ABSTRACT
This book chapter proposed a streamlined approach on maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control of a single-stage grid-connected solar inverter. Conventional photovoltaic (PV) inverter consisted of double-stage, the first stage is MPPT control using DC-DC converter; and the second stage is grid-connected DC-AC voltage source inverter (VSI). Besides, activation of bypass diodes due to partial shading condition (PSC) will generate multiple-peaks PV curve, hence identifying the global peak becomes a problem. In the proposed approach, a Hiking-Particle Swarm Optimization (HPSO)-based MPPT control is applied directly on a single-stage inverter to locate the global peak without the need of the first DC-DC converter stage, therefore reducing the complexity and overall costing of solar inverter system. The search mechanism of proposed algorithm is inspired by the concept of mountain hiking where all particles are sorted in ascending and descending orders based on current iteration index. It facilitates gradual changes of voltage for achieving accurate tracking and eliminate the undesirable drawbacks brought by large voltage fluctuation issues. The maximum power tracking performance of HPSO-based MPPT algorithm is evaluated under different PSC. Simulation has reported the tracking time of 0.36s and highest average tracking accuracy of 99.46%, indicating the practicability and robustness in real-time application.
