High Efficient Soft Switching Cuk Converter with Ripple Correlation Control MPPT for PV Applications

This paper presents the application of “ripple correlation control (RCC)” maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm for photovoltaic (PV) system employing dc-dc Cuk converter to maximize the output power of PV module. Soft switching commutation of the main and auxiliary switches at zerovoltage using active clamp technique allows the operation of the Cuk converter at very high switching frequencies with reduced size of reactive elements and electromagnetic interference. The combination of auxiliary switch, clamp capacitor and resonant inductor is used to exploit the advantage of high efficiency with zero switching losses. RCC technique uses the high frequency signal ripple, which makes it to converge asymptotically to the maximum power point independent of module configuration and parameters. The operating modes of converter for different switching time intervals are analyzed and design considerations are presented. The simulated performance of the converter with RCC MPPT over conventional MPPT algorithms is presented. The MPPT methods are compared on the basis of the time taken to track the maximum power point (MPP), steady state oscillations about MPP and dependence on array parameters. To evaluate the viability of ZVS Cuk converter with RCC MPPT, the entire system is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK platform for an 87 Wp solar PV system.