Cascaded DC-DC Converter for a Reliable

Standalone PV fed DC load

Malay Bhunia Rajesh Gupta Bidyadhar Subudhi
Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department
National Institute of Technology M. N. National Institute of National Institute of Technology
Rourkela, India Technology Rourkela, India
malay321@gmail.com Allahabad, India bidyadharnitrkl@gmail.com
rajgupta310@gmail.com

Abstract To extract maximum available power from the PV
system many maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms
with DC-DC converter have been proposed in the literature.
However, due to change in load or environmental conditions, the
output voltage from the DC-DC converter varies. The variable
output voltages are not suitable for many applications requiring
constant voltage. To overcome this difficultly, a cascaded DC-DC
converter with battery storage system for standalone application
is proposed in this paper. The proposed system comprises of a PV
system connected with a boost DC-DC converter to deliver the
available maximum power to the DC bus. A Single-ended
primary inductor converter (SEPIC) is connected to the DC bus
to provide regulated DC voltage to the load. A battery with
charge controller is connected to the DC bus to improve the
reliability of the system. The efficacy of the proposed topology is
verified through the experimental studies pursued on a prototype
PV connected converter system developed in the laboratory.
Robustness studies with regard to variation in environmental
parameters such as solar insolation and load variation were
made. MPPT and voltage regulation algorithms were
implemented in LABVIEW platform using data acquisition
boards.
Keywords Battery storage system; boost converter;
LABVIEW, maximum power point tracking (MPPT); photovoltaic
(PV); SEPIC converter; voltage regulation.
I. INTRODUCTION
amount of literature has dealt with the operation of hybrid
systems [5-9]. In some hybrid systems [6, 7], the batteries are
used to compensate the mismatch between the generation and
the demand. The size of the battery can be reduced when a
battery charging circuit is inserted between the DC bus and the
battery [8, 10].
A suitable MPPT controller can be used to extract
maximum power from the PV system but the DC output
voltage of the converter varies with the load and the
environmental conditions [11]. When the generated PV power
is more than the load demand, the extra power can be stored in
rechargeable batteries [12-14]. Many literatures [16, 17]
discussed about the PV power supplies but they do not put
emphasis on the constant output voltage. Shunt regulator
along with the battery can be used to regulate the DC bus
voltage [15] but author does not include the MPPT controller
to extract the maximum available power. Extraction of
maximum available power enables supply of load demand
power during varying environmental and load condition. In
[18], author proposed a regulated DC supply with MPPT
controller but battery charging and discharging is not there.
A DC-DC converter can be used to generate DC output
voltage both for MPPT and load voltage regulation. A
comparative study of different converters is available in [19].
A SEPIC converter can be used for voltage controller due to
its capability to step-up and step-down the input voltage

W ith ever increasing demand of renewable energy and
growing concern about environmental issues,
photovoltaic (PV) based systems are being increasingly
used in diverse applications both at domestic and commercial
levels [1]. However, the nonlinear current verses voltage (I-V)
characteristics hinders its control design to achieve extraction
of maximum power [2]. To extract available maximum power,
DC-DC converter with maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) algorithms has been proposed in the literature [3].
The application of PV systems can be broadly classified into
standalone system and grid connected system [4,5]. The
standalone system is widely used in remote areas where access
to electricity is not viable. The standalone PV system can
provide regulated load voltage but reliability of the system
cannot be guaranteed [5]. Storage batteries are advised to
improve the reliability of the standalone systems [6]. A fair
without changing the output voltage polarity [19, 20].
Advancement in digital technology and graphical user
interface programming methods has made it possible to
implement the complex algorithms for online controls.
LABVIEW platform has recently been extensively used for
implementing sophisticated control algorithms [21].
In this paper a boost-SEPIC converter based PV system is
developed. The boost DC-DC converter is used for MPPT to
deliver the available maximum power to the DC bus. A SEPIC
converter is used at the DC bus to control the DC load voltage
demand. This proposed model is very useful for varying
environmental and load power demand even in such cases
where peak load demand is higher than PV rating for short
duration of time. The proposed system consists of a power
flow management system to control the operation and power
flow control in the system using LABVIEW platform and data

