A Novel Stand-alone PV Generation System Based on

Variable Step Size INC MPPT and SVPWM Control

Jiyong Li
1

and Honghua. Wang
2
1
College of Electrical engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China
2
College of Electrical engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China


Abstract- The power available at the output of photovoltaic (PV)
cells keeps changing with solar irradiation and ambient
temperature because PV cells exhibit a nonlinear current-voltage
characteristic. So its maximum power point of photovoltaic cells
varies with solar irradiation and ambient temperature. Maximum
power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are used in PV systems to
make full utilization of PV array output power which depends on
solar irradiation and ambient temperature. Compared with the
conventional fixed step size the incremental conductance (INC)
method, this paper proposes a variable step size INC MPPT
algorithm which can effectively improve the MPPT speed and
accuracy simultaneously. Inverter control is another key aspect in
PV generation system. This paper proposes Space Vector Pulse
Width Modulation (SVPWM) control scheme for three-phase
PWM inverter is used in PV generation system. A novel
stand-alone PV generation system based on a variable step size
INC MPPT method and SVPWM control scheme for three-phase
voltage source PWM inverter is built in Matlab/Simulink software
in this paper. Results of simulation show that the novel stand-alone
PV generation system can have good performance of MPPT and
the high quality of output voltage.
Index Terms- Maximum power point tracking (MPPT),
photovoltaic generation, simulation, space vector pulse width
modulation (SVPWM).
I. INTRODUCTION
Solar energy is a clean, a maintenance-free, and an abundant
source of energy. The rapid trend of industrialization of nations
and increased interest in environmental issues has recently to
consideration of the use of renewable forms such as solar energy
and wind energy. Photovoltaic (PV) arrays produce electric
power directly from sunlight. Photovoltaic (PV) generation is
becoming increasingly important as a renewable source since it
offers many advantages such as incurring no fuel costs, not
being polluting, requiring little maintenance, and emitting no
noise. Because of the nonlinear relationship between the current
and the voltage of the photovoltaic cell, it can be observed that
there is a unique maximum power point (MPP) at a particular
environment, and this peak power point keeps changing with
solar illumination and ambient temperature [1]. An important
consideration in achieving high efficiency in PV power
generation system is to match the PV source and load impedance
properly for any weather conditions, thus obtaining maximum
power generation. The technique process of maximum power
point is been tracking which is called maximum power point
tracking (MPPT). In recent years, a large number of techniques
have been proposed for maximum power point tracking
(MPPT), such as the constant voltage tracking (CVT) [2], the
perturb-and-observe (P&O or hill-climbing) method, the
incremental conductance (INC) method, and so on. At last, these
algorithms modify the actual voltage in order to increase the
power output.
The CVT is very simple and can be easy implemented. But the
constant voltage cant track MPP when solar illumination
changesso the constant voltage method is not often used in the
true MPPT strategy. The P&O method is based on the principle
of perturbation and observation [3]. However, this method has
several drawbacks such as slow tracking speed and oscillations
about MPP, making it less favorable for rapidly changing
environmental conditions. The INC method is based on the fact
that the slope of the PV array power curve is zero at the MPP,
positive on the left of the MPP, and negative on the right [4].
The INC algorithm decrements or increments V
ref
to track the
new MPP when atmospheric conditions change.
It must be pointed out that all the conventional tracking
methods use fixed, small iteration steps, determined by the
accuracy and tracking speed requirements. If the step-size is
increased to speed up the tracking, the accuracy of tracking
suffers and vice versa. To overcome above limitation, a variable
step size INC method is applied in MPPT of photovoltaic (PV)
generation in this paper. The proposed scheme offers the fast
MPPT and accurate MPP over the existing schemes.
Inverters control is another key aspect in PV generation
system. With the development of power electronic, technology
of pulse width modulation (PWM) has been widely applied in
inverter. The sine PWM technology is applied into many aspects
by its simplicity, easy implementation. However, when the input
DC voltage is rated, the foundational wave amplitude of output
line voltage of is only 0.866 times of it, this restricts the
development seriously. On the contrary, the space voltage
vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) differs from it, and
SVPWM has low total harmonic distortion (THD). SVPWM has
many advantages such as constant switching frequency,
well-defined output harmonic spectrum, optimum switching
patterns, and excellent dc-link voltage utilization [5].
In order to improve efficiency and gain better quality of
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output power in PV power generation system, a novel
stand-alone PV generation system based on a variable step size
INC MPPT method and SVPWM control scheme for
three-phase source PWM inverter is proposed in this paper.
II. CHARACTERISTIC OF PV CELL
Photovoltaic cells consist of a silicon P-N junction that when
exposed to light releases electrons around a closed electrical
circuit. The circuit equivalent of a PV cell can be modeled
through the circuit shown in Fig. 1. This is modeled by the light
generated current source (I
ph
). The intrinsic P-N junction
characteristic is introduced as a diode in the circuit equivalent
[6].

