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Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Voltage band based global MPPT controller for photovoltaic systems

Nuri Gokmen a, Engin Karatepe a,⇑, Faruk Ugranli a, Santiago Silvestre b
a
Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Ege University, 35100 Bornova, Izmir, Turkey
b
MNT Group, Electronic Engineering Department, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya BarcelonaTECH, C/Jordi Girona 1-3, Campus Nord UPC,
08034 Barcelona, Spain

Received 6 July 2013; received in revised form 8 September 2013; accepted 16 September 2013
Available online 7 November 2013

Communicated by: Associate Editor Igor Tyukhov

Abstract

This paper presents a new maximum power point tracking algorithm for PV systems useful in case of non-uniform irradiance con-
ditions. This algorithm takes into account the number of bypass diodes in a PV string to calculate the voltage bands associated with the
peak power points that appear in the power–voltage characteristic of the PV system. The main contribution of this study is to state that
the global maximum power point can be tracked by considering only the possible voltage bands which can be found by using the pro-
posed analytical equation in a simple manner. The algorithm is based in the evaluation and analysis of these voltage bands and in the
selection of the PV system voltage related to the maximum power point of work. The proposed algorithm has been validated by means of
simulation and also in an experimental study.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Photovoltaic array; Global MPPT; Bypass diodes; Non-uniform irradiance

1. Introduction photocurrent and acts as a load. The power dissipated in

The growing concern about the increase in energy
demand and dwindling reserves of fossil resources have
made renewable energy sources more popular in recent
years (Gooding et al., 2013; Mastromauro et al., 2012).
Photovoltaic (PV) energy is one of the most promising
alternative energy resources. Moreover, it is environment
friendly and requires little maintenance cost. PV modules
are usually connected in series and parallel to reach the
desired levels of voltage and current. Under uniform condi-
tions of irradiance, all PV modules connected in series in a
PV array will give the same output current. Unfortunately,
one or more PV modules are shaded sometimes due to the
dust, trees, surrounding buildings, clouds, etc. (Picault
et al., 2010). Thus, the shaded PV module produces less
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 232 3115243; fax: +90 232 3886024.
E-mail address: enginkaratepe@gmail.com (E. Karatepe).
form of heat by non-shaded PV modules may damage cells
in PV module if bypass diodes are not used (Kouchaki
et al., 2013; Jung et al., 2013). This effect is known as hot
spot. Manufacturers integrate bypass diodes into their
PV modules in order to protect PV cells from hot-spot
effects (Kadri et al., 2012). However, another problem
arises on electrical characteristic of PV array when bypass
diodes are used. The power–voltage (P–V) curve exhibits
multiple peaks as several locals and one global (Chong
and Zhang, 2013). Under uniform solar irradiance condi-
tions, the P–V characteristics of PV array exhibit a unique
operating point where the power is maximum. This is
known as the maximum power point, or MPP. The imped-
ance adjustment between PV array and load is carried out
through a DC/DC converter to operate at the correspond-
ing MPP (de Brito et al., 2013; Roshan and Moallem,
2013). Conventional MPP tracking (MPPT) algorithms
can easily be trapped at local MPPs under non-uniform

