Minimisation of Cross-Coupling Effect in Series-Connected Boost Converter based Photovoltaic System

Abstract

Solar panel has been used increasingly in recent years to convert solar energy to electrical energy. The solar panel can be used either as a stand-alone system or as a large solar system that is connected to the electricity grids. All the PV modules are connected in series and parallel combinations. But in case series connections, whenever there is shading or aging of either of the modules, will directly affect the whole system. So, this project focuses on minimising the issue.
In this project work, modelling of PV cell and series-connected boost converter has been carried out. From there, we get to know about particular transfer function which are getting affected due to cross-coupling effect. For maximum power point tracking (MPPT), Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm and Fuzzy Logic controller has been considered to get maximum efficiency out of system. We get to know the benefits of Distributed MPPT over centralised DMPPT to carry out the project. Finally, cross-coupling effect has been verified in MATLAB/Simulink.
We observed that because of cross-coupling effect in series connected boost converter, there is huge amount of disturbance in the PV voltages while tracking with P & O algorithm. This is affecting the performance of the system drastically. So, to reduce the effect, Fuzzy Logic controller is used instead of P & O algorithm. It has been found out that disturbance created was much more reduced.