Honey Badger Algorithm Based PI Controller for DC Link Voltage Control of Solar Photovoltaic System Connected to Grid for Enhanced Power Quality

The parameters of the proportional integral (PI) controller used for DC link voltage control play a vital role in regulating the DC link voltage of grid-connected solar photovoltaic system that experiences heavy DC voltage fluctuation and various power quality issues due to integration of non-linear loads, varying irradiance and loading conditions. The existing strategies might fail to respond to the above complications due to fixed PI gains which restrict their scope of controlling domain. Therefore, adaptive PI gain values should be selected to quickly adjust to the varying conditions and dynamically obtain the optimal control settings. This article employs the honey badger algorithm (HBA), developed in Matlab to adaptively tune the PI controller gains value by minimizing the DC link voltage deviation. The advantages of using this technique over conventional PI controllers are its quick response, adaptability, stability, and optimal self-tuning process. The proposed algorithm has been tested under steady-state and dynamic conditions for different irradiation and loading conditions. Further, results of the proposed algorithm have been compared with PI controller and particle swarm optimization-PI controller to validate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm for grid-connected solar photovoltaic systems. It has been observed that the proposed algorithm maintains THD <3% in all the tested conditions.