Abstract
This paper presents an improved Fractional Short Circuit Current (FSCC) Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique in which an additional control loop is used to find the proper moment to measure the SCC. The target is to reduce the power losses in MPPT process that occur as a result of intermittent time based short circuit current measurements. The proposed modification enables the conventional FSCC MPPT to decide intelligently about the measurement of SCC thus reduces the number of times the photovoltaic (PV) module is isolated from the load. Although number of algorithms for tracking MPPT has been reported, the proposed method suits well for low cost PV applications. A Matlab/Simulink based model is employed to test the functional abilities of the proposed method. The comparison of the proposed method and conventional time based FSCC method is also presented in the simulation analysis. Finally, a 130W prototype based on the dSPACE DS1104 controller and experimental results are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The technique is verified under uniform shading conditions. The results show satisfactory performance against test conditions. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.