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2013.09.025
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334
irradiance conditions. This leads to an increase of power
losses (Deline et al., 2013) and thereby decreases the effi-
ciency of PV system (Drif et al., 2012; Elgendy et al.,
2012; Heydari-doostabad et al., 2013). There are different
MPPT techniques such as constant voltage (CV) method,
perturb and observe (P&O), incremental conductance
(IC), MPP locus characterization, fixed duty cycle, beta
method, temperature method, artificial neural network
(ANN), fuzzy logic (FL), and particle swarm optimization
(PSO) (de Brito et al., 2013; Al Nabulsi and Dhaouadi,
2012).
In recent years, the concept of maximizing PV system
efficiency under non-uniform irradiance operating condi-
tions has become a challenging problem since building inte-
grated PV systems (BIPV) are very often subjected to
partial shading conditions. Koutroulis and Blaabjerg
(2012) propose a new method which is based on controlling
the DC/DC power converter such that it behaves as a con-
stant input-power load in order to track the global MPP of
PV arrays. The PV modules are arranged based on the Su
Do Ku puzzle pattern by Rani et al. (2012) to distribute the
effect of shading over the array, therefore the occurrence of
shading on modules in the same row is reduced. In another
study, a modified quadratic maximization MPPT algo-
rithm is proposed on a moving vehicle for the PV system
(Ko and Chao, 2012). Bianconi et al. (2013) present a cur-
rent-based technique by sensing the current of the capaci-
tor placed in parallel with the PV generator. Alahmad
et al. (2012) propose a reconfigurable architecture for PV
system to maximize the generated power under operating
conditions such as shading, soiling, mismatches, and mod-
ule failure among others. Moreover, intelligent techniques
are used in the MPPT problems (Shaiek et al., 2013). An
improved MPPT method is proposed by using a modified
PSO algorithm in the literature (Ishaque et al., 2012). Fur-
thermore, artificial neural network (ANN) (Sheraz and
Abido, 2012; Syafaruddin et al., 2012; Younis et al.,
2012; Kulaksız and Akkaya, 2012) and fuzzy logic based
MPPT algorithms (Bidram et al., 2012; Houssamo et al.,
2013) are also utilized. On the other hand, the distributed
MPPT (DMPPT) architecture based on a DC/DC con-
verter for each PV module is applied as an alternative to
the traditional MPPT methods (Poshtkouhi et al., 2012;
Jiang et al., 2012). DMPPT architectures are supposed to
solve any mismatching problem. However, this is not
always feasible (Alonso et al., 2012). Determination of
optimal PV array configuration for a given shading condi-
tion is an alternative and effective approach for maximizing
the efficiency of partially shaded PV arrays (Tian et al.,
2013). Thus, novel approaches or methods should be devel-
oped to improve the system efficiency. In that manner, the
analysis of the electrical behavior of PV arrays is a very
important issue to get some crucial clues when developing
novel strategies for reducing the negative effect of partial
shading.
In this paper, a novel method called as voltage band
based MPPT is presented. This method takes into account
323
the PV array configuration and the number of bypass
diodes to determine the voltage bands associated with the
peak power points that appear in the P–V characteristic
of the PV array. The main contribution of this study is
to state that the global MPP can be tracked by considering
only the possible voltage bands associated with peak power
points present in the P–V characteristic. This novel method
presents an expression that allows obtaining these voltage
bands in any conditions of irradiance and temperature.
The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is presented
by means of simulation and experimental studies.
2. Modeling of a PV module
A photovoltaic module can be modeled by using single-
diode equivalent circuit as shown in Fig. 1 (Villalva et al.,
2009). The relationship between output current and voltage
is given by the following nonlinear implicit equation:
   
qðV þ IRs Þ V þ IRs
I ¼ I ph  I o exp 1  ð1Þ
nkT Rsh
where Iph is the light-generated photocurrent, Io denotes the
reverse saturation current of diode, q, n, and k are the elec-
tron charge, diode ideality factor, and Boltzmann constant,
respectively. T is the temperature of the module, Rs is the
series resistance, Rsh is the shunt resistance. I and V are cur-
rent and voltage outputs of the module, respectively.
Ambient air temperature can be used to find the operat-
ing PV module temperature as follows (Mattei et al., 2006;
Skoplaki and Palyvos, 2009)
NOCT  20
T ¼ T air þ G ð2Þ
800
where Tair is ambient air temperature, NOCT is normal
operating cell temperature (800 W/m2 solar irradiance
and 20 °C air temperature), and G is the irradiance level
in W/m2.
Manufacturers usually integrate bypass diodes for every
12 or 18 cells to a PV module as seen in Fig. 2. Although
bypass diode numbers in a PV module is of great impor-
tance under partial shading conditions (Silvestre et al.,
2009), this parameter is not taken into account in most
studies. In this study, the PV modules are modeled with
their own bypass diodes according to the technical data
Fig. 1. Photovoltaic cell electrical equivalent circuit.
324 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334

Fig. 3. P–V curve under partial shaded condition.

