MAXIMUM POWER POINT TRACKING BY FRACTIONAL OPEN CIRCUIT VOLTAGE ALGORITHM USING A LOW COST MICROCONTROLLER
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Solar energy extracted from a Photovoltaic cell offers an eco-friendly, free and renewable source of electricity which is still relatively costly and inefficient today which includes the difficulties related to complete harnessing of solar power. The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of the PV panel for all sunshine conditions is the vital strategy to get the maximum power output thus increasing the efficiency of solar power extraction mechanism. The Fractional Open Circuit (FOC) Voltage Algorithm is implemented on a PV panel for MPPT by using a low cost microcontroller. In this paper the implementation of the FOC voltage method is shown. This method is simple and is used to approximate the linear relationship between the open circuit voltage and the MPP voltage for a PV panel. So, in this method, the current sensor is not required and the PV panel voltage is sensed using a voltage divider circuit. The effectiveness of the algorithm is verified with experimental results.