Solar PV Fed Interleaved Boost Sepic Converter

Abstract: Increased threat of environmental contamination, global warming and other environmental factors significantly contributes to the development of renewable energy sources (RES). Among the RES, solar photovoltaic (PV) has become the most promising technology. PV has several advantages that it is free, abundant, noise free and pollution free. This paper presents an interleaved boost sepic converter which utilizes the benefits of interleaved topology. The interleaving effect of source inductors ensures low ripple current drawn from PV source. The power stage has been split into smaller ones and hence the cost and ratings of components has been reduced. This converter can operate in either voltage control mode or current control mode. Due to low ripple current from the PV source, the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) efficiency is increased. Incremental conductance(IC) based MPPT control algorithm, along with a PI controller is used to track maximum power. Under rapidly varying irradiation conditions, IC method tracks maximum power point (MPP) with minimum error. The simulation of interleaved boost sepic converter has been done in MATLAB software. It has been observed that input inductor current ripple has been reduced. The interleaved boost sepic converter can be used for low voltage dc micro grid applications. The increased component count of the interleaved boost sepic converter can be justified by the reduced cost. Keywords: Renewable Energy Source (RES), Photo Voltaic (PV), Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Incremental Conductance (IC).