Fig. 2. Photovoltaic module that consists of three bypass diodes. in Fig. 3 which is a sample of the obtained P–V curves.
This kind of characteristic makes it difficult for MPPT
algorithms to track global maximum power point
sheets. The electrical characteristics of Mprime 130P,
(GMPP). It increases the possibility of operating at local
Photowatt PWX500-50, and Alfasolar AR 80P-320 PV
MPPs and decreases the system efficiency.
modules, which will be used in this study, for standard test
We want to focus on the global peak points rather
conditions (STC: G = 1000 W/m2 and T = 25 °C) are given
than local peak points in order to optimize the power
in Table 1.
generated by the system. For this reason, the voltage val-
ues at global peaks are recorded under the randomly dis-
3. Proposed MPPT method tributed irradiance conditions and plotted as shown in
Fig. 4. The results show that the voltage values at global
3.1. Method description peaks can be divided into different clusters. These clus-
ters are called as voltage bands. Another important
Conventional solar PV systems use string or central observation is that there is a relationship between the
MPPT unit. String based system means that a single number of distinctive voltage bands and bypass diodes.
MPPT unit is connected to one string of PV array (Kjaer Although there is a linear relationship between them
et al., 2005). In this study, string based system is consid- up to a certain number of bypass diodes, this linear rela-
ered. In order to state the effect of non-uniform irradiance tionship is deteriorated as the number of bypass diodes
conditions on the electrical behavior of PV string, 1000 increases. This can be seen in Table 2 for the three types
partial shading scenarios are generated randomly within PV modules.
the range of 50 and 1000 W/m2 irradiance. The different Each of the voltage bands is represented by a normal-
sizes of PV strings are simulated under these conditions ized voltage value. This value is calculated by dividing
and the obtained P–V curves are utilized to develop novel average values of global voltages in each band to the corre-
strategies in MPPT of PV systems. Under partial shading sponding open circuit voltage of PV string. These values
conditions, there may be many local MPPs as can be seen are given for different number of series connected MPrime
130P, Photowatt PWX500-50, and Alfasolar AR 80P-320
Table 1 PV modules in Tables 3–5, respectively. The randomly dis-
Electrical characteristic of the PV modules. tributed irradiance scenarios are reused at three typical
Parameter Mprime Photowatt Alfasolar AR temperatures to observe the temperature effects. Under
130P PWX500-50 80P-320 the partial shading conditions, it is supposed that the
Maximum power (Pmax) 130 W 50 W 320 W dynamic changes of the module temperatures are slower
Voltage@Pmax (Vmp) 17.48 V 17.2 V 39.99 V than the irradiation levels. In Tables 3 and 6 bypass diodes
Current@Pmax (Imp) 7.44 A 2.9 A 8.01 A
means that there are two series connected MPrime 130P PV
Short-circuit current (Isc) 8.13 A 3.1 A 8.67 A
Open-circuit voltage 21.97 V 21.6 V 49.75 V modules in the string because there are three bypass diodes
(Voc) per PV module.
Temp. coef. of Voc 67 mV/°C 73 mV/°C 154 mV/°C The relationship between voltage bands and bypass
Temp. coef. of Isc 0.034%/°C 0.029%/°C 0.027%/°C diodes is given in Fig. 5 at operating conditions of 25 °C.
Bypass diode 3 2 4
The intervals of voltage bands which have more
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334 325

Fig. 4. Voltage bands of different PV strings under partial shading conditions (1000 different scenarios).

Table 2 single high-band value can be used to represent different

Relationship between bypass diodes and peaks (Npv, nbd and Nband are configurations, which consist of the same type PV modules,
number of PV modules, bypass diodes, and bands, respectively).
by taking average of the corresponding highest voltage
PV module type Photowatt Mprime Alfasolar AR band values. However, this value can be different for differ-
PWX500-50 130P 80P-320
ent types of PV modules. Here, these values are 0.842
Npv nbd Nband nbd Nband nbd Nband ((0.825 + 0.845 + 0.849 + 0.849)/4), 0.872 ((0.845 + 0.872
1 2 2 3 3 4 4 + 0.883 + 0.889)/4), and 0.857 ((0.847 + 0.863 + 0.861)/3)
2 4 4 6 5 8 7 for Mprime, Photowatt, and Alfasolar PV modules, respec-
3 6 5 9 7 12 9
4 8 7 12 9 16 11
tively. This coefficient is denoted by Kpv and can be formu-
5 10 8 15 10 20 13 lated as follow:
6 12 9 18 12 24 14 N cf
X
K pv ¼ highest normalized band value ðiÞ=N cf ð3Þ
i¼1

