfer from source to load is continuous
regardless of the state of the MOSFET switch. Voltage can be
stepped up or stepped down and the overall performance will be
smooth. For all kinds of simulation and development, MATLAB
Simulink is used. The overall system efficiency, amount of ripple
current on both PV side and load portion, power on both sides
and investigation on system stability under several conditions
have been considered. The simulation result shows that there
exists only 0.06795 percent of ripple in the PV side current which
is almost ripple free and 0.0026 percent ripple in the output
current with respect to the average value of current. Both the
MPPT and the converter efficiency are significantly improved.
Under different solar irradiances, MPPT has shown good
performance. Cuk converter based solar system has given
satisfactory outcome which reflects its utility compared to other
types of dc-dc choppers.
Keywords Solar PV System, MPPT, Perturbation &
Observation Algorithm, Percent Ripple, Cuk Converter.

I.

INTRODUCTION

At present the energy generation of efficient, cost effective

and environment friendly sources is emphasized. It is now a
major concern for engineers and scientists to find out a way
how the future demand for energy is reconciled [1]. Recent
progress in semiconductor physics gives an opportunity to
extract energy from the sun using photoelectric mechanism.
Solar energy is the main source of green energy whose
pollution level is minimum comparing with other known
energy sources. Though energy extraction from solar is costly
and solar cell still do not present desirable efficiency, it will be
the only way to generate electrical power in the near future[2]
[3]. PV module that is used to extract energy should operate at
its maximum power point. But power generation from solar
varies based on the variation of solar irradiance, temperature,
dust, shadow etc. [4]. For variation of this parameter the output
voltage of the PV cell fluctuates and become inconstant.
Considering the above problem in PV systems, maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) has been proposed.

I.
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
In fig. 1, the basic form of the designed system has been
shown. Cuk converter has been used in this particular system
with a view to extract solar power out of PV arrays with the
greatest stability. MPPT algorithm is used for the purpose of
assessing the duty cycles of cuk. In this system, Perturb and
Observe (P & O) algorithm have been used as it is comparably
practical and easy to implement [5]. For this particular
algorithm, voltage and current are taken as reference and these
are used to calculate extracted power from PV side
continuously. If the power is greater than the previous
calculated power, the duty cycle of the converter will climb
up; otherwise, the duty cycle will be decreased according to
this algorithm. Thus it changes the pulse width as well as the
output voltage to track the maximum power point.
II.

PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR SYSTEM

A solar cell (basic unit of PV module) converts energy that

lies in the photons of sunlight into electricity by means of
particular semiconductor materials like silicon and selenium.
The PV module generates a low output DC voltage. The
equivalent circuit of a solar cell is shown in fig. 2. Solar cells
characteristic is exponential and there is a nonlinear
relationship between the output current and voltage of a PV
module [6]. Solar cells are joined together generally in series
and parallel to form PV modules. Here, the value of the
energy storage components are computed by taking into
account 10% ripple voltage and ripple current.
The current equation [10] of a module is given below=

[exp

1]

ISBN 978-984-33-8940--4

(1)

International Conference on Materials, Electronics & Information Engineering, ICMEIE-2015

05-06 June, 2015, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
www.ru.ac.bd/icmeie2015/proceedings/
Fig. 1. PV system with maximum power point tracking circuit.

Fig. 2. Equivalent circuit of a solar cell consisting of discrete electrical

components.

The photocurrent of the cell which is proportional to solar

irradiance can be gained by
=
+ ( )( )
The reverse saturation current is found from
=

[ ] exp [(
III.

){

}]

(2)

input inductor L1, capacitor C1, C2 and C3, controlled

MOSFET switch, Diode1, load side inductor L2 and resistance
of load R. Resistor is connected in series both at PV side and
load side to compensate parasitic effects. An RC1 branch is
connected in parallel to PV side to increase the R-C1 time
constant. Both the input and the output current of the
converter are continuous whether the MOSFET switch is on or
off [5]. This is the main convenience of this topology. The PV
module is designed using electrical characteristics to get the
PV modules output voltage and current. By using this, we get
the output power of PV module. This power then works as an
input for converter and controller. At fixed temperature
(25C), the irradiance has been changed to test the operation.
The illumination level starts from zero W/m2 and reaches at
600 W/m2 at time 1.43 seconds. It stays there until 2.00
second. The illumination level then rises to 800 W/m2; at time

