An evaluation of effectiveness of P&O, INC and Fuzzy logic MPPT algorithms in photovoltaic systems

Abstract

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are widely used in most photovoltaic (PV) systems to optimize the PV system’s output power which depends on ambient conditions, i.e. solar radiance and PV arrays’ temperature. In general, MPPT techniques can be classified into two categories: conventional algorithms, such as Perturbation and Observation (P&O) algorithm and Incremental Conductance (INC) algorithm, and artificial intelligence algorithms, such as Fuzzy Logic (FL). In this paper, a survey of these algorithms is conducted in order to analyze, compare and evaluate their performances when they are integrated in a PV power system under dynamic changed conditions. The simulation results, obtained by MATLAB/SIMULINK, have pointed out that the dynamic performances of MPPT based FL control are much better than those of P&O and INC algorithms.