MODELING OF BOOST AND CUK CONVERTERS AND COMPARISON OF THEIR PERFORMANCE IN MPPT

Abstract

The efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) panel systems depends on the structure of the photovoltaic cells and the transfer of energy from the PV panel to load. The focus of this study is energy transfer. The most important component in the energy transfer is maximum power point tracking (MPPT). The MPPT consists of two components: the algorithm for calculation the maximum power and the hardware for power generating. This study investigates how some the DC-DC converters (hardware) impact on the performance of the MPPT under six different environmental conditions by using two different duty cycle calculation methods. Contribution of this study to the literature is to analyze the performance of some the DC-DC converters in MPPT by completely eliminating the effect of MPPT algorithms. As a result of this study, while using the Boost converter in MPPT applications, the internal resistance of the PV panel must be equal or smaller than load resistance. However, the Cuk converter can reach to maximum power point in all conditions such as temperature, radiation and load.