Design Control of DC/AC Converter for a grid

Connected PV Systems with Maximum Power

Tracking using Matlab/Simulink
Fatima Zahra Amatoul Moulay Tahar Lamchich Abdelkader Outzourhit
Department of physics
Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University
Marrakesh, Morocco
fz.amatoul@ucam.ac.ma lamchich@ucam.ac.ma aoutzour@ucam.ac.ma
AbstractMaximization of power from a solar photovoltaic
module is of special interest as the efficiency of the solar PV
module is very low. A peak power tracker is used for extracting
the maximum power from the solar PV module. In the present
work we analyze the design and the simulation of the maximum
power point tracker (MPPT) for the solar PV array connected to
three phase grid. In our studies, we conceived a PV system where
the PV generator is the panel NA-901(WQ). The MPPT system
has been tested on Solar PV Module (Micro-amorphous silicon
thin-film) rated 90Wpeak at 49.3V, 1.83A at 25 degree Celsius
and 1000W/m2 (STC). The simulation studies are carried out in
MATLAB /SIMULINK.
Keywords-Solar cells; photovoltaic (PV); Maximum power
point tracking (MPPT); perturb and observe (P&O); inverter.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Figure 2. Example of PV arrays.

The PV cell is a specially designed PN junction or Schottky

barrier device. The well-known diode equation describes the
operation of the shaded PV cell. When the cell is illuminated,
electron-hole pairs are produced by the interaction of the
incident photons with the atoms of the cell. The electric field
created by the cell junction causes the photon-generatedelectron-hole pairs to separate, with the electrons drifting into
the n-region of the cell and the holes drifting into the p-region
[1].
In order to obtain an adequate output voltage, PV cells are
connected in series to form a PV module. If higher voltages or
currents are not available from a single module, modules must
be connected into arrays. Series connections result in higher
voltages, while parallel connections result in higher currents.

Owing to their initial high costs, photovoltaic solar cells

have not yet been a fully attractive alternative for electricity
users who are able to buy cheaper electrical energy from the
utility grid. However, they have been used extensively for
water pumping and air conditioning in remote and isolated
areas where utility power is not available or is too expensive to
transport. Although photovoltaic solar cells prices have
decreased considerably during the last years due to new
developments in the film technology and manufacturing
process [2]. The electrical system powered by solar arrays
requires special design considerations due to varying nature of
the solar power generated resulting from unpredictable and
sudden changes in weather conditions, which change the solar
irradiation level as well as the cell operating temperature [3].
The issue of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) has
been addressed in different ways in the literature: examples of
fuzzy logic, neural networks, pilot cells and DSP based
implementations have been proposed in [4]-[5], Nevertheless,
the perturb and observe (P&O) and INcremental Conductance
(INC) techniques are widely used, especially for low-cost
implementations [4].

Figure 1. Structure of a Photovoltaic Cell with silicon (PN junction).

978-1-61284-732-0/11/$26.00 2010 IEEE

In [6] it is shown that the P&O method, when properly

optimized, leads to an efficiency which is equal to that
obtainable by the INC method. On another side, in [7][8][9] it
is confirmed that the most commonly used MPPT algorithm is
the (P&O), due to its ease implementation in its basic form.
However, it has some limitations, like oscillations around the
MPP in steady state operation, slow response speed, and even
tracking in wrong way under rapidly changing atmospheric
conditions.
A dc/dc converter (step up) serves the purpose of
transferring maximum power from the solar PV module to the
load. A dc/dc converter acts as an interface between the load
and the PV array Fig. 3. By changing the duty cycle, the load
impedance as seen by the source is varied and matched at the
point of the peak power with the source so as to transfer the
maximum power.
Ipv

Vpv

Vdc

(t )

PV array

MPPT
controller

q
I D = I sat exp
(Vcell + Rs I cell ) 1

KT

Figure 5. Solar cell equivalent model.

Where I cell and Vcell are the cell output current and
voltage. The definitions of the parameters are given in table 1.
The equivalent circuit for the solar cells arranged in N p
parallel and N s series is shown in fig.6, array current and
array voltage becomes:
q V pv R s I pv

1
+
I pv = N p I ph N p I sat exp

N p
KT N s

DTs Ts

(2)

V pv R s I pv

+
(3)
(3)
Ns

N
p

Where N p represents the number of parallel modules. Note

NP
Rp

that each module is composed of N s cells connected in series.

