A constant voltage MPPT method for a solar powered boost converter with DC motor load

Abstract

A constant voltage maximum power point (MPP) algorithm that automatically adjusts the reference voltage to account for varying environmental conditions is presented. A simple (and inexpensive) analog feedforward PWM controller is developed to continuously track the MPP of a solar cell array as the weather conditions vary. The solar array source is configured such that its open-circuit voltage is sampled without breaking the entire source from the load as is the case with other constant voltage MPP algorithms. MATLAB/Simulink simulations are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed MPP algorithm. Simulation results collaborated with experimental results using a DC motor load.