Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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Robust Controller to Extract the Maximum Power of a

Photovoltaic System
OULD CHERCHALI Noureddine1, MORSLI Abdelkader2, BOUCHERIT Mohamed-Seghir2,
BARAZANE Linda3
1
University of Medea
Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computing Sciences
Research Laboratory in Electrical Engineering and Automatic (LREA)
Ain D heb, Medea, Algeria nocherchali@yahoo.fr
2

National Polytechnic School ENP

Process Control Laboratory (LPC)
Algiers, Algeria

University of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene

Industrial and Electrical Systems Laboratory (IESL)
Bab - Ezzouar. Algiers, Algeria,

Abstract This paper proposes a technique of

intelligent control to track the maximum power point
(MPPT) of a photovoltaic system . The PV system is
non-linear and it is exposed to external perturbations
like temperature and solar irradiation. Fuzzy logic
control is known for its stability and robustness. FLC
is adopted in this work for the improvement and
optimization of control performance of a photovoltaic
system. Another technique called perturb and observe
(P & O) is studied and compared with the FLC
technique. The PV system is constituted of a
photovoltaic panel (PV), a DC-DC converter (Boost)
and a battery like a load.
The simulation results are developed in MATLAB /
Simulink software. The results show that the controller
based on fuzzy logic is better and faster than the
conventional controller perturb and observe (P & O)
and gives a good maximum power of a photovoltaic
generator under different changes of weather
conditions.
MPPT;
Fuzzy logic controller ;
Keywords:
Photovoltaic system; P&O.
I. INTRODUCTION
The demand in electricity is increasing in recent
years and the constraints related to its production, such
as the effects of pollution and global climatic warming,
direct searches toward the development of renewable
energy sources. In this context, photovoltaic (PV)
systems offer a very competitive solution and free solar
power.
Photovoltaic power is considered in several regions
and countries with a high solar power density like
Sahara, Mediterranean countries and other regions as a
prime candidate of energy. Stand-alone and grid-

connected applications of solar energy have developed

greatly and increased considerably in recent decades.
These applications include PV power plants [1], hybrid
systems with other sources, electric vehicles, air
conditioning, refrigeration, traffic light application [2],
water pumping, spacecraft, satellite and military
applications [3]. But there is some inconvenient for the
PV systems. They have a very high manufacture cost
and photovoltaic (PV) modules still have relatively low
energy conversion efficiency. And more, they have
nonlinear characteristics (V-I) depending on the
temperature and insolation. Their maximum power point
changes nonlinearly with solar irradiation, temperature
and load current.
It is observed that the variation of the voltage and
output current with the temperature of the solar cell is
nonlinear. it is the same observation for level variation
of solar radiation. Those two points (nonlinear) plus the
aging of solar cells and load current are the main reasons
for the low electrical efficiency of photovoltaic systems.
To overcome these problems, the maximum power point
of the PV system (at a given condition) is tracked using
online or offline algorithm or technique and the
operating point of the system is forced toward this
optimal condition. This technique is called the
maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique. The
MPPT is used to extract the maximum power produced
by an array of Photovoltaic cells.
In the literature, lot of maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) techniques is proposed, studied [4,5]
and implemented [6,7]. These techniques include
conventional perturb and observe (P&O) techniques,
The Incremental Conductance (Ind-Cond) [4,5] and
others methods.
Another kind of methods is computational intelligent
methods [5-10] like MPPT technique by using Artificial

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Neural Networks. Another computational intelligent

method which has proved fine performances under
different irradiation and temperature is the fuzzy MPPT
technique [4,5,11-16].
This paper presents the application of Fuzzy Logic
Control (FLC) to the MPPT control.

III. MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING

TECHNIQUES

II. THE PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

The model of solar cell can be categorized as p-n
semiconductor junction like a Diode ; when exposed to
light, the DC current is generated. the solar cell is in fact
a special diode with a higher junction area than
anordinary diode. As known, the current generated by
the solar cell depends on the solar irradiance,
temperature and laod current. The figure.1 shows the
typical equivalent electrical circuit of solar cell [13, 17].
The PV output current, pv, is describe by

I PV = N p .I ph

( q.V pv + I pv . Rs )
N p .I 0 .e N s AKT 1

(1)

For the PV saturation current I0,

Eg

q.

3
1 1
T A. K .( Tr T )
I 0 = .I rs . .e

Tr

(2)
the PV reverse saturation current rs is describe by

I rs =
e

scr
Voc
q.
N s .k . A.T

: Boltzmanconstant=1.3805 1023 J/K

RS Cell series resistance (ohms).
Rsh Cell shunt resistance (ohms).
: Number of cells connected in series
: Number of cells connected in parallel
oc: Open Circuit Voltage.