Fig. 1. Photovoltaic cell equivalent circuit
The photo current I
ph
generated in the PV cell is proportional
to level of solar illumination. I is the output current of
photovoltaic cell. The current (I
d
) through the bypass diode
varies with the junction voltage V
j
and the cell reverse saturation
current I
0
. V is the output of the photovoltaic cell. R
sh
and Rs are
the parallel and series resistances, respectively. Parallel
resistance R
sh
is very large while the series resistance R
s
is small.
When the number of cell in series is n
s
, and the number of cells
in parallel is n
p
. There are relevant mathematical equations
expressing as following:

( / )
0
/
[ 1]
s s
q V n IR
s s nkT
p ph p
sh
V n IR
I n I n I e
R
+
+
=
(1)
( ) ( )
1000
ph sc T ref
S
I I C T T = +
(2)
Where
1 1
[ ( - )]
3
0
( )
g
ref
qE
nk T T
do
ref
T
I I e
T
=
,
19
1.6022 10 q C

= is the
electronic charge, n is the emission coefficient of diodes,
23 1
1.3807 10 JK k

= is Boltzmanns constant, T is ambient
temperature in Kelvin, and
ref
T is reference absolute
temperature.
sc
I is the short current, S is the level of solar
illumination,
g
E is the energy of the band gap for silicon which
is (1~3) eV,
T
C is the short-circuit-current temperature
coefficient(=0.0016A/K),
do
I is the reverse current of diode.
The output power of a PV array is the product of current I and
terminal voltage V; thus

( / ) 2
0
/
[ 1] )
s s
q V n IR
s s nkT
p ph p
sh
V n VIR
P n VI n VI e
R
+
+
=
(3)
From above equations, it is known that the characteristic of
PV will be changed when S and T change. Changes in these
variables S and T cause the current-voltage (I-V) curves of
photovoltaic array to change as well. As illustrated in Fig. 2.
Besides the solar illumination, another important factor
influencing the characteristics of a photovoltaic module is
ambient temperature, as shown in Fig. 3. At the same time, it can
be seen that the solar illumination and ambient temperature will
influence the output power of a PV module. The output power of
a PV changes with the solar illuminations variation when
temperature is constant 40, as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 2. Current versus voltage curves of PV array influenced by solar
illumination

Fig. 3. Current versus voltage curves of PV array influenced by temperature

Fig. 4. Power versus voltage curves influence by the solar illumination
And the characteristic of output power changes with the
ambient temperatures variation when the solar illumination is
constant 1000W/m
2
, as shown in Fig. 5.
From Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, it can be seen that the output power of
a PV module is influenced by the solar illumination and ambient
temperature. So the MPP will be change when peripheral
condition is changed. MPP is more difficult to search accurate
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track MPP by above conventional tracking methods when the
solar illumination and ambient temperature change. In order to
quick and accurate track MPP under any weather conditions, a
variable step size INC MPPT algorithm is applied in PV power
generation system in this paper.