978-1-4799-6046-0/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE

acquisition boards. The system acts like a regulated
uninterrupted power supply for a DC load.
II. CIRCUIT CONFIGURATION
The proposed system shown in Fig. 1 consists of two DC-
DC converters and battery management system. The MPPT is
tracked using a boost DC-DC converter [2], [19] and the load
voltage is controlled through a SEPIC converter. Battery
connected across the DC bus is controlled through a charge
control unit.
(1 D2 )2
Re q1 = Rload (2)
D22
The SEPIC converter is controlled using a closed loop control
as shown in Fig. 3 [24]. Here the reference output voltage
Vloadref is compared with the actual load voltage Vload. The error
signal generated is passed through a PI controller. The output
of the PI controller generates the duty ratio D2 which is used
for the PWM modulator to generate the pulses for the switch
(S2) of the SEPIC converter as shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3. Closed loop control of SEPIC converter.

B. MPPT Control
The PV Power Ppv verses PV voltage Vpv characteristics of a
PV cell is nonlinear as shown Fig. 4. The boost converter
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed PV system.
along with the maximum power point tracking (MPPT)
controller is used to track the MPP of the PV cell. Here
III. CONTROL STRATEGY maximum power extraction is limited up to maximum
allowable DC bus voltage Vdcbusmax.
The control strategy in the PV system is divided into three
parts.
A. Voltage Regulation
Load voltage is regulated using the SEPIC converter. The
converter has the capability to both step-up and step-down the
input voltage without changing the output voltage polarity.
Cp D
Ppv (W)

Vcp
Rload
Vin Cin1 Cout2
S2 L
VLoad

Input equivalent resistance (Req1)

Fig. 2. SEPIC converter. Vpv (V)

Fig. 4. Power Vs Voltage characteristics of a PV cell
The control-to-output small signal transfer function of the
SEPIC converter in the continuous conduction mode (CCM) A boost converter is used between the PV module and the
with load voltage Vload.control can be derived from Fig. 2 in DC bus to extract the available maximum power. Circuit of
the following form using the averaged model [22]. the boost converter is shown in Fig. 5. The converter is
sDL controlled through a closed loop voltage controller as shown
1 2
in Fig. 6 [24]. In this block diagram the MPPT controller gives
V Vload Vin (1D2)RLoad
G2 (s) = load = (1) the reference voltage for the boost converter input voltage
D (1D2 )2 sL LC
2 Vin =Vcp =0 1+ +s2 Vmppref corresponding to the available maximum PV module
(1D2 )2 RLoad (1D2)2 power Pmpp. The actual boost converter input voltage Vpv is
compared with the reference input voltage Vmppref. The error
Where, D2 is the duty ratio of the SEPIC converter. The signal generated is passed through a PI controller. The output
relationship between the input equivalent resistance Req1 to the of the PI controller generates the duty ratio D1 which is used
load resistance RLoad can be derived as follows [23]. for the PWM modulator to generate the pulses for the switch
(S1).
 The transfer function between duty ratio (D1) as a charge level is less than the maximum allowable charge level
controlling input to converter input voltage Vpv can be derived SOCmax.
from Fig. 5 as follows [25].