Generally, MPPT is adopted to track the maximum

power point in the PV system to generate the maximum
possible power. The performance of MPPT depends on
both the MPPT control algorithm and the MPPT circuit.
The MPPT control algorithm is usually applied in the
DC-DC converter (Buck, Boost or others) [11]. The
DC/DC converter is normally used as the MPPT circuit.
Classic diagram of the connection of MPPT in a PV
system is shown in Fig. 2.
Fig.3 and fig.4 show the behavior of a photovoltaic
panel simulation in accordance with irradiation and
temperature variations under respectively constant
temperature and irradiation. In fact, a photovoltaic
generator connected to a load can operate in a large
range of voltage and current depending on
environmental operating conditions.
So, the MPPT controller must also track the new
modified maximum power point (MPP) in its
corresponding curve whenever irradiation and/or
temperature variation occurs.
Storage
Battery

(3)

For the PV photo current, ph, one has

S
+ K i .(T Tr )].
1000

Where:

: The reference temperature = 298K

: The module operating temperature (K)
Iph Light generated current (A).
VPV Cell voltage (V).
q Electron charge = -1.6 10 19 C
Iscr Short Circuit Current
: Temperature Coefficient of Isc
: Band gap for silicon = 1.1 eV
V: Temperature Coefficient of Voc
IPV Cell current (A).


Iload
ID
Rs
Iph
DC

Rsh
Load

VD





DC-DC
Boost
Converter

(4)
IPV

PV Module

VPV

MPPT Control

Fig. 2. Typical diagram of MPPT in PV System

70
1000 W/m
60
900 W/m
50
700 W/m
PV Power (W)

I ph = [I scr

DC
Load

40
500 W/m
30

20

200 W/m

10

10

15
PV Voltage (V)

20

25

30

Fig. 3. Influence of the solar radiation for constant temperature

(25 C)

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Membership function

70
0 C

60

25 C

NB

NS

ZE

PS

PB

PV power (W)

50
30 C
40
35 C
30
45 C
20

-0.016

-0.008

10
0

0.008

0.016

PS

PB

(a)
Membership function
0

10

15
PV Voltege (V)

20

25

30

NB

NS

ZE

Fig. 4. Influence of the temperature of junctionfor constant

irradiation (1000 W/m)

A.

MPPT using Fuzzy Logic Control

MPPT)

( Fuzzy

Fuzzy logic appeared in 1965 with the work of L.

Zadeh. Fuzzy logic is involved in the handling and
imperfect knowledge it occurred as an effective
alternative.
The fuzzy logic controllers have been introduced in
the tracking of the maximum power point (MPP) in PV
systems [19-21] where Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) gains
several advantages of better performance, robust and
simple design. The FLC MPPT technique does not need
the knowledge of the exact model but this technique do
prerequisite in the other hand the complete knowledge
of the operation of the Photovoltaic system by the
designer.
Fig. 5 illustrates the structure of a FLC.
The proposed Fuzzy Logic MPPT Controller, shown
in Fig.5, has two inputs and one output.
The two FLC input variables are the error E and
change of error CE at sampled times k defined by:

Pph ( k ) Pph ( k 1)
V ph ( k ) V ph ( k 1)
CE ( k ) = E ( k ) E ( k 1)

E (k ) =

(5)

(6)
Where Pph(k) is the instant power of the photovoltaic
generator.
The input E(k) shows if the load operation point at
the instant k is located on the right or on the left of the
MPP on the P-V characteristic, while the input CE(k)
expresses the moving direction of load operation point.
Fig.6 shows the antecedent and consequent
membership functions.
d
D

Rule Base

Defuzzifie
r

Fuzzifier
Inference

-1

C
E

Fig. 5. Structure of a FLC

D
Z
Z 1

CE

-80

-40

40

80

(b)

Membership function
NB

NS

ZE

-0.008

PS

PB

0.008

0.016

dD

-0.016

(c)
Fig. 6. Membership function of (a) error E (b) change error
CE
(c) duty ratio D

The universe of discourse for the first input variable

(the error E) is divided into five Fuzzy sets: NB
(Negative Big), NS (Negative Small), ZE (Zero), PS
(Positive Small), and PB (Positive Big).
The universe of discourse for the second input
variable (change of error CE) is divided into five Fuzzy
sets: NB, NS, ZE, PS, and PB.
The universe of discourse for (the output the duty
cycle dD) is divided into five Fuzzy sets: NB, NS, ZE,
PS, and PB.
Assume that there are M rules in the Fuzzy system,
where the ith rule has the following form:
i
R i : if E is FEi and CE is FCE
THEN dD is U i (7)
with i= 1,..,M
Where

i
FEi and FCE
are antecedent linguistic terms

modeled by the interval triangular Fuzzy sets, dD is the

output and the consequent term Ui is an interval of
control actions of the consequent part .
The fuzzy inference is carried out by using
Mamdanis method, and the output (the duty cycle dD)
is calculated by using the Defuzzifier block
(equation(8)) .

