Hybrid Fuzzy Control for Mitigating the Partial Shading Effects in a Seven-Level Grid Connected Photovoltaic Inverter

This work presents comparative analysis, obtained through MATLAB/Simulink (R) platform, of a proposed Hybrid Fuzzy Logic controller and a classic Proportional-Integral (PI) controller, intended for mitigating the effects of partial shading in photovoltaic generation systems connected to a low voltage distribution grid. In this analysis, a seven-level cascaded Half-Bridge multi-level converter, modulated by phase shifted sinusoidal pulse width modulation, with a robust Droop Control strategy, was adopted as power stage. The system was subjected to several scenarios of solar irradiation changes, comparing its dynamic behavior using both control methodologies. In such scenarios, the proposed Hybrid Fuzzy Logic presented superior performance supporting its applicability.