Vpv 1 ( z1 s + z 2 )
G1 ( s ) = = (3)
D1 R pv p1 s 3 + p2 s 2 + p3 s + p4
Where
z1 = Vdc R e q1 R pv Cout ; z2 = I l R e q R pv (1 D1 ) + Vdc
p1 = LR pv R e q1 Cin Cout ; p2 = LR pv Cin + R e q1 LCout
P3 = Cin R e q1 R pv (1 D1 )2 ; p4 = I l R e q R pv (1 D1 ) + Vdc

The relationship between the input equivalent resistance Req to

load resistance RLoad of the boost converter can be derived Fig. 7. Energy flow diagram of whole system
from Fig. 5 as below [2]. The charging process of the battery is done through two
Req = Req1 (1 D1 ) 2
(4) steps. First one is through constant current charging and the
second one is through constant voltage charging [26], [27],
The MPP is tracked considering the SEPIC converter as output [12]. In constant current charging mode the charging current is
load for the boost converter. Combining (2) and (4) the input limited through the external current reference, which is
equivalent resistance Req of the boost converter can be written according to the specification of the maximum battery
as follows. charging current. In constant voltage charging mode, a
constant voltage is applied across the battery according to the
(1 D2 ) 2 (1 D1 ) 2 battery manufacturer specification. Mode of charging depends
Req = Rload (5)
D22 upon the battery terminal voltage Vbat, battery nominal voltage
Vnom and battery state of charge (SOC).

Collect
P pvout , Pload , Vbat ,
SOC

P pvout > SOC>

( Pload+Ploss ) SOCmin
N
N
Fig. 5 Boost converter with PV module
Y
Y

SOC< Vbat >

SOCmax (0. 95* V nom )
N Y

Y N
Fig. 6 Closed loop control of boost converter with MPPT controller.

Both the converters has independent control loops and with
the choice of parameters it is possible to stably control the
converter using duty ratio as control input.
C. Battery Charging & Discharging Control
The single line diagram of power flow of the complete
system is shown in Fig. 7 [24]. Charging and discharging of
the battery depends upon the power generation by the boost
converter Ppvout and power requirement by the load Pload. Fig. 8
shows the flow-chart of the battery control strategy of the
system. The controller continuously monitors the boost
converter output power Ppvout, load demand power Pload,
battery terminal voltage Vbat and battery state of charge (SOC).
The battery charging process starts when the load power
Pload plus power loss Ploss in the SEPIC converter is less as
compare to the PV generated power Ppvout and the battery
Constant Constant
Voltage Current Discharge
Charge Charge
Fig. 8. Flowchart of battery control strategy.
When the battery nominal voltage Vnom multiplied by 0.95 is
greater than the battery terminal voltage Vbat, constant current
charging mode starts. Otherwise constant voltage charging
mode is selected depending upon the SOC and maximum
allowable charge level (SOCmax). If SOC is less than the
SOCmax, the constant voltage charge mode starts. The loop will
restart again if SOC is greater than the SOCmax.
When the load power Pload plus power loss Ploss in the
SEPIC converter is high as compare to the PV generation
power Ppvout and the battery discharge level is greater than the between the boost converter input equivalent resistance with
minimum allowable discharge level SOCmin the battery starts the PV resistance as per (4). As the duty ratio changes the
to discharge. During discharging period the battery is output voltage also changes.
connected directly to the DC bus.

IV. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND RESULTS

To verify the simulation results of the proposed system, an
experimental setup is developed and tested. Fig. 9 shows the
complete experimental setup consisting of MPPT control
through boost converter, load voltage regulation through
SEPIC converter and battery charging circuit. National
Instruments data acquisition card (PCI-6251) with LABVIEW
10.1 software is used to control the converters.

Fig. 10. Boost converter result with MPPT controller.

B. SEPIC Converter Experimental Result (Voltage regulation

Control)
The SEPIC converter show in Fig. 2 is implemented with the
specifications given in Table II. Fig. 11 shows the SEPIC
converter output voltage during boost operation. Channel 1
and 2 of Fig. 11 shows the output load voltage and input PV
voltage, respectively. Channel 3 shows gate pulses for the
converter. Input voltage of the SEPIC converter is 11.5 V. The
output reference voltage for the SEPIC converter is 40 V. It is
observed that the converter tracks the reference voltage.
Fig. 9. Experimental Setup.
TABLE II SPECIFICATION OF SEPIC CONVERTER
A. Boost Converter Experimental Result (MPPT Control)
Boost Converter shown in Fig. 5 is designed for MPPT with Input Voltage Range 10-200 V
the specifications given in Table I. Output Voltage Range 10-50 V
Switching Frequency 4 kHz
TABLE I SPECIFICATION OF BOOST CONVERTER
Ripple Voltage 0.5 V
Input Voltage Range 10-50 V Output Current 5A
Output Voltage Range 10-200 V
Switching Frequency 20 kHz
Ripple Voltage 0.5 V
Output Current 5A

