Solar Powered High Efficient Dual Buck

Converter for Battery Charging

Esther Glory. S1, Dhivya. P.S2 and Sivaprakasam. T3
PG Scholar, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Shakthi Instititute of Engineering and
Technology, Coimbatore, India1,2
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Sri Shakthi Instititute of ngineering and
Technology, Coimbatore, India3

Abstract: Photovoltaic power generation system implements an effective utilization of solar energy, but has very low
conversion efficiency. The major problem in solar photo-voltaic (SPV) system is to maintain the DC output power from
the panel as constant. Irradiation and temperature are the two factors, which will change the output power of the panel.
Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is used in photovoltaic (PV) systems to regulate the photovoltaic array output.
MPPT controller typically consists of DC-DC converter with some duty cycle finding controller to maintain the output
power as constant. The power can be stored in battery and then utilized for the powering the DC and AC load through
inverter. In this project the dual buck converter has been proposed to track the maximum operating point of the Solar
PV. The switching losses have been reduced and converter efficiency is improved by using dual buck converter. The
modified perturb & observe (MPO) algorithm is used to provide suitable duty cycle to the dual buck converter. The
dual buck converter will provide the battery bank a large energy capacity, to run at 9V, and a large output current to
handle high power loads. Buck converters are used in controlling the charging current supplied to the battery based on
the power obtained from the PV system. The applications of this converter are hybrid electric vehicles, renewable
energy conversion system.

Keywords: Photovoltaic (PV) system, dual buck converter, MPPT, Battery Charger, MATLAB.

1. INTRODUCTION
The popular among the renewable energy sources is the used. a dual buck converter is used for efficient battery
solar energy. Solar energy is utilized by standalone charging and to control the power flow from the PV panel
photovoltaic PV system. Photovoltaic panels convert the to battery and load. It requires MPPT control algorithm to
solar energy into electrical energy. PV system has measure the power of the PV panel. Perturb and observe
nonlinear internal characteristics. Irradiation and algorithm (P & O) is used for MPP tracking. The complete
temperature in the solar PV system will affect the voltage system is simulated using MATLAB-SIMULINK and the
and power characteristics. As the cost of the PV panel is results are presented in this paper.
high maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is needed to
track maximum output power. DC to DC converter is 2. OVERVIEW OF EXCISTING SYSTEM
interfaced with the PV panel and the battery. Lead acid To increase the maximum power output from the solar
battery is mostly used because of its features such as wide panel MPP tracking systems are used. Even though the
operating temperature range, low self-discharge, long temperature, irradiation and the load characteristics varies
service life and maintenance free. The installation cost of it helps in maintain the output of the solar PV panel
the battery is low compared to PV panel. But the lifetime constant. For high efficiency output from the PV panel
cost of the battery is high compare to the PV installation buck converters are used for DC-DC power
because of its limited service time. Battery life time is transmission.[2]. In stand alone PV systems buck
reduced if there is low PV energy availability for longer converters are effective in dc-dc step down operation and
period or improper charging and discharging. The battery for battery storing operations. [3]. For battery charging
charging needs control for achieving high State of Charge application step down converters gives high efficiency.
(SOC) and longer battery life. For long battery life proper tracking solar power from PV panel many MPPT
battery charging is required. In standalone PV system the techniques are available, perturb and observe, incremental
main function of battery charging controller is to full conductance algorithm etc. among all the control
charge the battery without over charging, preventing algorithms the P&O algorithm is widely used and more
reverse current flow at night and deep discharge under effective with simple control algorithm. The insolation and
load conditions. temperature problems can be overcome by using P&O,
In this proposed system, the PV model, battery model and this is effective, flexible and earliest control algorithm.[7]
the battery charging system designed with buck converter [8] [9] [10]. Insolation (short for incident or incoming
is implemented. A popular single diode model of PV is solar radiation) is a measure of solar radiation energy

