Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) via Weightless Swarm Algorithm (WSA) on cloudy days

The atmospheric conditions such as environmental temperature T and irradiance G are inputs to PhotoVoltaic (PV) arrays. Both inputs change the P-V characteristic curve and thereby shift the operating point from the Maximum Power Point (MPP). In order to adjust such a shifted point to optimal, a MPPT method based on our Weightless Swarm Algorithm (WSA) is proposed in this paper and implemented on the Solarex MSX60 PV module. The optimization model is formulated and presented in this paper. Simulation results show that conventional methods such as P&O and IncCond fail to track the MPP efficiently on cloudy days whereby irradiance G changes abruptly. On the other hand, our proposed WSA is able to overcome this limitation with a little extra processing time.

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