From the perspective of output voltage control stability, this study investigates the stable operating area of photovoltaic (PV) cells feeding the DC–DC converter in output voltage regulation (OVR) mode. In this study, the boost interface converter is taken as an example, and its control system arrangements, small-signal model including the dynamic equivalent circuit of PV cells and the closed-loop transfer functions with different control loop formation are deduced at first. After that, according to the Hurwitz criterion, the essential condition for output voltage control stability is analysed and the relations between control loop formation of the interface converter in OVR mode and the stable operating area are obtained. The validity of the theoretical analysis has been verified by the experiment and simulation results of a 150 W prototype. The investigation shows that: (i) no matter what kind of control loop formation is adopted, the PV cells cannot output the maximum power when the PV interface converter operates in OVR mode; (ii) when the interface converter operates in OVR mode, PV cells can only operate stably in voltage area or current area. Moreover, the type of operating area entirely depends on the converter's output voltage control loop formation.

References

1. 1)
  - 5. Lee, J.H., Bae, H.S., Cho, B.H.: ‘Resistive control for a photovoltaic battery charging system using a microcontroller’, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., 2008, 55, (7), pp. 2767–2775 (doi: 10.1109/TIE.2008.922594).
2. 2)
  - 13. Chen, C.-W., Chen, K.-H., Chen, Y.-M.: ‘Modeling and controller design of an autonomous PV module for DMPPT PV systems’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2014, 29, (9), pp. 4723–4732 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2013.2287752).
3. 3)
  - 7. Dragicevic, T., Guerrero, J.M., Vasquez, J.C., Skrlec, D.: ‘Supervisory control of an adaptive-droop regulated dc microgrid with battery management capability’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2014, 29, (2), pp. 695–706 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2013.2257857).
4. 4)
  - 20. Qin, L., Xie, S., Yang, C., et al: ‘Dynamic model and dynamic characteristics of solar cell’. IEEE ECCE Asia Downunder, Melbourne, Australia, 2013, pp. 659–663.
5. 5)
  - 19. Nousiainen, L., Puukko, J., Maki, A., et al: ‘Photovoltaic generator as an input source for power electronic converter’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2013, 28, (6), pp. 1276–1280 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2012.2209899).
6. 6)
  - 18. Ahmed, M.E.-S., Orabi, M., AbdelRahim, O.M.: ‘Two-stage micro-grid inverter with high-voltage gain for photovoltaic applications’, IET Power Electron., 2013, 6, (9), pp. 1812–1821 (doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2012.0666).
7. 7)
  - 4. Zhang, L., Wu, T., Xing, Y., et al: ‘Power control of DC microgrid using DC bus signaling’. IEEE APEC, Fort Worth, USA, 2011, pp. 1926–1932.
8. 8)
  - 6. Villalva, M.G., de Siqueira, T.G., Ruppert, E.: ‘Voltage regulation of photovoltaic arrays: small-signal analysis and control design’, IET Power Electron., 2010, 3, (6), pp. 869–880 (doi: 10.1049/iet-pel.2008.0344).
9. 9)
  - 23. Maki, A., Valkealahti, S., Suntio, T.: ‘Dynamic terminal characteristics of a photovoltaic generator’. IEEE Power Electronics and Motion Control Conf., Ohrid, Macedonia, 2010, pp. 1276–1280.
10. 10)
  - 11. Suntio, T., Leppäaho, J., Huusari, J., et al: ‘Issues on solar-generator interfacing with current-fed MPP-tracking converters’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2010, 25, (9), pp. 2409–2418 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2010.2048580).
11. 11)
  - 14. Prasanna, U.R., Rathore, A.K.: ‘Analysis, design, and experimental results of a novel soft-switching snubberless current-fed half-bridge front-end converter-based PV inverter’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2013, 28, (7), pp. 3219–3230 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2012.2222932).
12. 12)
  - 15. Yang, B., Li, W., Zhao, Y., et al: ‘Design and analysis of a grid-connected photovoltaic power system’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2010, 25, (4), pp. 992–1000 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2036432).
13. 13)
  - 16. Kumar, S.S., Dharmireddy, G., Raja, P., et al: ‘A voltage controller in photovoltaic system without battery storage for standalone applications’. Int. Conf. on Electrical, Control and Computer Engineering, Pahang, Malaysia, 2011, pp. 270–274.
14. 14)
  - 21. Villava, M.G., Gazoli, J.R., Filho, E.R.: ‘Comprehensive approach to modeling and simulation of photovoltaic arrays’, IEEE Trans. Power Electron., 2009, 24, (5), pp. 1198–1208 (doi: 10.1109/TPEL.2009.2013862).
15. 15)
  - 17. Shmilovitz, D.: ‘On the control of photovoltaic maximum power point tracker via output parameters’, IEE Proc. Electr. Power Appl., 2005, 152, (2), pp. 239–248 (doi: 10.1049/ip-epa:20040978).
16. 16)
  - 22. Sera, D., Teodorescu, R., Rodriguez, P.: ‘PV panel model based on datasheet values’. IEEE Int. Symp. on Industrial Electronics, Vigo, Spain, 2007, pp. 2392–2396.
17. 17)
  - 9. Yang, J.H., Bae, H.S., Lee, J.H., et al: ‘A simplified series-parallel structure for the regulated peak power tracking (RPPT) system’. IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conf. and Exposition, Austin, USA, 2008, pp. 877–881.
18. 18)
  - 8. Bae, H., Lee, J., Park, S., et al: ‘Large-signal stability analysis of solar array power system’, IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst., 2008, 44, (2), pp. 538–547 (doi: 10.1109/TAES.2008.4560205).
19. 19)
  - 10. Suntio, T., Leppäaho, J., Huusari, J.: ‘Issues on solar-generator interfacing with voltage-fed converters’. IEEE Power Electronics and Motion Control Conf., Ohrid, Macedonia, 2010, pp. 595–600.
20. 20)
  - 3. Konstantopoulos, G.C., Alexandridis, A.T.: ‘Non-linear voltage regulator design for DC/DC boost converters used in photovoltaic applications: analysis and experimental results’, IET Renew. Power Gener., 2013, 7, (3), pp. 296–308 (doi: 10.1049/iet-rpg.2012.0068).
21. 21)
  - 1. de Brito, M.A.G., Galotto, L.Jr., Sampaio, L.P., et al: ‘Evaluation of the main MPPT techniques for photovoltaic applications’, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., 2013, 60, (3), pp. 1156–1167 (doi: 10.1109/TIE.2012.2198036).
22. 22)
  - 12. Chiang, S.J., Shieh, H.-J.: ‘Modeling and control of PV charger system with SEPIC converter’, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., 2009, 56, (11), pp. 4344–4353 (doi: 10.1109/TIE.2008.2005144).
23. 23)
  - 7. Qin, L., Xie, S., Yang, C., et al: ‘The interfacing stability of photovoltaic cells and current-fed MPPT converter’. IEEE ECCE Asia Downunder, Melbourne, Australia, 2013, pp. 877–881.

Stable operating area of photovoltaic cells feeding DC–DC converter in output voltage regulation mode

References

Related content