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received on a given surface area and recorded during a The buck regulator circuit is a switching regulator. It uses
given time. Insolation expressed in watts per square meter an inductor and a capacitor as energy storage elements so
(W/m2). In photovoltaic a proportion of radiation that energy can be transferred from the input to the output
reflected or absorbed depends on the object's reflectivity. in discrete packets. The advantage of using switching
The insolation into a surface is largest when the surface regulators is that they offer higher efficiency than linear
directly faces the Sun. As the angle increases between the regulators. The one disadvantage is noise or ripple, the
direction at a right angle to the surface and the direction of ripple will need to be minimized through careful
the rays of sunlight, the insolation is reduced in proportion component selection. A requirement of the design is to
to the cosine of the angle.[3] The buck converter performs have high current slew rate (up to 930 A/μs) to increase
buck operation where voltage is stepped down, this can switching speed of microprocessor from one state to the
used for low power applications and battery charging. So a other but this causes voltage drop spikes at the processor
dual buck converter is capable of producing high buck power supply. To achieve high current slew rate the
operation useful in many systems.[1] inductor Lo should be as small as possible. This in turn
while achieving faster transient response will cause the
3. PROPOSED SYSTEM output voltage ripple to increase. To reduce output voltage
The power output of PV module varies continuously with ripple, the switching frequency should be increased but this
the variation of irradiation and temperature. The maximum lowers efficiency. This means that the selection of the
power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is used for switching devices will be an important issue. The output
extracting the maximum power (Pm) from the solar PV voltage ripple can also be reduced by increasing the output
module and transferring that power to the load. A DC-DC capacitance, this means a large capacitor in practical
converter (Step down), serves the purpose of transferring design.
maximum power from the PV module to the load and acts
as an interface between the load and the module. the duty 1
cycle is changed by the PWM control signal, the load Total period =
impedance of the source varies and matches the point of f
the peak power of the source so as to transfer the maximum The circuit losses are associated with
power. 1. MOSFET ON time voltage drop
2. MOSFET switching losses
3.1 MPPT Algorithm
3. Diode voltage drop
Perturb and Observe algorithm is used to track maximum 4. Inductor effective resistance
power form the solar panel using MPPT. Perturb and
observe algorithm has a simple feedback structure and
requires less measured parameters. It operates by The average output voltage is given by
periodically perturbing (i.e. incrementing or decreasing) the
array terminal voltage and comparing the PV output power D  Vo  ton (1)
with that of the previous perturbation cycle. If the Vi T
perturbation leads to an increase (decrease) in array power,
the subsequent perturbation is made in the same (opposite) When the MOSFET is ON, current builds up in the
direction. In rapidly changing atmospheric conditions the inductor increasing its stored energy. When the MOSFET
peak power tracker continuously tracks maximum power is OFF the diode becomes forward bias and some of the
with considerable amount of time. stored energy is transferred to the load.
I
3.2 Buck Converter
Vin  Vo  L (2)
The most common power converter topology is the buck DT
power converter also called as step down power converter
is shown in fig1. Power supply designers choose the buck I  0.2Io (3)
power converter because the output voltage is always less
than the input voltage in the same polarity and is not The output current for a buck power converter is
isolated from the input. continuous because the output current is supplied by the
MOSFET
output inductor/capacitor combination; the output capacitor
L never supplies the entire load current for continuous
inductor current mode operationand is given by the equ (4).
diL I 
Vi  L  Vo  L  Vo (4)
R dt DT
Vd D C
The input current for a buck power converter is
⁺ c
discontinuous due to the power switch, the current pulses
from 0 to Io every switching cycle and is given by equ(5).
Fig 1: dc-dc buck converter
⁻

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 diL I  command is shifted to a higher level than the MPPT
0  Vo  L  Vo  L (5) voltage. And finally, the generated PV power will
dt (1  D)T balance the load and battery charging.
Capacitor valur is given by 4.1 Dual Buck Converter
2 Dual buck converter is same as buck
Vo T
C   (1  D) (6) converter, in dual buck 2 buck converters are connected in
Vo 8L parallel with each other. Both the converters are operated
simultaneously based on the input power availability from
Current Ripple ΔI the PV panel. The buck converters are operated in such a
Vi  D  (1  D) way that constant output power is supplied to the battery
I  (7)
FL for charging. the effectiveness of the proposed controller
has been highlighted by checking the charging and
Voltage Ripple ΔV discharging currents of the battery. The circuit diagram of
When the switch is off during (1-D) T the current flowing dual buck converter is shown in figure 2.
in the capacitor is Ic-Io. We have now assumed that the
output current has no ripple so that the ripple voltage on The input voltage to battery may be will be maintained
the capacitor is entirely due to the inductor ripple current. constant and the input current supplied to battery may be
varying based on the power generated from the solar panel.
dQ I  T Vi  D  (1  D) The dual buck converter is connected to the battery through
v    a ON OFF switch which is turned ON when the power is
C 2  2  2  Co 8  L  Co  f  f available from the solar panel and it is turned OFF when no
(8) generation from the PV panel.
4. PROPOSED SYSTEM