(3)

MPPT ALGORITHM

Maximum Power Point moves throughout the day depending

on the various factors of the environment. I-V and P-V curves
at different irradiance and temperature have shown that PV
panel terminal voltage and current are affected by the factorirradiance and temperature [9]. As the significant voltage
shifts occur at MPP, so it should be continuously tracked to
get maximum power. This is done by changing the duty cycle
of dc/dc converter which perturbs the voltage continuously. A
control algorithm is developed to ensure that the operating
point is at its maximum value. There are various types of
algorithm such as perturbation and observation (P&O),
incremental conductance (IncCond) method, fuzzy logic etc.
Considering the simplicity of implementation, tracking speed
with high efficiency, P&O method is chosen as an MPPT
algorithm [7] to perturb the voltage to operate the PV array at
MPP. To find out the MPP, operating voltage is perturbed by a
small amount dv and then measured the change of power dp.
If power increases, direction of the next perturbation will be
same. And if power decreases then, the direction of next
perturbation will be in opposite. This process is repeated again
and again until reaching at MPP. At this time operating point
oscillates around the MPP. The oscillation around the MPP
can be reduced by using small step size of dv. Tracking speed
is reduced at this time. So, there is a trade-off between this
oscillation and the tacking speed. This problem can be solved
by using a larger step size at first and then that size is reduced
to a small amount. The flow chart of the MPPT algorithm is
shown in fig. 3. At first, voltage and current are sensed. Then,
by using those values, available power has been measured.
After that, this algorithm compares this value with the
previous iteration value [8].

Fig. 3. Flow chart for Perturbation & Observation method.

IV.
SIMULINK MODEL OF PROPOSED SYSTEM
Cuk converter is actually a fourth order dc/dc converter as
it has generally four energy storage components. The MPPT
based PV module designed in SIMLULINK is shown in fig. 4.
The cuk converter consists of an input dc voltage source V1,

ISBN 978-984-33-8940--4

International Conference on Materials, Electronics & Information Engineering, ICMEIE-2015

05-06 June, 2015, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
www.ru.ac.bd/icmeie2015/proceedings/

MPPT Efficiency [ (%)] =

(5)

Here, Pin = Extracted maximum power from the PV array;

PM = the power at the MPP.
Converter Efficiency is the ratio of the output power Po to the
input power Pin.
(6)
Converter Efficiency [ (%)] =

Fig. 4. Simulink model of proposed methodology.

2 second and stay there for 0.86 second. After that from 2.86
second to 4.29 second it stays in 900 W/m2, then rises to 1000
W/m2 and stays there until 8.57second. Lastly, the illumination
level drops to 400 W/m2 and stays there until 10second.
The output power of cuk converter is shown in TABLE I for
different irradiance levels which is very much satisfactory. For
example, the result shows that at irradiance, G = 1000 W/m2
and 600 W/m2, the output power is 96.89W and 46.32W
respectively. The input and output power of cuk converter for
both for variable irradiance levels and fixed irradiance level
i.e. 1000 W/m2 are represented graphically in fig. 5 and fig. 6
respectively.
V. RIPPLE CONTENT
The percent ripple exists in current in both PV side and load
side is computed by the equation below-

(
.

Overall Efficiency [ (%)] = MPPT Efficiency [m(%)]

Converter Efficiency[ c(%)]
(7)
Here, at 1000W/m2, for conventional SEPIC,
Overall efficiency [ (%)] = [m (%)] [ c (%)]
= 98.11% 92.28% = 90.54%
But for cuk converter,
Overall efficiency [ (%)] = [m (%)] [ c (%)]
= 99.99% 96.68% = 96.67%
Again, for 650W/m2, for conventional SEPIC,
Overall efficiency [ (%)] = [m (%)] [ c (%)]
= 98.01% 90.66% = 88.86%
But for cuk converter,
Overall efficiency [ (%)] = [m (%)] [ c (%)]
= 98.63% 91.42% = 90.17%
TABLE I.
COMPARISON OF POWER UNDER VARIABLE IRRADIANCE
Irradiance
G(W/m2)