E
CE

NB

TABLE 1. Fuzzy rule

NS
ZE
PS
PB

PB

PB

NB

ZE

ZE

PB

NS

ZE

ZE

PS

PS

PS

ZE

PS

ZE

ZE

ZE

NS

PS

NS

NS

NS

ZE

ZE

PB

NB

NB

NB

ZE

ZE

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The centroid method is used in Defuzzifier block to

compute the output of this FLC. The output is the duty
cycle which uses the rule base of TABLE I. The output
(dD) is given to the DC-DC converter.
n

(D ) D
j

dD0 =

(8)

j =1
n

(D )
j

j =1

B.

Perturb and Observe (P&O) technique

To compare the performance of MPPT using the

FLC, an additional MPPT technique will be studied and
used the Flow chart of this method is described in Fig. 7
One of the most popular MPPT techniques and
simple to use is the Perturb and Observe (P&O)
technique. The main concept of this method is to drive
the Photovoltaic system to operate at the direction which
the output power obtained from the Photovoltaic system
rises. Equation (9) describes the change of power which
defines the strategy of the P&O technique.
(9)
P = P ( k ) P ( k 1)
If the change of power P is positive, the system will
keep the direction of the incremental duty cycle (D)
(increase or decrease the PV voltage) as the same
direction, and if the change is negative, the system will
change the direction of incremental duty cycle command
to the opposite direction. This method works well when
the radiation and temperature conditions change slowly.
But, the P&O method fails to track MPP when the
environmental operating condition is rapidly changed.

VI. MODEL OF THE SYSTEM

The DC-DC converter is the boost chopper. Figure 8
shows the boost chopper structure.
Figure 9 shows our developed Simulink model of PV
generator , FLC MPPT and the Boost chopper.
The proposed fuzzy logic control based MPPT has
been modeled, simulated using MATLAB/Simulink
(Fig. 9) and compared with the conventional P&O
technique (Fig. 10) [11,22].
Applying Kirchhoffs, the ideal mathematical model of
the circuit in figure.8 is describe by

dI PVG
= U PVG VBattery (1 S S 1 ) RL I PVG (10)
dt
dVBattery
VBarrery

= I PVG (1 S S 1 )
C
dt
R
(12)

S S 2 = S S1
Where:
IPVG : Current across the inductor,
VBattery :Voltage in the battery Parameters.
SS1 : Switch position
UPVG :Voltage supplied by PV photovoltaic

array
The main equation associated with duty cycle and
input output voltage of boost converter is given below as
follows:

VBattrey
U PVG

UPVG

PVG

(12)

S2

IPVG

Begin
P&O Algorithm

1
1 D

Battrey
S1
Load

Mesure V(K), I(K)

P(K) = V(K) . I(K)

Fig. 8. Basic structure of Boost chopper

P(K) =P(K) -P(K-1)

D(K-1) > D(K)

D(K+1)=D(K)+
D

P(K)>0

D(K+1)=D(K) - D

D(K-1) < D(K)

D(K+1)=D(K) - D

D(K+1)=D(K)+
D

Update History
V(K-1)=V(K)
P(K-1)=P(K)

Fig. 7. Flow Chart of the P&O Method

Fig. 9. Model of the developed PV System whith14 panel ,

FLC MPPT and the Boost chopper in MATLAB/Simulink

Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering

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in s o la t io n (W / m )
C o n ro l S ig n e l D P a n a l P o w e r (W )

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1000

500
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

10

20

30

40
time (s)

100

Fig. 10. Model of the developed PV System whith 14 panel,

P&O technique and the Boost chopper in MATLAB/Simulink

50
0
1
0.5
P&O Controller
0

V. SIMULATION AND RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Panal Power (W)

100

50

61.92
61.9199
61.9199

61.9198

10

61.9198

15

20

25

30

35

40

25

30

35

40

Conrol Signel D

Battrey Power (W)

61.9197

1000

61.9197
61.9196
61.9196
61.9195

500

61.9195
31.05 31.1 31.15 31.2 31.25 31.3 31.35 31.4 31.45 31.5

10

15

20

0.5
P&O Controller
FLC Controller
0

10

15

20
time (s)