N p I ph corresponds to the short circuit current of the solar
array.

Figure 3. Modelling of the PV system.

If the source can support the forms of cut out waves

generated by the dc chopper, it can be possible to remove the
filter, the reference of tension of source then becomes simply a
reference for the tension. In other words, for a tension of data
bus, a simple duty cycle.
Taking into account the nature of the sources concerned,
one can still simplify the structure by removing the chopper.
Indeed, the control of the primary source directly controls the
reference of the tension of the continuous bus.

Ns
Rs
Np

Np

NPI ph

Ns

Ns
Rp
Np

Figure 6. Electrically equivalent of solar array circuit

( N p parallel- N s series).

The output of Simulink model is shows first the V-P

characteristics of PV module, for various irradiation levels
(fig.7), and then V-I characteristics, reference to the key
specifications of the NA-901 module illustrated in table 1 [10],
the results of Simulink PV module show the excellent
correspondence to the model.

Figure 4. Simplified structure.

II.

MODELLING OF PV ARRAY

A solar PV array is developed in Simulink. This array is

used as a source for the maximum power point tracker system.
The PV array makes use of the equations of a typical solar cell.
The typical model of a solar cell is shown in Fig. 5. The current
and voltage of the solar cell is given as follows:

I cell = I ph I D

Vcell + Rs I cell
Rp

(1)

(1)

25

Temperature
Maximum power

Pmax

90

Open-circuit voltage

Voc

65 .2

Short-circuit current

I sc

2.11

Voltage, max power

Vmpp

49 .3

Current, max power

I mpp

1.83

Wp

Table 1. Key specifications of the NA-901 PV module.

Where means a shift step from the previous value. The

value of Ppv is reset periodically to compensate environmental
changes of the solar array.

NA-901 model, T=25 degC, G=200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 W/m2

100

G=1000W/m2

90
80

G=800W/m2
M o d u le p o w e r (W )

70

IV.

60

G=600W/m2

MODELLING OF A THREE-PHASE GRID CONNECTED

PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM

50
40

Figure 10 shows the equivalent diagram of the power

circuit of a converter dc/ac. The converters of power are nonlinear systems and the switches take the value "0" or "1",
according to whether the switch is closed ("1") or open ("0")
[12].

G=400W/m2

30
20

G=200W/m2

10
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Module voltage (V)

Figure 7. V-P characteristics of NA-901 (WQ) 90W PV module.

NA-901 model, T=25 degC, G=200, 400, 600, 800, 1000 W/m2

2.5

G=1000W/m2

M o d u le c u rre n t ( A )

G=800W/m2

1.5

G=600W/m2
1

G=400W/m2

0.5

Figure 10. Grid connected PV System.

G=200W/m2

10

20

30

40

50

60

The switching functions of the three tensions of the threephase source are shown in table 2.

70

Module voltage (V)

Figure 8. V-I characteristics of NA-901 (WQ) 90W PV module.

III.

MPPT ALGORITHM

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) have already been

mentioned in Introduction, it is necessary to draw the
maximum amount of power from the PV module. We have
chosen to use perturb and observe (P&O) algorithm, based on
the references mentioned before. Also known as the hill
climbing method [11], P&O algorithm is very popular
because of its simplicity and ease of implementation.
Basically, the module current is perturbed by a small
increment, and the resulting change in the power is observed.
If the change in power is positive, the current is adjusted by
the same increment, and the power is again observed. This
continues until the change in power is negative, at which point
the direction of the change in current is reversed.

Sa =
Sb =
Sc =

S ap = 1

S an = 0

S ap = 0

S an = 1

S bp = 1

S bn = 0

S bp = 0

S bn = 1

S cp = 1

S cn = 0

S cp = 0

S cn = 1

Table 2. Operation of a commutation cell.

To obtain the model of state-space of the circuit shown in

figure 10, the equations modelling our system can be written as
follows:
L

di a (t )
= v a (t ) v a (t ) Ri a (t )
dt

dib (t )
= v b (t ) v b (t ) Rib (t )
dt

(5)

dvdc 1
= (S a ia + S b ib + S c ic )
dt
C
Where L a = L b = Lc = L and R a = R b = Rc = R .