bypass diodes are closer than the rest. Another important
observation is that the highest normalized voltage band
values in the bypass diode configurations are very close
to each other. For instance, this case can be seen in Tables
3–5 with grey background for 25 °C. Similar situations can
be observed at the other temperatures. In that manner, a
where Ncf is the number of PV configurations. These values
can be found simply by simulating different types of PV
modules by using the same procedure and it is defined as
module coefficient. By using Kpv coefficients, the voltage
band values for a number of specific voltage band (n) can
be obtained approximately with the following equation:
326 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334

Table 3
Normalized voltage band values of MPrime 130P PV module.
Bypass diode T (°C) Band1 Band2 Band3 Band4 Band5 Band6 Band7 Band8 Band9
3 25 0.200 0.511 0.825
35 0.173 0.454 0.738
45 0.148 0.395 0.650
6 25 0.203 0.362 0.523 0.684 0.845
35 0.176 0.320 0.464 0.611 0.755
45 0.149 0.276 0.407 0.537 0.667
9 25 0.205 0.314 0.422 0.530 0.639 0.748 0.849
35 0.177 0.276 0.373 0.470 0.571 0.670 0.762
45 0.150 0.238 0.325 0.413 0.502 0.590 0.674
12 25 0.207 0.288 0.370 0.452 0.534 0.617 0.696 0.777 0.849
35 0.180 0.251 0.326 0.400 0.475 0.550 0.623 0.695 0.760
45 0.152 0.216 0.281 0.349 0.416 0.483 0.549 0.615 0.671

Table 4
Normalized voltage band values of Photowatt PWX500-50 PV module.
Bypass diode T (°C) Band1 Band2 Band3 Band4 Band5 Band6 Band7
2 25 0.377 0.845
35 0.344 0.785
45 0.315 0.722
4 25 0.157 0.387 0.629 0.872
35 0.142 0.355 0.581 0.806
45 0.125 0.323 0.533 0.742
6 25 0.234 0.393 0.556 0.720 0.883
35 0.212 0.361 0.512 0.666 0.818
45 0.192 0.329 0.469 0.612 0.753
8 25 0.156 0.276 0.396 0.518 0.643 0.767 0.889
35 0.140 0.251 0.364 0.478 0.594 0.710 0.822
45 0.127 0.229 0.333 0.438 0.545 0.652 0.756

Table 5
Normalized voltage band values of Alfasolar AR 80P-320 PV module.
Bypass diode T (°C) Band1 Band2 Band3 Band4 Band5 Band6 Band7 Band8 Band9
4 25 0.161 0.384 0.615 0.847
35 0.132 0.326 0.527 0.728
45 0.104 0.270 0.441 0.611
8 25 0.158 0.275 0.393 0.512 0.630 0.750 0.863
35 0.133 0.231 0.334 0.437 0.540 0.645 0.743
45 0.105 0.190 0.277 0.364 0.452 0.542 0.624
12 25 0.237 0.318 0.397 0.477 0.557 0.637 0.715 0.791 0.861
35 0.199 0.269 0.337 0.407 0.477 0.546 0.615 0.683 0.745
45 0.162 0.220 0.279 0.338 0.398 0.457 0.516 0.574 0.623

Band value ðnÞ ¼ K pv  ð1=nbd Þ  ðN band  nÞ for n 6 N band
where nbd is the total number of bypass diodes in PV string,
Nband is the voltage band number according to the number
of bypass diodes which are given in Table 2.
ð4Þ For instance, the second band value (n = 2) at 25 °C is
0.387 for two series connected Photowatt PV modules
(nbd = 4) as given in Table 4. By using the proposed
expression in (4), this value can be obtained with a good
approximation (the error is 3.9%):

Table 6
Voltage band reduction ratio due to temperature.
MPrime 130P Photowatt PWX500-50 Alfasolar AR 80P-320
Ktpv 0.0115 0.0081 0.0147
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334 327

Fig. 5. Relationship between normalized global voltage band values and number of bypass diodes.