25

30

35

Fig. 11. Variation of the panel power, battery power and the
duty ratio D, under standard conditions: temperature (25 C)
and solar irradiation (1000 W/m2)

40

FLC Controller
60

70

80

T em perature (C)

320

P anal P ower (W )

Fig. 12. The performance of the PV system using FLC and

P&O algorithms under fast changing of

100

Conrol S ignel D

Both MPPT (perturb and observe and Fuzzy Logic)

are simulated with the matlab / simulink to control the
photovoltaic system, where are used under changing
climate conditions. The photovoltaic system has 14
panel. In this case, the two controls are applied to a
boost chopper which feeds a battery and resistive load.
The simulated photovoltaic system is shown in Figure.2.
The DC-DC converter is the boost chopper (Fig.8) .
The previous MPPT controllers Fuzzy Logic and P&O
were simulated under the following tests:
1. Temperature and the irradiation are kept constant:
the temperature at 25 C and the irradiation equal
1000W/m2
2. Under fast changing of irradiation and constant
temperature (25 C)
3. Under fast changing of temperature and constant
irradiation (1000W/m2)
To reduce the ripple current [15,17] a sampling
frequency equal to 100Hz is applied , Fig.11 shows the
variation of the power of just one panel, battery power
and the duty ratio D.
Fig.12 shows the performance of the PV system
using FLC and P&O algorithms under fast changing of
irradiance and Fig.13 shows the performance under fast
changing of temperature.

50

300
280

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

10

20

30

40
time (s)

50
0

0.5
P&O Controller
0

50

60

FLC Contoller
70

80

Fig. 13. The performance of the PV system using FLC and

P&O algorithms under fast changing of Temperature

The FLC is proposed to improve the MPPT dynamic

performance under varying environmental operating
conditions, by considering the duty cycle in the FLC
output.
In the proposed FLC, the triangular membership
functions, as shown in Fig.6 , are selected for the input
E(k),CE(k) variables and output variable D(k) The peak
values of each fuzzy set in the membership functions
will influence the overshoot, stability, and steady-state
error of system step responses. If the peak values of NS
and PS in the membership function of E(k) are moved
toward the center point, the overshoot and oscillation of
the step responses will increase, while the rise time will
decrease.
In Fig.11 a similar comparison among the
performance of the tow techniques is given. To validate
the robustness of the proposed technique, the
comparisons between the FLC and the P&O with
different temperature and irradiation are presented in
Fig.12 and Fig.13. The effect of temperature and
irradiation change can be seen clearly on the power
panal signal. FLC MPPT technique provide a good
tracking speed and less variation around the MPP. It is

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clearly depicted that by using the FL controller MPPT

system, we have a significant energy gain.
These results show that the poor instantaneous
efficiencies corresponding to the traditional P&O
method are considerably improved by the proposed
MPPT technique. The MPPT using fuzzy logic
controller gives the results better than the perturb and
observe method in several areas of the tracking curve.
The fuzzy logic controller reduces the ripple of panel
power compared with P&O controller Fig.11 (Zoom of
panel power curve). and more, the fuzzy logic controller
is faster than the P&O controller in the transitional state
Fig.11, Fig.12 and Fig.13.
VI. CONCLUSION
These last years a lot of controllers and MPPT
strategies have been used and showed some flaws, it was
necessary to find and try other methods to optimize the
performance, the FL controller seemed like a good idea
This paper presents two MPPT strategies for PV
system. The first is a robust and intelligent control
(FLC) and the second is a conventional strategy (P&O).
Both strategies are applied to the PV system and don't
need an external sensors for detecting solar irradiation
and temperature.
The simulation results in different variations of
temperature or irradiation show that the first proposed
MPPT can follow the MPP fast compared to the
conventional P&O method. Some advantages of the
proposed fuzzy MPP tracker are:
The FLC is working with imprecise inputs.
Accurate mathematical model isn't needed.
Robustness to environmental conditions.
Reduces the ripple of panel power
To conclude, the proposed MPPT using fuzzy logic
can improve the performance of any nonlinear system
where the PV system is one of them.
In prospective the strategy MPPT of fuzzy logic
controller (FLC) is well be implemented on a dsPIC
APPENDIX
TABLE 2. PV PANEL PARAMETERS 
t

Rate power Pmax

Rated currant

IMPP



Rated volteg VMPP

s

Short cicuit current ISC



Open circuit current VOC

s

N of series cell (NS)

Serie resitance Rs



Shunt resitance Rsh



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