Improved particle swarm optimization for photovoltaic system connected to the grid with low voltage ride through capability

Grid connected photovoltaic (PV) system encounters different types of abnormalities during grid faults; the grid side inverter is subjected to three serious problems which are excessive DC link voltage, high AC currents and loss of grid-voltage synchronization. This high DC link voltage may damage the inverter. Also, the voltage sags will force the PV system to be disconnected from the grid according to grid code. This paper presents a novel control strategy of the two-stage three-phase PV system to improve the Low-Voltage Ride-Through (LVRT) capability according to the grid connection requirement. The non-linear control technique using Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (IPSO) of a PV system connected to the grid through an isolated high frequency DC-DC full bridge converter and a three-phase three level neutral point clamped DC-AC converter (3LNPC2) with output power control under severe faults of grid voltage. The paper, also discusses the transient behavior and the performance limit for LVRT by using a DC-Chopper circuit. The model has been implemented in MATLAB/SIMULINK. The proposed control succeeded to track MPP, achieved LVRT requirements and improving the quality of DC link voltage. The paper shows superiority of IPSO than Incremental Conductance (IC) method during MPPT mode of PV system.