Comparative Study of Converters using MPPT Algorithms for a Stand Alone Solar PV System

As the conventional energy source is expected to last for few decades, solar PhotoVoltaic (PV) energy offers a very promising alternative, because it is free, abundant and distributed throughout the earth. The research works on the PV power sources have received much attention to not only on space application but also on terrestrial applications. However the present energy conversion efficiency of PV array are quite low. Thus the typical goal is to extract the maximum possible power from the PV array during the entire time of operation, and thereby these systems need a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) system. The MPPT system comprises of PV array, Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm, Converter and a resistive load. In this proposed work, comparison of converters with different power point tracking algorithms is carried out to improve the overall efficiency of the solar PV system. This analysis is for a 100watts stand-alone solar PV system. The optimized converter utilizing MPPT algorithm is obtained.