Fig. 6. Effect of temperature to the voltage band values.

Band value ð2Þ ¼ 0:872  ð1=4Þ  ð4  2Þ ¼ 0:372
Although (4) is working well for 25 °C, it should be
modified for different temperature levels. Fig. 6 shows the
effect of different temperature levels on the level of voltage
bands. For every 10° temperature rise, a decrease in voltage
band levels about 11.5%, 8.1%, and 14.7% for Mprime,
Photowatt, and Alfasolar PV modules, respectively is
observed. The impact of temperature is different due to
the fact that each PV module has a different temperature
coefficient (see Table 1). Thus, another coefficient should
be defined when determining the possible voltage bands
levels in terms of representing different temperatures. This
coefficient is defined as Ktpv and it is given in Table 6 for
the three PV modules.
Finally, the voltage band values can be determined by
the following modified equation that includes the tempera-
ture effect:
 
Band value ðn; T Þ ¼ K pv  ð1=nbd Þ  ðN band  nÞ  Kt ð5Þ
Kt ¼ 1  ðT  25Þ  Ktpv ð6Þ
For instance, the second band value (n = 2) at 45 °C is
0.323 for two series connected Photowatt PV modules
(nbd = 4) as seen in Table 4. By using the proposed expres-
sion in (5), this value can be obtained with a good approx-
imation (the error is 3.4%):
Band value ð2;45Þ ¼ ð0:872  ð1=4Þ  ð4  2ÞÞ
ð1  ð45  25Þ  0:0081Þ ¼ 0:312:
328 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334
Fig. 7. Flowchart of the proposed global MPPT algorithm.
Fig. 8. PV system with the proposed MPPT.
3.2. Proposed global MPPT algorithm
Under non-uniform irradiance conditions and different
temperature levels, all possible global voltage band
values can be found by using Eq. (5). One of the bands
corresponds to the global MPP for a partial shading con-
dition. In this study, it will be utilized to operate the PV
system at global MPP for any partial shading conditions.
This characteristic inspires us to look for a novel algo-
rithm to track global MPPs of PV strings. The proposed
MPPT algorithm will scan only the possible bands that
may occur according to the number of bypass diodes
and then the voltage band that produces more energy
will be selected. In the proposed algorithm, some basic
parameters of the system are taken as inputs such as
open circuit voltage of a PV module (Voc), number of
PV modules in the PV configuration (Npv), total number
of bypass diodes in the PV configuration (nbd), number
of voltage band (Nband), and temperature (T). And then,
the possible normalized global voltage band values are
calculated according to Eq. (5) by using those parame-
ters. After that, the calculated normalized global voltage
band values are multiplied with the open circuit voltage
of PV string and this value will be used as a reference
voltage for the P&O MPPT algorithm. The P&O
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334 329

Fig. 9. Irradiance profiles for the Mprime PV modules.

Fig. 10. The output voltage and power of the Mprime PV string for the conventional P&O and the proposed algorithms.

stage, the power value is recorded and another reference

Fig. 11. Harvested energies in the both methods for the Mprime PV
string.
algorithm is utilized to obtain peak power points on the
real PV system according to the obtained reference volt-
age value. The P&O algorithm allows to find a peak
power point around the reference voltage. After that
voltage value is given to the system until all possible glo-
bal voltage values are evaluated. The most efficient
power point is selected and the system remains working
at this point until there is a 10% power difference
between last two sequential output power values. The
flowchart of the proposed algorithm can be seen in
Fig. 7. In the flowchart, ‘k’ is a variable that is set after
the proposed algorithm finds global power point. After
that, the algorithm goes to another stage that checks
the last two sequential output power values. If there is
a 10% power difference between the two values, the algo-
rithm ends this stage and goes to the beginning of the
algorithm for scanning all possible global voltage bands
again. Here, ‘z’ indicates the measured sample voltage
and current values of the PV system. The block diagram
of the proposed method is presented in Fig. 8. This
method is only based on the measurement of operating
voltage and current of PV string, ambient temperature,
and the knowledge of number of bypass diodes. Thus,
the proposed method takes into consideration the mini-
mum number of sensors to reduce the cost of the system,
as one of the main purposes of this study.
330 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334

Fig. 12. Irradiance profiles for the Photowatt PV modules.

