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Implementation of Maximum Power Point Tracking Using Kalman Filter for Solar Photovoltaic Array on FPGA

Author(s): Varun Ramchandania*, Kranthi Pamarthib, Naveen Varmac, Shubhajit Roy Chowdhurya
a Center for VLSI and Embedded Systems Technology, IIIT Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500032, India
b Dept. of Electronics& Communication Engineering, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela 769008, India
c Dept. of Electronics & Communication Engineering, VNIT Nagpur, Nagpur 440010, India
International Journal of Smart Grid and Clean Energy, vol. 2, no. 2, May 2013: pp. 152–158
ISSN: 2315-4462
Digital Object Identifier: 10.12720/sgce.2.2.152-158 

Abstract: This paper proposes FPGA implementation of a novel approach to track maximum power point of a solar photovoltaic array. The approach uses Kalman filter algorithm to track maximum power point. Using this approach tracking becomes much faster than using the generic Perturb & Observe algorithm in case of sudden weather changes. In this paper output of the proposed algorithm on FPGA is provided. Experimentation was performed under optimal conditions as well as under cloudy conditions i.e. falling irradiance levels. Using the proposed technique the maximum power point of a solar PV array is tracked with an efficiency of 97.11%. Moreover, the maximum power point has been tracked at a much faster rate i.e. 4.5 ms using the proposed algorithm compared to the existing generic Perturb and Observe approach.
Keywords: Maximum power point tracking, Kalman filter, perturb and observe, photovoltaic, FPGA

Full Paper.pdf

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