Regulated Incremental Conductance (r-INC) MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems

Regulated Incremental Conductance (r-INC) MPPT Algorithm for Photovoltaic Systems

The efficiency of photovoltaic generation systems depends on the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique. Among the various schemes presented in the literature, the incremental conductance (INC) method is one of the most frequently used due to its superb tracking ability under changes in insolation and temperature. Generally, conventional INC algorithms implement a simple duty-cycle updating rule that is mainly found on the polarity of the peak-power evaluation function. However, this fails to maximize the performance in both steady-state and transient conditions. In order to overcome this limitation, a novel regulated INC (r-INC) method is proposed in this paper. Like the compensators in automatic control systems, this method applies a digital compensator to evaluate the INC function and improve the capability of power tracking. Precise modeling of a new MPPT system is also presented in the optimized design process. A 120W boost peak power tracker is utilized to obtain comparative test results and to confirm the superiority of the proposed method over existing techniques.