Modeling and Control of DC/DC Boost Converter

using K-Factor Control for MPPT of Solar PV System

Adithya Vangari,
Department of Electrical Engineering
KK Wagh Institute of Engineering
Education & Research Nashik, India
e-mail: [email protected]

Divyanagalakshmi Haribabu
Freelance Power System Engineer
Roskilde, Denmark
e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract This paper is focused on the design of a controller for

the DC/DC boost converter using K factor control, which is
based on modified PI control method, for maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) of solar PV system. A mathematical model for
boost converter based on small signal averaging approach is
presented. Design of the passive elements of the boost converter
as per the system specifications is also illustrated. The
performance of the proposed K factor control method is verified
with the simulations for MPPT on solar PV system at different
atmospheric conditions. A new circuit based model for solar PV
array, which includes the effect of solar insolation and
temperature on PV array output, for the application in power
system transient simulations, is also presented. The performance
of the PV array model is verified with simulations at different
atmospheric conditions. A 160W PV module from BP solar is
modelled and its characteristics are validated with the
corresponding results from its datasheet. The simulations are
performed using PSCAD/EMTDC.
Index Terms Solar PV system, MPPT, Boost Converter, K factor
control.

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, lack of adequate transmission capacity,
limitations in constructing new transmission lines and
emerging electricity markets have been the main driving
forces behind the increased use of Distributed Generations
(DGs), which permits small-scale generators to be installed at
the distribution level of the power system close to the end
users [1]. Many DG systems employ renewable resources for
electricity generation and, therefore, help in mitigation of
adverse environmental impacts of the fossil fuel-based
centralized generation. Among renewable DG systems, solar
Photo Voltaic (PV) solar systems have attracted considerable
attention and investment in several countries. Despite its
relatively high cost and low efficiency, the PV based energy
generation is expected to significantly progress and penetrate
into the power system networks.
The PV array output has highly non-linear behaviour, and
to simplify the array model to a constant voltage source or a
current controlled voltage source is often not appropriate.
Several models for solar PV arrays such as mathematical
model, circuit based models have been proposed in the
literature [2],[3] whose level of complexity is sometimes not
978-1-4673-7492-7/15/$31.00 2015 IEEE

Jayachandra N. Sakamuri,
Department of Wind Energy
Technical University of Denmark
DTU Ris Campus, Denmark
e-mail: [email protected]

relevant for power system transient studies. A circuit model

based on Piecewise Linear approach is model proposed in [4]
is simple and easy to implement in power system studies but
it has not considered the effect of atmospheric temperature on
PV array output. Hence this paper extends the model
proposed in [4] to include the effect of temperature and solar
insolation in the PV array model.
The schematic diagram of a grid connected PV system,
with two-stage energy conversion system, using a DC/DC
boost converter and DC/AC converter, is shown in Fig. 1.
The PV array provides maximum power output for a
particular loading, therefore at certain reference voltage,
across its terminals. This is called maximum power point
(MPP) [5]-[6]. The MPP Tracker has an algorithm which
generates the MPP reference voltage. The DC-DC converter
is controlled so as to track the MPP of the PV array. The
output of the DC-DC converter is fed to an inverter (DC-AC
converter), which is controlled to produce output current in
phase with the utility voltage to obtain a Unity Power Factor
(UPF) operation. There exists a vast literature on MPPT
algorithms [7]. However, in this paper a MPPT based on
Perturb and Observe (P&O) algorithm is presented.
The design of controller for the DC/DC converter based on
proportional and integral (PI) control and other advanced
methods have been dealt in the literature [8]-[11]. However,
very few papers dealt with the detailed controller design
procedures and the effectiveness of the controller under
varying atmospheric conditions. This paper proposes a new
control method called K factor method for DC/DC boost
converter [12] for effective tracking of PV array MPP under
standard and varying atmospheric conditions. The advantage
of K factor control method is that it has faster transient
response compared to that of the simple PI control method
and is more stable. In this paper, detailed modelling of DCDC boost converter is performed using state space averaging
approach the design of passive components of the boost
converter as per the system specification is also presented.
The paper is organized as follows. Section II briefly
presents the modeling the solar PV array and DC/DC boost
converter and design of converter passive components.

