Sliding Mode Control of Photovoltaic Energy Conversion Systems

Abstract

Increasing interest and investment in renewable energy give rise to rapid development of high penetration solar energy. The focus has been on the power electronic converters which are typically used as interface between the dc output of the photo voltaic (PV) panels and the terminals of the ac utility network. In the dual-stage grid-connected PV (GPV) system, the dc dc stage plays a significant role in converting dc power from PV panel at low voltage to high dc bus voltage. However, the output of solar arrays varies due to change in solar irradiation and weather conditions. More importantly, high initial cost and limited lifespan of PV panels make it more critical to extract as much power from them as possible. It is, therefore, necessary one to employ the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques in order to operate PV array at its maximum power point (MPP). A fast-and-robust analog-MPP tracker is thus proposed by using the concepts of Utkin’s equivalent control theory and fast-scale stability analysis. Analytical demonstration has also been presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed MPPT control technique. After the dc stage, the dc-ac inverter stage is employed to convert dc power into ac power and feed the power into the utility grid. The dc-ac stage is realized through the conventional full-bridge voltage source inverter (VSI) topologies. A fixed frequency hysteresis current (FFHC) controller, as well as an ellipsoidal switching surface based sliding mode control (SMC) technique are developed to improve the steady state and dynamic response under sudden load fluctuation. Such a control strategy is used not only maintains good voltage regulation, but also exhibits fast dynamic response under sudden load variation .Moreover, VSI can be synchronized with the ac utility grid. The current injected into the ac grid obeys the regulations standards (IEEE Std 519 and IEEE Std 1547)and ful fills the maximum allowable amount of injected current harmonics. Apart from that, controlling issues of stand-alone and grid-connected operation PV have also been discussed. A typical stand-alone PV system comprises a solar array and battery which is used as a backup source for power management between the source and the load .A control approach is developed for a 1-_ dual-stage transformer less inverter system to achieve voltage regulation with low steady state error and low total harmonic distortion (THD) and fast transient response under various load disturbances. The SMC technique is employed to address the power quality issues. A control technique for battery charging and discharging is also presented to keep the dc-link voltage constant during change in load demand or source power. This battery controller is employed for bidirectional power flow between battery and dc-link through a buck-boost converter in order to keep the input dc voltage constant. The robust stability of the closed-loop system is also analyzed. Finally, modeling and control of a 1-_ dual-stage GPV system has been analyzed. A small-signal average model has been developed for a 1-_ bridge inverter. The proposed controller has three cascaded control loops. The simulation results and theoretical analysis indicate that the proposed controller improves the efficiency of the system by reducing the THD of the injected current to the grid and increases the robustness of the system against uncertainties.