Fig. 5. Power versus voltage curves influence by temperature
III. THE VARIABLE STEP SIZE INC MPPT ALGORITHM
The INC MPPT algorithm is based on the fact that the slope of
the PV array power curve is zero at the MPP, positive on the left
of the MPP, and negative on the right.
/ 0, at MPP
/ 0, left of MPP
/ 0, right of MPP
dP dV
dP dV
dP dV
=

>

<

(4)
By derivation, it can be gained the relationship between the
instantaneous conductance (I/V) and the incremental
conductance (I/V). The MPP can be tracked by comparing
I/V to I/V, as shown in equation (5).

/ / , at MPP
/ / , left of MPP
/ / right of MPP
I V I V
I V I V
I V I V
=

>

<

(5)
It can be supposed that V
ref
equal to V
MPP
at the MPP. Once
the MPP is reached, the operation of the PV array is maintained
at this point unless a change in I is noted. The algorithm
decrements or increments V
ref
to track the new MPP when the
atmospheric condition changes[4]. The INC MPTT algorithm
usually uses a fixed iteration step size, the power drawn from the
PV array with a lager step size contributes to faster dynamics but
excessive steady state oscillations, resulting in a comparatively
low efficiency. If iteration step size is small, then the power
drawn from the PV array will have slower dynamics. To solve
these dilemmas, a modified INC MPPT with variable step size is
applied in this paper. The step size is automatically tuned
according to the inherent PV array characteristics. If the
operating point is far from MPP, it increases the step size which
enables a fast tracking ability. If the operating point is near to the
MPP, the step size becomes very small that the oscillation is
well reduced contributing to a higher efficiency. The flow chart
of the variable step size INC MPPT algorithm is shown in Fig. 6,
where the Variable step size V is automatically tuned.
Variable step size adopted to reduce the problem mentioned
above is shown as following,
1 1
1
N N N N
N N
V I V I
V N
V V

(6)
where coefficient N is the scaling factor which is tuned at the
design time to adjust the step size.

Fig. 6. Flowchart of the variable step size INC MPPT algorithm
IV. PRINCIPLE OF SVPWM
In recent years, Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation
(SVPWM) technology gradually obtains widespread
applications in the power electronics and the electrical drives.
Comparing to the conventional Sine Pulse-Width Modulation
(SPWM), its DC voltage utilization ratio has been enhanced
very much and it is also easier to realize digitally. The power
circuit topology of a three-phase voltage source inverter (VSI) is
shown in Fig. 7. Each switch in the inverter leg is composed of
two back-to-back connected semiconductor devices.

Fig. 7. Topology of a three-phase voltage source inverter
There are totally eight possible switching patterns and each of
them determines a voltage space vector. As shown in Fig. 8,
eight voltage space vectors divide the whole space into six
sectors, I ~ VI. Except two zero vectors, V0 and V7, because
inverters output voltage is zero as it is (000) or (111) state,
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nonzero effective denoted by {
i
V

,i=1,6} as it is in the other

six states, all other active space vectors have the same
magnitude of (2/3)V
dc
[7][8]. That is 2 / 3, 1,......, 6
i dc
V V i = =
G
.
Phase voltage space vectors are shown as in table I.

Fig. 7. Voltage space vector graph and sectors
TABLE I
PHASE VOLTAGE SPACE VECTORS
State Switch on Phase voltage space vectors
1 1,6,2 (2/3)Vdc
2 1,3,2 (2/3)Vdcexp(j/3)
3 4,3,2 (2/3)Vdcexp(j2/3)
4 4,3,5 (2/3)Vdcexp(j)
5 4,6,5 (2/3)Vdcexp(j4/3)
6 1,6,5 (2/3)Vdcexp(j5/3)
0 and 7 1,3,5 or 4,6,2 0
In SVPWM, the reference voltage vector should be
synthesized by the adjacent vectors of the located sector in order
to minimize the switching times and to minimize the current
harmonics [9]. If a reference voltage vector
ref
V V =
G G
in some
sectors with sustaining (sampling) period T, then we can express
it by using its neighboring effective voltage vectors
i
V
G
and
1 i
V
+
G

with appropriate operating times T
i
and T
i+1
as follows
1 1
, 1......, 6
i i i i
VT V T VT i
+ +
+ = =
G G G
(7)
The SVPWM algorithm is firstly to get its two corresponding
component equations in reference frame for (7), and then
to solve the operating times of the neighboring effective voltage
vectors. An example of the synthesizing procedure in sector I
(0~60), i. e., i=1, as described in Fig. 7, suppose a reference
voltage vector
ref
V V =
G G
, where T is the PWM period, T
1
and T
2

are time durations of two active vectors in each PWM cycle. The
corresponding component equations in reference of (7)
are as follows [10]:
1 1 2 2
2 2
cos 60
sin 60
o
a
o
V T T V T V
V T T V

