Fuzzy Logic Controlled PV Powered BuckConverter with MPPT

PV panels have become increasingly popular as a source of electricity owing to the environmental benefits and subsidies provided by the government. Major disadvantage of PV panels is that the output power is not constant and depends on the availability of sunlight. Many types of converters have been designed to regulate the output voltage and use it to charge battery system. The aim of this project is to design and implement a fuzzy logic controlled DC-DC converter system that regulates the output voltage, uses an MPPT tracking algorithm to maximize power and simultaneously supports a battery system and dc loads. The system was designed in MATLAB/Simulink. The performance of various fuzzy membership functions is compared. Hardware implementation was done using ATmega32 8-bit microcontroller. Perturb and Observe MPPT algorithm maximizes the power drawn from the panel for a given irradiation. Significant improvements in power output is obtained which reduces total cost of installation and improves equipment life.