LAUSR

Abstract The status of each photovoltaic (PV) module, whether bypass or not, can play a vital role in the designing of an efficient MPPT, especially for partial shading conditions. In this paper, an optocoupler integrated circuit (opto-IC) sensing based MPPT is presented. Initially, an electronic circuit of opto-IC is proposed for each module. Compared to analog sensing, this circuit is low power, less complex, inexpensive, fast and one package solution. Thereafter, a matrix network is devised, which uses the data of opto-IC to perform the following two tasks: (1) if partial shading is identified, only critical regions of I-V curve are examined to detect the global maximum (GM), and (2) if uniform condition is identified, the PV array is set at 0.8 of array’s open-circuit voltage. Finally, P&O is used to reach the MPP precisely. Another important aspect of proposed MPPT is the smart estimation of open-circuit voltage of array through opto-IC data. A comparative analysis between multiple MPPTs is presented, according to which the proposed method outperforms other MPPTs in the context of convergence speed and dynamic efficiency.