Fig. 13. The output voltage and power of the Photowatt PV string for the conventional P&O and the proposed algorithms.

4. Validation of the proposed method It can be seen that the proposed method does not get
stuck in local peak points as the conventional P&O method
In this section, the proposed global MPPT method is does. After the proposed method visits all the possible volt-
applied through four different case studies: (a) 3  1 (9 age bands, all recorded powers are compared and the hill
bypass diodes) PV string which composed of Mprime PV
modules; (b) 4  1 (8 bypass diodes) PV string which com-
posed of Photowatt PV modules (c) 2  1 (8 bypass diodes)
PV string which composed of Alfasolar PV modules; (d)
Experimental study.

4.1. Case study: 9 bypass diodes configuration

In this case, the Mprime PV modules are used to test the

effectiveness of the method. Each module has three bypass
diodes and three of modules are serially connected to form
a PV string which has 9 bypass diodes. Three different irra-
diance profiles are applied to the system at 45 °C with a
period of 15 s as shown in Fig. 9.
First, the system is run with conventional P&O algo-
rithm (Shaiek et al., 2013). Thereafter, the system is run
with proposed global MPPT algorithm under same irradi-
ance and temperature profiles. The output voltage and Fig. 14. Harvested energies in the both methods for the Photowatt PV
power of the string are shown in Fig. 10. string.
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334 331

Fig. 15. Irradiance profiles for the Alfasolar PV modules.

Fig. 16. The output voltage and power of the Alfasolar PV string for the conventional P&O and the proposed algorithms.

for the proposed and the P&O algorithms, respectively.

The proposed method is 29.6% more efficient than the
P&O algorithm.

4.2. Case study: 8 bypass diodes configuration

In this case, the Photowatt PV modules are used to test

Fig. 17. Harvested energies in the both methods for the Alfasolar PV
string.
where system gets maximum power is found. The generated
energy in 45 s is compared in Fig. 11 for the P&O and the
proposed method. The total energies are 4682 and 3611 J
the effectiveness of the method. Each module has two
bypass diodes and four of modules are serially connected
to form the PV string. Three different irradiance profiles
are applied to system at 45 °C with a period of 15 s as
shown in Fig. 12. Figs. 13 and 14 show the simulation
results of both algorithms.
For this case, a uniform irradiance profile is applied to
the both methods in the first interval of the irradiance pro-
files. And then, the irradiance profiles continue with non-
uniform irradiance conditions. In the first periods, the
P&O algorithm produces more energy than in the proposed
method. However, the proposed method can harvest more
energy at the end of this scenario. The total harvested ener-
gies are 3341 J and 2895 J for the P&O and the proposed
methods, respectively. In these partial shading conditions,
332 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334

method cannot distinguish uniform and non-uniform irra-

diance conditions. The proposed method wants to visit the
possible voltage bands. Nevertheless, the proposed method
is 15.4% more efficient than the P&O algorithm.