Descriptions of K factor control method, controller design

procedure, MPPT algorithm are also presented in section II.
Simulation and analysis of results, showing the PV array
characteristics and illustrating the effectiveness of the
proposed K factor control method under varying atmospheric
conditions are given in Section III. Finally, conclusive
remarks are reported in section IV.

Where, Isso is the short circuit current, Vocact is the

PV module open circuit voltage, at standard test conditions
(STC) i.e. at a cell operating temperature of 25C, and solar
irradiation of 1000 W/m2. Vcom is the voltage to compensate
the effect of the temperature. ki (0.0005/C) and kv
(0.0037/C) are the temperature coefficients for the short
circuit current and open circuit voltage respectively [6]. S is
the solar insolation (W/m2), and Tamb is the ambient
atmospheric temperature (C). NOCT stands for nominal
operating cell temperature. It is the cell temperature in a
module, when ambient temperature is 20C, and solar
insolation is 800 W/m2.. T is cell operating temperature, and
Tr is the reference cell temperature.

Fig.1. Two stage grid connected solar PV system

II. MODEL DESCRIPTION

A. PV Array Model
The basic building block of a photovoltaic (PV) array is
the solar cell (PV cell), which is basically a p-n junction
semiconductor device that directly converts light energy into
electricity [6]. The output current of the solar cell is directly
proportional to the light falling on the cell and depends on the
cell operating temperature.
A PV module Model implemented in this paper is based
on obtaining a good fit to the I-V characteristics curve given
in the manufacture data sheet. A piecewise linear model
(PWL) based on three-parallel diodes, shown in Fig.2, whose
basic model given in [5] is considered in this paper. Each
diode is modeled as simple piecewise linear voltage
controlled resistor with two states, ON and OFF. The circuit
consists of Ron in series with Von. The V-I curve of the
equivalent diode of the PV cell can be approximated and
divided into several segments as shown in Fig.3. Influence of
cell operating temperature and solar insolation on PV module
characteristics is not given in [5], therefore, included in the
model with the following supplementary equations.

Fig. 2. PWL model of PV module including the effect of atmospheric

temperature and insolation

Fig. 3. PWL diode model characteristic

A 160 W BP solar PV module, BP 3160, with the

specification shown in Table 1, is considered as basic module
for modelling a 5.7 kW PV array used in this paper. The 5.7
kW PV array can be constructed by 6 parallel strings with
each string having 6 BP3160 PV modules connected in series.
The voltage at MPP of 5.7 kW is 210 V.
TABLE I. Specification of 160 W PV module, BP 3160

Short Circuit current, Iph, is directly proportional to the

insolation. Decreasing insolation also reduces the open circuit
voltage, Voc, but it follows a logarithmic relationship that
results in relatively small changes in Voc. As the cell
temperature increases, the open-circuit voltage decreases
substantially, while the short circuit current increases only
slightly. The effects of temperature and insolation on PV
array characteristics are given in (1)-(3)
S
(1)
I ph I sso ^1  ki T  Tr `
1000
(2)
Voc Vocact ^1  k v T  Tr ` Vocact  Vcom
T

NOCT  20
Tamb 
S
800

(3)

Maximum Power
Voltage at maximum power
Current at maximum power
Short circuit current
Open circuit voltage

P max
Vmax
Imax
Iph
Voc

160 W
35.1 V
4.55A
4.8 A
44.2 V

B. DC/DC Boost Converter Model

An equivalent circuit of a boost converter is shown in
Fig.4. A Capacitor Cin is connected across the PV source so
as to bypass the current ripple produced by the inductor. Also
a DC link capacitor Co is connected at the output of the boost

converter to bypass the ripple currents and to make the output

side voltage stiff. The capacitors in the circuit maintain the
energy balance between output of PV array and the AC grid
in case of transient conditions. The output of the boost
converter can be replaced by a load as the inverter role is to
control the current injected to the grid. The boost converter
controls the PV array output voltage so as to extract
maximum power from PV array. The modeling of boost
converter, based on state space averaging approach [13] is
presented in this section. There are two states of the boost
converter based on its operation, (1) Switch, S ON, and (2)
Switch S OFF [13],[14]. Following are the governing
equations for these two states.

