• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.497-505
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• 2016

Operating wind turbine generators at maximum power point requires maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control methods. However, conventional methods cannot track the appropriate maximum power point in situations involving wind turbine systems based on a series operation strategy. These systems comprise one or more local maximum power points, and conventional methods can detect only one local maximum power point closed by a current operation point. This study proposes an advanced MPPT method for the series operation strategy of a small, grid-connected wind turbine system. In determining the appropriate maximum point, operations at certain local maximum power points are analyzed. The results show one appropriate point, which is tracked by the proposed MPPT method. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by the experimental results.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1281-1292
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• 2014

Photovoltaic (PV) solar systems with series-connected module integrated converters (MICs) are receiving increased attention because of their ability to create high output voltage while performing local maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control for individual solar panels, which is a solution for partial shading effects in PV systems at panel level. To eliminate the partial shading effects in PV system more effectively, sub-MICs are utilized at the cell level or grouped cell level within a PV solar panel. This study presents the results of a series-output-connection MPPT (SOC-MPPT) controller for sub-MIC architecture using a single sensor at the output and a single digital MPPT controller (sub-MIC SOC-MPPT controller and architecture). The sub-MIC SOC-MPPT controller and architecture are investigated based on boost type sub-MICs. Experimental results under steady-state and transient conditions are presented to verify the performance of the controller and the effectiveness of the architecture.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.40-41
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• 2011

Partial shading on a Photo Voltaic panel can generate the local maximum power points on the powervoltage curve of the panel. Presence of the local peaks can disturb the efficient operation of maximum power point tracking (MPPT).In this study, the MPPT under partial shading condition is investigated. To circumvent the trappings into the local peaks, the results of the study are enumerated and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2019

In order to increase the power generation efficiency of the photovoltaic system, a new algorithm that can follow the maximum power point of the photovoltaic power generation system having nonlinear output characteristics is proposed. Conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms such as Perturbation and Observation (P&O) and InCond (Increment and Conductance) schemes can not find the global maximum power point at a plurality of pole points in the unmatched state of unbalanced PV modules. However, even if the global maximum power point is found at a plurality of pole points, the global maximum power that can not be the real maximum power by the photovoltaic generation system. In order to solve this problem, a few PV companies propose installing several small PV inverters instead of if big one. However, since this will require additional costs, we herein propose a Multi-MPPT system using individual 3-point MPPT to track true MPPT at a plurality of pole points in the unmatched state of unbalanced PV modules.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.7-8
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• 2014

본 논문에서는 보편적으로 태양광 시스템에 적용되는 MPPT(Maximum Power Point Tracking) 기술들이 가지는 단점을 상호 보완하는 하이브리드 MPPT 제어 알고리즘을 제안하였다. 널리 사용되고 있는 MPPT 기술들을 비교하여 분석하였고, 이를 바탕으로 각 기술들의 단점을 상호 보완할 수 있는 요소들을 추출하여 MPPT 알고리즘에 적용하였다. 구현된 알고리즘은 최대전력점으로부터 동작점이 떨어져 있는 경우 빠르게 추적할 수 있는 속응성을 가지며, 정상상태에서는 안정도를 높이고, 국부적인 최대전력점(LMPP; Local Maximum Power Point) 발생 시 이를 감지하여 전체 특성 곡선의 최대전력점(GMPP; Global Maximum Power Point)을 찾아가도록 하였다. 또한 시뮬레이션을 통해 그 특성을 확인하였다.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1248-1258
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• 2019

This paper presents a moth-flame optimization (MFO)-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method for photovoltaic (PV) systems. The MFO algorithm is a new optimization method that exhibits satisfactory performance in terms of exploration, exploitation, local optima avoidance, and convergence. Therefore, the MFO algorithm is quite suitable for solving multiple peaks of PV systems under partial shading conditions (PSCs). The proposed MFO-MPPT is compared with four MPPT algorithms, namely the perturb and observe (P&O)-MPPT, incremental conductance (INC)-MPPT, particle swarm optimization (PSO)-MPPT and whale optimization algorithm (WOA)-MPPT. Simulation and experiment results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can extract the global maximum power point (MPP) with greater tracking speed and accuracy under various conditions.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.287-296
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• 2016

Conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods are ineffective under partially shaded conditions because multiple local maximum can be exhibited on power-voltage characteristic curve. This study proposes an improved cuckoo search (ICS) MPPT method after investigating the cuckoo search (CS) algorithm applied in solving multiple MPPT. The algorithm eliminates the random step in the original CS algorithm, and the conception of low-power, high-power, normal and marked zones are introduced. The adaptive step adjustment is also realized according to the different stages of the nest position. This algorithm adopts the large step in low-power and marked zones to reduce search time, and a small step in high-power zone is used to improve search accuracy. Finally, simulation and experiment results indicate that the promoted ICS algorithm can immediately and accurately track the global maximum under partially shaded conditions, and the array output efficiency can be improved.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.320-333
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• 2009

A Photovoltaic (PV) system's power output varies with the change of climate. Frequency deviations, tie line voltage swings are caused by the varying PV power when large PV power from several PV systems is fed in the utility. In this paper, to overcome these problems, a simple coordinated control method for smoothing the variations of combined PV power from multiple PV systems is proposed. Here, output power command is formed in two steps: central and local. Fuzzy control is used to produce the central smoothing output power command considering insolation, variance of insolation and absolute average of frequency deviation. In local step, a simple coordination is kept between the central power command and the local power commands by producing a common tuning factor. Power converters are used to achieve the same output power as local command power employing PI control law for each of the PV generation systems. The proposed method is compared with the method where conventional Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) control is used for each of the PV systems. Simulation results show that the proposed method is effective for smoothing the output power variations and feasible to reduce the frequency deviations of the power utility.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.355-363
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• 2007

In this paper, the transformerless three-phase line-connected PV PCS (photovoltaic power conditioning system) is proposed. An improved P&O (perturb and observe) MPPT (maximum power point tracking) algorithm that prevents local maximum power point tracking is proposed. By controlling the three-phase line-connected voltage source inverter using outer DC-link voltage controller, inner current controller and microcontroller friendly simplified space vector modulation (SVM) method, a unity power factor is achieved. An algorithm is suggested to control the DC-link voltage faster and more correctly for the increase system stability and power factor. All algorithms and controllers are implemented on a single-chip microcontroller and the superiority of the proposed algorithms and controllers is proved by experiments.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.1327-1337
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• 2017

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are influenced by disproportionate impacts on energy production caused by frequent mismatch cases. The occurrence of multiple maximum power points (MPPs) adds complexity to the tracking process in various PV systems. However, current maximum-power point tracking (MPPT) techniques exhibit limited performance. This paper introduces an enhanced simulated annealing (ESA)-based GMPPT technique against multiple MPP issues in P-V curve with different PV system structures. The proposed technique not only distinguishes global and local MPPs but also performs rapid convergence speed and high tracking accuracy of irradiance changing and restart capability detection. Moreover, the proposed global maximum power tracking algorithm can be applied in the central converter of DMPPT and hybrid PV system to meet various application scenarios. Its effectiveness is verified by simulation and test results.