4.3. Case study: 8 bypass diodes configuration

In the third scenario, the Alfasolar PV modules are used

to test the proposed MPPT algorithm. Each PV module
has four bypass diodes and two of modules are serially con-
nected to form an 8 bypass diodes system. Three different
irradiance profiles are applied to the PV system at 45 °C
with a period of 15 s as shown in Fig. 15.
The responses of both methods for the given irradiance
profiles are presented in Figs. 16 and 17. It can be seen that
the P&O algorithm is trapped at local MPPs and lots of
energy are lost in the local maximum. In this case, the total
energies are 7276 J and 2003 J at the end of this scenario
for the P&O and the proposed method, respectively. There
is a significant difference between harvested energies by
both methods because of the partially shaded conditions
in this case. The proposed method is a 363% more efficient
than the P&O algorithm. If the harvested energy difference
Fig. 18. Experimental setup.
between the local and global MPPs is higher and the non-
uniform operating conditions continue for longer duration,
the harvested energy by using the proposed MPPT method
Table 7
will be increased significantly.
Electrical parameters of the PV cell in experimental study.
Parameter PV module
4.4. Experimental work
Maximum power (Pmax) 0.57 W
Voltage@Pmax (Vmp) 1.33 V
Current@Pmax (Imp) 0.43 A In this section, in order to confirm simulations results,
Short-circuit current (Isc) 0.50 A the proposed MPPT algorithm is tested experimentally. A
Open-circuit voltage (Voc) 1.75 V prototype experimental system has been designed and built
Temp. coef. of Voc 76 mV/°C to evaluate the performance of the proposed system as
Temp. coef. of Isc 0.04%/°C
shown in Fig. 18. The system consists of 18 series con-
nected mini PV cells. The electrical parameters of the PV
cell are given in Table 7.
One bypass diode is included for each two PV cells. Thus,
there is no significant difference between the harvested there are nine bypass diodes in this string. Six halogen lamps
energies in both methods due to the fact that the proposed of 150 W are used as light sources for PV string. The amount

Fig. 19. The P–V curves under the generated partial shading conditions.
 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334
Fig. 20. The output voltage and power of the mini PV string for the conventional P&O and the proposed algorithm.
Fig. 21. Harvested energies in the both methods for the mini PV string.
of incoming irradiance is adjusted by dimmers. Small fans
are used for the purpose of cooling PV cells from emitting
heat of halogen lamps. A BK Precision 8502 programmable
electronic load is operated as a DC/DC converter to force the
PV array to operate at a desired voltage. Advantech PCI-
1711 data acquisition card is also used to send the experimen-
tal data to PC via the RS-232 port.
In the experimental study, three different irradiance pro-
files are applied to PV string and different partial shading
scenarios are generated to test the effectiveness of the pro-
posed method. The corresponding P–V curves of the PV
string under the generated partial shading conditions are
given in Fig. 19 to facilitate the following of the algorithms
responses.
333
The both methods are operated under these irradiance
profiles. The output voltage and power of the PV string
are given in Fig. 20 for both methods. The P&O algorithm
is trapped at a local MPP all experiment time. On the other
hand, the proposed method is scanning all possible global
MPPs without considering that it is local or global MPP.
Once all MPPs have been scanned, the most efficient power
point is selected and the system remains working at this
point until there is a 10% power difference between last
two sequential output power values. If the algorithm
detects a power change, it starts to scan the possible MPPs
again. The harvested energy by the both methods during
180 s is given in Fig. 21. The total energies are 320 J and
187.7 J at the end of this scenario. For this case, the pro-
posed method is 170% more efficient than the conventional
P&O method.
5. Conclusions
The P–V characteristic of a PV system working in con-
ditions of non-uniform irradiance shows different peak
power points that difficult the tracking of the global maxi-
mum power point. The number of local peak power points
depends on the number of bypass diodes included in the
system. Moreover, these local peak power points are asso-
ciated with voltage bands that are proportional to the num-
ber of bypass diodes in the system.
An expression that allows obtaining these voltage bands
in any conditions of irradiance and temperature taking into
account the number of bypass diodes in the PV system has
been presented. A new MPPT method based in the analysis
of all possible voltage bands associated with peak power
points presents in the P–V characteristic is proposed. The
334 N. Gokmen et al. / Solar Energy 98 (2013) 322–334
algorithm is able to identify the voltage associated with the
maximum power point of the PV system in any conditions
of work.
A simulation study for three PV array configurations
has been carried out using three different commercial PV
modules including a different number of bypass diodes.
In all cases results show that the proposed MPPT algo-
rithm is more effective than the conventional P&O algo-
rithm and allows increasing the total amount of energy
obtained from the PV array. The proposed MPPT algo-
rithm has also been validated experimentally and obtained
better performance than using the conventional algorithm
of P&O.
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