Figure 9. Perturb and observe algorithm.

The MPPT controller takes V pv and I pv as inputs to detect

power slope and generates V ref to track the maximum power
point. A simple updating algorithm is given as follows:
Ppv (k ) > Ppv (k 1) V ref = V ref + V ref

Ppv (k ) < Ppv (k 1) V ref = V ref V ref

This is a nonlinear model and time variant, by applying the

dq transformation to (5), using an angular frequency of the
grid line rotating reference frame synchronized with the
grids lines in which the d-component of the supply phase
voltage is zero, a time-invariant model, although nonlinear, can
be written as:
L

(4)

'
0 1id (t )
d id (t ) vd (t ) Vd (t ) id (t )
( ) = ( ) ' R ( ) L

dt iq t vq t Vq (t) iq t
1 0iq (t )

(6)

V.

DESIGN OF VOLTAGE CONTROLLER

vd

id

The DC voltage is set by a PI controller that compares the

actual dc bus voltage and the reference generated by the
MPPT, and provides an active current reference I dref in a

idref

Vd

ud

synchronous reference frame attached at grid voltage vector.

The other component of current vector represents the

reactive current and it can be fixed at the desired level for
power factor or voltage control.
Vdcref
I dref
Vdc
1
K
Kp + i
CP
P
+

iqref = 0

Vq

uq
iq

vq

Figure 13. Proposed current control scheme in synchronous d-q

rotating.

VII. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A simulation program is prepared by using
MATLAB/SIMULINK, it has been carried out with the
parameters specified in Table 3.

Figure 11. Regulation of voltage with a PI controller.

VI.

DESIGN OF ALTERNATIVE CURRENT CONTROLLER

The control of current has two objectives, first to have a

purely sinusoidal current without harmonic distortion and with
an unity power factor, second to be able to carry out the
ordering of dc voltage. Thus, the total execution of system
depends on the design of current control. [13]
As illustrated in fig.12, the current control is realized by
choosing two currents reference in synchronous d-q rotating
such as:

For an operation with an unity power factor, the current

reference on the q axis is selected equal to zero.
The component current on the d axis adjusted by the
automatic feedback controller who depends on the
difference between the reference voltage V dcref V dc .

A PI regulator having for input the error signal V dcref V dc

can answer at this requirement.

Standard test conditions

Fig. 14 shows the results of some simulation studies, which
are selected to demonstrate the most significant aspects of gridconnected system behavior. The simulation results have been
obtained under standard climatic conditions (T=25C and
G=1000W/m2). It can be clearly seen that, in steady state, the
PV system provides the maximal power, which is equal to
7920W.

Fig. 14a shows the regulation of the dc link voltage. It is

maintained at a constant level (560 V) so that the real power
extracted from the PV system can pass through the grid.
Fig. 14b presents a zoom-view of the injected current and
the phase to neutral voltage. As it can be seen in this figure,
there is no phase leading between grid-side line current and
voltage. They are in phase and sinusoidal. As a result, a unit
power factor is achieved. This proves the importance of
regulation loop for the grid- connected PV system.

Summarizing the equivalent control input is given as

Lpid ( p ) = Rid ( p) Liq ( p ) + vd ( p) Vd' ( p )

(7)

Lpiq ( p ) = Riq ( p ) Lid ( p ) + v q ( p ) Vq' ( p )

(8)

We define two terms ud (t ) and u q (t ) such as:

ud ( p) = Liq ( p) + vd ( p) Vd' ( p)

(9)

uq ( p ) = Lsid ( p ) + vq ( p ) Vq' ( p )

(10)

Where,
u d ( p ) = (Lp + R )id ( p )

(11)

(12)
uq ( p) = (Lp + R)iq ( p)
Thus, the diagram of current control with a PI regulator in
synchronous d-q rotating can be illustrated by fig.13.

Figure 12. Proposed control scheme of three-phase grid-connected PV system.

