Comparison of the input filter effect to PV panel by SEPIC MPPT converter

Abstract

PV panel with front end converter for MPPT purpose is always employed for solar energy. The current that front end converter draws from PV panel are generally includes ripple regarding to operation mode of the converter and the type of converter. Such current ripple when it has higher magnitude is so harmful for the PV panel, it either shortened lifetime or results faults on PV panel. To overcome such drawbacks, input filter must be used with front end converter for PV panel connection. Although, in the literature, there are a few types of input filter, the effect of the filter and input current ripple and current noises are not compared for PV panel integration. The original contribution of the study is the analysis of input filter types for PV panel integration. As an input filter, LCL, LCL with damping, LC, C filters are used, and their effects are compared for PV panel. In addition, as a front-end converter SEPIC converter is chosen because of having lower or higher output voltage regarding to input voltage. Besides, using LCL based filters as input filters of SEPIC converter are another contribution of the paper. By means of the applications with up to 15 W SEPIC converter and simulations with DC source and PV panel, it is shown that LC filter ensures better results using DC source by applications regarding current ripple and noise level. However, C filter is better for PV panel by simulations than DC source, it is because PV panel exhibits current source character, and LC filter has lower current ripple. Also with PV source, LCL with damping filter transfers higher energy to the load than the others. Furthermore, LCL type filter reduces inductor by 35% and capacitor by 4.7 times in total. Moreover, LCL filter has higher efficiency with 88% than others in the applications and lower ripple for simulations with DC source.