Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is a requirement in photovoltaic (PV) systems to improve and boost the efficiency. Therefore, this paper presents an improved MPPT method based on model predictive control (MPC) for a boost converter PV system. The MPPT-based MPC provides a fast transient behavior compared to the conventional methods. Thus, it is employed in this study, where a modified version of the perturb and observe (P&O) method is developed, in which additional control loops are added to the original one to decrease its ripple content at steady-state and improve its divergent behavior at transient-state. Consequently, the efficiency of the whole control algorithm is increased. Then, the MPC algorithm receives the reference from the modified P&O, and based on the cost function design, the optimal switching signal is obtained and sent directly to the switch without the need for modulators, which further simplifies the overall control method. The system is tested at different atmospheric conditions to prove its superiority in comparison with the traditional MPC method.

PV systems, MPPT, MPC, P&O