Maximum Power Point Tracker Optimization for Photovoltaic Systems based on III-V Elements

Abstract

A photovoltaic system consists of several components that are interconnected into a grid network or standalone system. The overall efficiency of a photovoltaic system is the result of component selection, accurate implementation, and stable operation. Therefore, if these factors are not in harmony during the design and execution of the system, optimal efficiency will not be achieved. This paper summarizes the technological trend of photovoltaic cells which lead to the development of multijunction photovoltaic cells based on III-V elements. Additionally, the challenges within the implementation of multijunction cells based on III-V elements into terrestrial applications will also be discussed, followed by a potential solution to counter the efficiency loss of these cells caused by the atmospheric gases filtering the solar irradiance across the optical band length of absorption. The implementation of Adaptive-Perturbation-Frequency (APF) in a Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm, instead of a linear step size variation, combined with several hardware optimizations on the Maximum Power Point Tracker (MPPT), maybe an ideal approach to reduce the impacts of having a multijunction photovoltaic cell based on elements III-V operating at terrestrial conditions.