Design of boost converter based on maximum power point resistance for photovoltaic applications

Abstract

The design of the boost converter for the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is complex due to the nonlinear characteristics of Photovoltaic (PV) modules. In addition, PV modules are irradiance and temperature dependent, which further increases the complexity of the boost converter design. This paper proposes a new approach that eases the design of the boost converter specifically for MPPT applications. This approach represents the maximum power point of the PV module as resistance to simplify the boost converter design, which specifies the design according to the PV module parameters. The derived equations require nine parameters to determine the inductance, input capacitance, and output capacitance of the MPPT boost converter. In this paper, the single diode PV model and the hill climbing MPPT algorithm have been applied in the simulation using MATLAB/Simulink®. The results show that the simulations of the boost converter followed the desired requirements. This proves that the calculated inductance, input capacitance, and output capacitance using the proposed method are accurate.