= +

G G
G
(8)
Where VV are the corresponding axis components of V
G
.
Solving (8) for T
1
and T
2
gives the operating times as (9).
1
2
3 1
( 3 )
2
3

s
dc
s
dc
T
T V V
V
T
T V
V

(9)
T
0
is the time duration of zero active vectors in each PWM
cycle and equals to (T-T
1
-T
2
). In order to obtain fixed switching
frequency and optimum harmonic performance, each leg should
change its state only once in one switching period. This is
achieved by applying zero state vector followed by two adjacent
active state vector in half switching period. The next half of the
switching period is the mirror image of the first half [11]. Fig. 8
shows the method of PWM generation corresponding to the case
shown in Fig. 7. Using the same approach, we can calculate the
other relative vectors operating time in the other sectors.

Fig. 8. Generation of three phase PWM
V. SIMULATION OF A NOVEL STAND-ALONE PV GENERATION
SYSTEM
The block diagram of a stand-alone PV generation system
based on a variable step size INC MPPT method and SVPWM
control scheme for three-phase source PWM inverter is shown
in Fig. 9. It consists of PV module, dc link capacitor, DC-DC
converter, three phase voltage source inverter (VSI), L-C filter,
and load. The first stage is DC-DC converter for MPPT. The
second stage is inverter with SVPWM control strategy.
Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of the proposed stand-alone PV system
In order to verify the novel PV generation system proposed in
this paper. Simulation has been performed in Matlab/Simulink
software when solar illumination rises from 400 W/m
2
to 1000
W/m
2
at 0.03 second and decrease from 1000 W/ m
2
to 400
W/m
2
at 0.1 second. Voltage-curves of MPPT with different step
size can be seen in Fig. 10, and power-curve can be seen in Fig.
11.
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Fig. 10. Output voltage of PV module with different step size

Fig. 11. Output power of PV module with different step size
From the output performance of INC MPPT with different
irradiation step size, comparing with the MPPT with fixed step
size of 1, the MPPT with fixed step size of 10 exhibits a good
dynamic performance but larger steady state oscillations. The
variable step size method solves the dilemma. We can see the
variable step size INC method have more dynamic performance
and smaller steady state than that of fixed step size.

Fig. 12. Output line voltage of system for SPWM

Fig. 13. The THD of output voltage for SPWM

Fig. 14. Output line voltage of system for SVPWM

Fig. 15. The THD of output voltage for SVPWM
Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 show the output line voltage Vab and the
total harmonic distortion (THD) for SPWM. Fig. 14 and Fig. 15
show the output line voltage Vab and THD for SVPWM. From
Fig. 14 and Fig. 15, we can know that the inverter output voltage
is sinusoidal with a THD of 3.4% when control strategy of
inverter is applied with SVPWM, then THD of the output
voltage with SPWM control strategy is 7.5%.
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VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a stand-alone PV generation system based on a
variable step size INC MPPT method and SVPWM control
scheme for three-phase voltage source PWM inverter is
proposed. Both fixed step size and the proposed variable size
INC MPPT methods are implemented with Matlab/Simulink for
simulation. From results of simulation, it can be seen that the
variable step size INC MPPT algorithm which is able to improve
the dynamic and steady state performance of the PV system
simultaneously. At the same time, output results of inverter with
SVPWM control strategy have better power quality than that of
inverter with SPWM control strategy, and simulation results of
system demonstrate that the novel PV system has the fast and
effective response under changing atmospheric condition. So
the stand-alone PV generation system based on a variable step
size INC MPPT method and SVPWM control for three-phase
voltage source PWM inverter is feasible and effective.
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