Fig. 10 shows the results for the boost converter with MPPT
control. Channel 1 and 2 in Fig. 10 shows the PV and load
voltage respectively, on the scale of 1 div = 42.2 V. Channel 3
and 4 shows the PV and load current respectively on the scale
of 1 div = 1.2 A. Initially load resistance of 30 is connected
which increase gradually up to 70 with 10 of step change.
It is observed from the results shown in Fig. 10 that at
different load conditions all the variables are almost constant
except load voltage. The load voltage increases with increase Fig. 11. SEPIC converter output in boost mode.
in the load resistance. This is due to the fact that the MPPT
algorithm increases the duty ratio to match the resistance
Fig. 12 shows the screen shot of the front panel of the
LABVIEW program for SEPIC converter in boost mode.
Fig. 16 shows the performance of the proposed system under
varying load condition. The load resistance was varied from
50 to 70 with the reference load voltage remain 20 V. It
is observed from the figure that the boost converter tracks the
same MPP and SEPIC converter tracks the reference load
voltage. However the load power decreases with increase in
load resistance.

Fig. 12. Screen shot of LABVIEW front panel for SEPIC converter control
in boost mode.

Fig. 13 shows the SEPIC converter output voltage during buck

operation. Channel 1 and 2 of Fig. 13 shows the output load
voltage and input PV voltage, respectively. Channel 3 shows
gate pulses for the converter. Input voltage of the SEPIC
converter is 13.2 V. The output reference voltage for the
SEPIC converter is 5 V. It is observed that converter tracks the Fig. 14. Screen shot of LABVIEW front panel (change in load voltage
given reference voltage of 5V. reference).

Fig. 13. SEPIC converter output in buck mode.

Fig. 15. Screen shot of LABVIEW front panel (change in radiation level).
C. Cascaded Boost-SEPIC Converter Experimental Result
Cascaded Boost-SEPIC converter configuration shown in
Fig. 1 is implemented in the laboratory.
It is also observed that the change in load reference voltage
does not affect the PV power due to the MPPT implemented
through the boost converter.

Fig. 14 shows the performance of the proposed system when

the reference load voltage changes from 10 V to 20 V. It is
observed from this figure that the SEPIC converter tracks the
load reference voltage accurately.
Fig. 15 shows the performance of the proposed system
under varying solar radiation. After full sun light radiation the
radiation was changed by using partial shading with the load
reference voltage remain equal to 20 V. It can be seen that the Fig. 16. Screen shot of LABVIEW front panel (change in load resistance).
boost converter tracks the new MPP with SEPIC converter
tracking the reference load voltage. Fig. 17 shows the performance of the proposed system under
transient load change. The Channel 1 and 2 in Fig. 17 shows
the PV and load voltage, respectively. Channel 3 and 4 shows
the PV and load current, respectively.
Fig. 17. Transient performance of the load voltage tracking during sudden
change in load.
The load is varied from 50 to 25 with the load reference
voltage of 10 V. It is observed from the results that the load
voltage settles to the reference after initial transients.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper a boost-SEPIC converter based photovoltaic
system is developed using the LABVIEW platform. The
proposed system can regulate the DC voltage supply to the
load under varying environmental and load conditions. The
performance of the proposed system has been verified under
varying load reference, load change and different radiation
level. The transient performance justifies the robustness of the
proposed system to maintain the load voltage its reference
under varying conditions.
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