MPPT Method for PV Systems Under Partially Shaded Conditions by Approximating I–V Curve

Partially shaded (PS) photovoltaic (PV) arrays have multiple peaks at their P-V characteristic. Although conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms are successful when PV arrays are under uniform irradiance conditions (UICs), their tracking speeds are low and may fail to track global maximum power point (GMPP) for PS arrays. Several MPPT algorithms have been proposed for PS arrays. Most of them require numerous samplings which decreases MPPT speed and increases energy loss. The proposed method in this paper gets the GMPP deterministically and very fast. It intelligently takes some samples from the array's P-V curve and divides the search voltage range into small subregions. Then, it approximates the I-V curve of each subregion with a simple curve, and accordingly estimates an upper limit for the array power in that subregion. Next, by comparing the measured real power values with the estimated upper limits, the search region of GMPP is limited, and based on some defined criteria, the vicinity of GMPP is determined. Simulation and experimental results and comparisons are presented to highlight the performance and superiority of the proposed approach.