Performance Evaluation of Perturb and Observe Algorithm for MPPT with Buck–Boost Charge Controller in Photovoltaic Systems

The ecological and economical concerns have given rise to the application of solar photovoltaic (PV) system in the community to meet the increased load demands on its own. Owing to the varying output of solar PV modules depending on the weather conditions, the efficiency of system is degraded and thus requires using maximum power point (MPP) tracking technique for utmost power extraction. The MPP methods can be realized both mechanically or electrically using suitable converter topology and appropriate tracking algorithm. However, the mechanical tracker in contrast to electrical circuit is immoderate and inefficient and conversely necessitates to exercise effective and promising power tracking algorithm. This research proposes to implement the perturb and observe (P and O) algorithm for MPPT in charge controller using buck–boost converter to attain desired and optimized results. The use of buck–boost DC–DC converter helps in stepping up/down the voltage level as per requirements under the control of P and O algorithm. Having optimized tracker designed, its performance has been tested at different levels of irradiance and temperature principally with load and battery. Further, the results obtained from simulated scenarios are compared with real-time experiments, which confirm the robustness and effectiveness of proposed MPPT method in solar PV system using P and O algorithm and buck–boost converter.