Terminal sliding mode control for maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic power generation systems

This paper presents a novel terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) method for maximum power tracking of photovoltaic (PV) power systems. First, an incremental conductance method is used for maximum power point (MPP) searching. It provides good efficiency under rapidly changing atmospheric conditions, but the accuracy for finding the MPP is highly related to the MPP tracking control. Therefore, a TSMC-based controller is developed to regulate the system to the searched reference MPP. Different from traditional sliding mode control, the developed TSMC assures finite convergence time for the MPP tracking. Furthermore, a common singularity problem that exists in traditional TSMC is removed in this paper. Even if considering uncertainty in the PV power system, the TSMC guarantees high robustness. Finally, several simulations and experiments show the expected control performance.

► Maximum power tracking for PV power generation is established via TSMC. ► Singular problem is removed in comparison with traditional TSMC. ► Finite-time maximum power voltage tracking is achieved even if considering system parameter uncertainties. ► From a whole day observation, the power generation is 10% higher than traditional controller.