PM(W)

600

50.411

650
700
750
850
900
950
1000

Cuk Converter

SEPIC

Pin(W)

Po(W)

Pin(W)

Po(W)

56.7312
63.4809

49.543
55.954
62.389

46.32
51.15
58.19

49.47
55.60
61.30

44.52
50.41
55.98

69.4282
82.8405
88.3677
94.411
100.1043

68.942
82.028
88.352
94.402
100.103

65.27
77.64
84.67
91.28
96.89

67.14
81.35
86.69
92.59
98.21

63.20
76.00
80.74
86.16
90.63

100% (4)

The average value of the current ripple in the PV side for the
SEPIC is about 5.50A and current ripple is 13.63% of the
average value. On the contrary, for cuk converter based MPPT
system, the average value of the peak current is 5.4735A and
the current ripple is 0.04567% of the average value. This can
be considered as ripple free system. The ripple current
characteristic is shown in the fig. 7 and fig. 8 for irradiance
level 1000W/m2. By this way, this cuk converter based MPPT
system is much better than conventional SEPIC based MPPT
system.
VI. EFFICIENCY
MPPT Efficiency is the ratio of the extracted maximum power
from the PV array to the power at the MPP.

TABLE II.
COMPARISON OF EFFECIENCIES UNDER VARIABLE IRRADIANCE
Irradiance
G(W/m2)

MPPT Efficiency
Cuk
Converter
m (%)

Converter Efficiency

SEPIC
m (%)

Cuk
Converter
c (%)

SEPIC
c (%)

600

98.28

98.13

93.49

90.00

650
700
750
850
900
950

98.63
98.28
99.30
99.02
99.98
99.99

98.01
96.57
96.71
98.20
98.10
98.07

91.42
93.27
94.02
94.66
95.84
96.69

90.66
91.33
94.13
93.43
93.13
93.06

ISBN 978-984-33-8940--4

International Conference on Materials, Electronics & Information Engineering, ICMEIE-2015

05-06 June, 2015, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
www.ru.ac.bd/icmeie2015/proceedings/

1000

99.99

98.11

96.68

92.28

Therefore, overall system efficiency increases 6.13% (at 1000

W/m2) and 1.31% (at 650 W/m2) with the proposed MPPT
scheme. Similar results are obtained for other irradiance
values which are summarized in Table I and II. These results
signifies that the cuk converter is much better to track MPP as

120

Input Power for Cuk Converter

Output Power for Cuk Converter

Power(W)

100

Fig. 7. Current Ripple characteristics in PV side for irradiance 1000 W/m2.

80

60

40

20

10

Time(Sec)

Fig. 5. Extracted power from PV array vs. Time for variable irradiance.
120

100

Power(W)

Fig. 8. Current ripple characteristics at load side for irradiance 1000 W/m2.
80

Input Power for Cuk Converter

Output Power for Cuk Converter

well as to deliver the load than conventional SEPIC. The

dynamic MPPT performance with cuk converter is also
satisfactory and is much better dynamic MPPT performance
with conventional SEPIC. Besides this, the result also shows
that Cuk converter based MPPT controllers efficiency in this
research is more than the existing MPPT controller system
proposed recently [9]. For an example the efficiency in that
research is 93.93% in 1000W/m2 which is 2.74% less than the
system in this research.

60

40

20

Time(Sec)

Fig. 6. Input & Output Power of Cuk Converter for 1000 W/m2.

10

VII.
CONCLUSION
In this system, cuk converter based MPPT system is
developed and simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK. Almost
ripple free output has been generated. By comparing with
SEPIC based MPPT system and Cuk based existing system, it
has been found that the overall efficiency of this cuk converter
based MPPT is improvised and ripple characteristics is far better
than the SEPIC.

[1]

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ISBN 978-984-33-8940--4

International Conference on Materials, Electronics & Information Engineering, ICMEIE-2015

05-06 June, 2015, Faculty of Engineering, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh
www.ru.ac.bd/icmeie2015/proceedings/

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ISBN 978-984-33-8940--4