Perturb and Observe Maximum Power Point Tracking Method Based on Estimation of Irradiation Change by Independent Component Analysis

The techniques of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) are used for maximizing the output of PVs by continuously tracking the maximum power point (MPP) of their P-V curves, which depend both on the panel temperature and the input insolation. Various MPPT algorithms have been studied in papers. One of the popular methods is the Perturb and Observe (P&O) method. The P&O method has a special place due to its simplicity and low running cost. However, one of the disadvantages of this method is the failure to track MPP under fast-changing irradiation. In this paper, the scale of the changing irradiance signal is extracted without the need for an irradiance sensor by an independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm, and then, according to this estimation and P&O method, a new algorithm is proposed. The simulation results show, in the case of constant temperature and fast increasing of irradiation and different locations of the initial operating point, the proposed method performance is better than the former P&O in the tracking of maximum power point.