Jumping maximum power point tracking method for PV array under partially shaded conditions

• The equal-power jumping GMPPT method for the series solar array is proposed.
• The tracking of the lower peak power is skipped to shorten the tracking time.
• The open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current need not to be known in advance.

When the shaded condition occurs in the solar array, its P–V curve will produce many power peaks. The conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) method may fall into the local MPP (LMPP). However, time is wasted a lot by the full-range searching method, although the method can find out the global MPP (GMPP). The equal-power jumping GMPPT method for the series solar array is proposed in this paper. The tracking time between the power peaks can be reduced. The auto-scaling variable step-size (ASVSS) MPPT method is then associated with the jumping method to further improve the tracking performance. When the next peak power is lower, the tracking of this lower peak can be skipped to shorten the tracking time. Moreover, compared with the value obtained from the datasheet, the real open-circuit voltage of the solar array can be directly achieved and applied in the execution of the proposed tracking algorithm. Therefore, the proposed method is more adaptive to the environmental variation.Different shaded situations are simulated. The outcomes with the equal-power and non-equal-power methods are also given. Experiments are finally conducted to verify the validity of the proposed method even under the partially shaded conditions.