A new strategy for the identification of the optimal operating points in PV applications with Distributed MPPT

In this paper, a new control strategy allowing to optimize the performances of PV systems adopting Distributed Maximum Power Point Tracking (DMPPT), is presented and discussed. It is based on the estimate of the optimal operating range of the inverter input voltage and of the optimal operating voltages of the PV modules. The main advantage of the proposed technique is represented by the fast identification of a set of operating points for the inverter and for the PV modules, which allows to obtain a marked increase of the speed of tracking both of the inverter and of the DC/DC converters performing the DMPPT function. Moreover, a further advantage is represented by the possibility to avoid that, due to mistakes of the inverter MPPT technique, the operating value of the inverter input voltage remains trapped in the neighborhood of a suboptimal operating point.