Enhancing the Photovoltaic System Output Performance Through the Use of Maximum Power Point Tracking and Fuzzy Logic Control

Renewable energy is becoming more popular every day. This is mainly attributed to threats that fossil fuels pose towards the climate change, and also the fact that they are scarce. Thus, solutions such as solar energy are among the top trending alternatives to the fossil fuels. However, one of the main issues with solar energy, particularly with its most popular technique, the photovoltaic solar arrays, is that they are not efficient when it comes to their ratio of power to cost. In order to address this problem, we propose a voltage regulation system that enhances photovoltaic system. The main feature of this system is that it uses a DC-DC converter that regulates the power using specific voltage inputs. Combining this system with Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), the efficiency of the photovoltaic panels to reach its maximum capacity. The voltage is regulated using a buck and boost converter. In order to simulate the environment, MATLAB SIMULINK is used for developing and implementing the system, as well as applying the algorithms related to the fuzzy logic controller for Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal generation on the converter. The results indicated that using fuzzy logic technique is an effective method for the increasing the photovoltaic system power to cost efficiency. Other than being a novel technique, the fuzzy logic strategy is also robust and adaptable, which allows it to be combined with a multitude of systems.