LabVIEW Based Simulator for Solar Cell Characteristics and MPPT Under Varying Atmospheric Conditions

Though intermittent, solar energy is a clean and eternal source of energy. PV (Photovoltaic) cell is one of the technology to harness the solar energy and use it as electricity. In recent years rising cost of electricity and environmental concerns have made the solar PV technology a rising research field. In this research field the efficiency improvement is the focal point for the researchers. Because of intermittent weather conditions the output power of the solar cell varies directly to the irradiance level and inversely to the cell temperature and cell never operates at its maximum power. In this paper the characteristics of the sun power A-300 solar cell is simulated in a novel way in LabVIEW using MathScript RT Module along with a MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracker) using variable step sized incremental conductance algorithm that operates the cell at its maximum power without oscillating at maximum power point. Impacts of changing solar insolation and cell temperature on output curves are also discussed graphically and numerically. The results of the simulation verify the data sheet parameters of sun power A-300 solar cell. Graphs of output power of MPPT indicate the accuracy of the variable step sized InC (Incremental Conductance) algorithm for constant and varying solar irradiance with fast tracking and elimination of steady state oscillations about the MPP which is comparatively better than the conventional MPPT algorithms as compared in the results. (author)