When Sunlight falls on the solar panel it cause generation

of electricity via the photoelectric effect. MPPT algorithm
is used to track maximum output power from the solar
panel. This unregulated power will feed into the charge
controller. The charge controller will measure the voltage
and current of both the solar panel and battery bank. Based
on the power availability from the solar panel the boost
converter switches are triggered at a desired firing angle
given by the controller. The MPPT controller monitors the
battery charge level and PV panel output, the output
voltage supplied to the battery is maintained constant to 9v
by the MPPT controller. Fig 2: Dual Buck Converter
The voltage is generated by combining both the MPPT
control and the Battery charging loop. The available PV Operation of a dual buck converter is same as buck
power is greater than the load power with which the converter in this when Q1 is conducting Q2 will be in off
battery gets charged. If the available maximum PV condition and when Q2 is on Q1 will be in off condition
power is less than the load power, the needed power will when high input power is supplied to the converter. Both
be supplied by the battery. But the charging current is still in positive and negative half cycle the conduction takes
less than the present value .At that instant the signal place. When low input is supplied to the dual buck
generated by the current controller will go positive and converter any one of the converter conducts and the other
limited to be zero. It results that the voltage command is will be turned off.
determined completely by the MPPT controller. If the
available peak power of the PV panel is greater than he The dual buck converter performs the step down operation
battery charging and load requirement, the battery for effective battery charging with the power generated
current will reach its command controller will go negative from the PV panel. A switch between the dual buck
which will add to the voltage generated by the MPPT converter and the battery helps in controlling the charging
controller. Consequently, the PV panel will discard the and the switch connected between the battery and the load
MPPT because the voltage command is shifted to a controls the power supplied to the load from the battery, it
higher level than the MPPT voltage. And finally, the also helps the battery from draining completely so that the
generated PV power will balance the load and battery life of the battery can be increased. By using dual buck
charging requirements. The signal generated by the converter and the MPPT controller effective battery
controller will go negative which will add to the voltage charging, long battery life and proper utilization of the
generated by the MPPT controller. Consequently, the PV power generated.
panel will discard the MPPT because the voltage

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 5. SIMULATION RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 – Design Parameters For Dual Buck Converter
Simulation is done using MATLAB/Simulink the entire
system is simulated. Here the maximum output power Dual buck converter
from solar PV is obtained by using P&O algorithm. Based S.No Parameter Values unit
the power generated from the PV panel the buck 1 Capacitors C1,C2 200 pF
converters are operated accordingly.
2 Inductor L1 145.83 µH
The simulink block diagram of the block parameters are 3 Inductor L2 20 µH
shown in Figure 3 below It provides the design and
simulations of the entire system, it discusses simulation of 4 Battery 9 v
the photovoltaic array, coding of the MPPT algorithm
Simulation of the dual buck converter

Figure 5: Output Voltage Current from PV Panel

Fig 3: Simulink model

The simulation model in figure 3 show the overall system,

it consists of the pv panel, dual buck converter, battery
bank, switches to control the power supplied to the battery
charging and the load. The power electronic switches are
chosen according to their maximum current and voltage Figure 6: Gate Pulse to Buck Converter Switch
they have to withstand The maximum power from the pv
panel is tracked using perturb and observe MPPT
algorithm.

Figure 4: Solar PV Module Figure 7: Voltage and Current Supplied to Battery

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The input voltage to battery is maintained constant 9V and stand-alone applications,” Transactions On Industrial Electronics., vol.
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algorithm is coded in MATLAB, the amplitude of the
reference current which is used to control the switching of
buck converter .With the change in insolation the
amplitude of the reference current also changes.. The
algorithm would ensure maximum power point tracking
by controlling the MOSFET of the buck converters by
varying its duty cycle. The Simulink Model of the solar
array gives the output power and the output current. The
variation in solar insolation and the reference temperature
also gives a varying output power and output current.
Buck converters are used in controlling the charging
current supplied to the battery based on the power
obtained from the PV system. This proposed work can be
used in connecting directly to load or even connected to
appliances through inverter circuit. This will reduce the
pollution that results from burning of the fuels, The battery
life can be improved and constant power can be supplied
to the load.

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