Module in series
Module in parallel
Voltage grid
Filter and grid impedance
DC link capacitance

8
11
220V / 50 Hz
R = 0.3,
L = 8e 3H
C = 5000e 6 F

Table 3. Systems model parameters.

dc link voltage Vdc(V)

500

400

300

200

100

400

Voltageandcurrent of phaseVa(V), Ia(A)

600

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

-400

0.8

0.02

0.04

0.06

0.08

Time (sec)

Photovoltaic power Ppv(W)

7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Time (sec)

0.14

0.16

0.18

0.2

0.16

0.17

0.18

0.19

0.2

400

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

-400
0.1

0.11

0.12

0.13

0.14

0.15

Time (sec)

(c )

(d )

Fundamental (50Hz) = 16.26 , THD= 2.39%

100

10000

90

Mag (% of Fundamental)

9000
8000

Activepower Pa(W)

0.12

(b )

Gridvoltages andcurrents Va,b,c(V), Ia,b,c(A)

(a )
8000

0.1

Time (sec)

7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10

1000
0
0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

500

1000

Time (sec)

1500

2000

2500

3000

Frequency (Hz)

(e )

(f )

Figure 14. Simulation results under Standard test conditions: (a) dc link voltage, (b) inverter output current and voltage,
(c) maximal photovoltaic power, (d) Inverter behaviour in operation at unity power factor, (e) active power injected into grid,
(f) frequency response and value of THD for grid side current.

Change of climatic conditions

Fig. 15 presents the evolution of some characteristics of
the grid-connected PV system during a variation transient in
solar radiation. It can be seen that the system tracks the new
operating point very quickly. It has to be said that this is an
extreme change in solar radiation levels that is unlikely to
occur but shows the good performance of the MPPT.

maximum power point is tracked with excellent simulation

results when the radiance fluctuates between t=0.4s and
t=0.6s for G=200W/m2. As can be seen in Figs. 15b, Fig. 15c
and 15d present a zoom-view of the injected current and
phase to neutral voltage. There is no phase leading between
grid-side line current and voltage. They are in phase and
sinusoidal. As a result, a unit power factor is achieved.

In Fig. 15a, the regulation of the dc link voltage, is

maintained at a constant level Vref=560V, so the real power
extracted from the PV system can pass through the grid. The

Fig. 15g shows the frequency response and the value of the
THD for the inverter output current.

400

Voltageandcurret of phaseVa(V), Ia(A)

700

dc link voltageVdc(V)

600

500

400

300

200

100

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

-400
0.3

1.4

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

0.55

0.6

0.65

Time (sec)

Time (sec)

(a )

(b )

25
8000

15

Current of phaseIa(A)

Photovoltaic power Ppv(W)

20
7000

6000

5000

4000

3000

10
5
0
-5
-10
-15

2000

-20
1000
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

Time (sec)

(c )

1.1

1.2

1.3

-25
0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

Time (sec)

(d )

0.55

0.6

0.65

Grid voltages and currents Va,b,c(V), Ia,b,c(A)

10000

Active power Pa(W)

8000

6000

4000

2000

-2000
0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.1

1.2

1.3

Time (sec)

(e )

400

300

200

100

-100

-200

-300

-400
0.4

0.42

0.44

0.46

0.48

0.5

0.52

0.54

0.56

0.58

0.6

Time (sec)

(f )

Fundamental (50Hz) = 14.12 , THD= 1.68%

100

Mag (% of Fundamental)

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Frequency (Hz)

(g )
Figure 15. Simulation results under change of climatic conditions: (a) dc link voltage, (b) inverter output current and voltage, (c) maximal
photovoltaic power, (d) Inverter behaviour in operation at unity power factor, (e) active power injected into grid,
(f) frequency response and value of THD of inverter output current.

VIII.

CONCLUSION

This paper presents an approach of modelling and

controlling of a grid-connected PV system. The simulation of
the whole system has been done in Matlab-Simulink and it
shows an excellent performance of both inverter and MPPT,
with negligible fluctuation of the dc bus voltage, fast
tracking of optimum operating point, and a unit power factor
is achieved.

[7]

[8]

[9]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is partially funded by the HYRESS Project
Hybrid Renewable Energy systems for supplying of
services in Rural Settlements of Mediterranean Partner
Countries, financed by the European commission under
contract PL-031994.

[10]
[11]

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