depends upon the control strategy of the inverter, which is not

in scope of this paper.
1) Selection of switching frequency
IGBT is a good choice for the switching device based on the
solar PV power output. The switching frequency of IGBT is
normally less than 50 kHz. In this paper, it is chosen as
5kHz. Therefore, the switching period is equal to 200s.
TABLE II. Specifications of DC/DC boost converter

Input Voltage
Output Voltage
Inductor current ripple
Input voltage ripple

Vin
Vo
i/I
vin / Vin

210 V
410 V
10 %
1%

Output voltage ripple

vo / Vo

1%

2) Design of inductor.
Based on the requirement specified for the inductor current
ripple, the inductor value is chosen as below.
Fig. 4. Boost Converter equivalent circuit

'i
I

ON state

dV
Cin in
dt

di
i pv  i and L
dt

vin  ri  Roni

(4)

vin  ri  vo  VD

(5)

D1  D  Ts R
d 10%
L
2

Therefore, L t 10D1  D 2 R t 7.61mH

(9)
(10)

OFF state

Cin

dVin
dt

i pv  i and L
,

di
dt

Where the equivalent resistive load is,

R

Where, r is the inductor resistance, VD is the diode forward

voltage drop, ipv is the current delivered by the solar array,
Ron is the ON state resistance of the switch, and i is the
inductor current. Averaging the above two sets of equations,
over one switching period, and for small perturbations around
the steady state value, the required control transfer function
between PV array output voltage (or boost converter input
voltage, vin) and duty cycle d is given in (6) [14].
 K2
(6)
v~in
LCin
Gv ( s) G pr ( s)
1
K
d s2  1 s 
L
LCin
(7)
K1 r  Ron D
ind

Vo2
P

410 2
5.6 *10 3

29.75:

(11)

3) Design of output capacitor

The output voltage ripple restricted to be 1 %. Hence, Co
can be calculated as following
'vo
D
D
(12)
d 1% C t
327 PF
Vo

RC o f s

0.01Rf s

Co is selected as 1000 F in this paper.

Where D is steady state duty ratio of switch S and Vo is the

steady state output voltage of the boost converter

4) Design of input capacitor

The input capacitor has been designed to filter out the current
ripples produced by the inductor. The capacitance value can
be calculated based on the ripple current requirements and
input voltage ripple as given in (13).
'i u Ts
(13)
C in
8 u 'Vin
Cin is chosen as 1000 F in this paper.

C. Design of passive elements for DC/DC Boost Converter

PV array of 5.7 kW is used for integration with single
phase AC line using a two stage converter system. The
passive elements of the boost converter are selected based on
its specifications given in Table 2. The input voltage of the
boost converter is the MPP voltage of 5.7 kW PV array at
standard test conditions and its output voltage magnitude

D. K factor control method for boost converter

Boost converter is used to control the PV array output
voltage to extract maximum power out of it. K factor control
method [12] is applied to control the DC/DC boost converter
for MPPT of solar PV array. K factor control is also called as
modified PI control. The main characteristic of a PI controller

K2

Vo  VD  R on I

(8)

fz

f cr
Zz
K

Z cr

fp

Kf cr Z p

KZcr

kc

Gc ( s )

(16)

20
0
System: GL
Frequency (rad/sec): 1e+003
Magnitude (dB): -0.00318

-20
0
-45

System: GL
Frequency (rad/sec): 1e+003
Phase (deg): -120

-90
-135
-180

10

10

System: Gpr
Frequency (rad/sec): 1e+003
2
3
Phase (deg):
10 -179
10

10

Frequency (rad/sec)

Fig. 6. Bode plot of the boost converter (Open and closed loop)

(17)
(18)

where cr is the crossover frequency and boost is phase boost.

Gain(db)

Phase
90

0
-90

System: Gpr
Frequency (rad/sec): 1e+003
Magnitude (dB): 16.2

40

-225

Zz
f cr

Bode Diagram
60
Magnitude (dB)

Fig. 5 shows the bode plot of a K factor type III

controller. It has two poles and two zeros which are related
by the K factor TZ = K2Tp. Hence, the slope of the gain at the
region between the zeros and poles is 20 dB/dec so that the
controller yields a desired phase angle at the cross over
frequency. From the Fig 5, the maximum phase boost, boost,
provided by K factor type III control, is 0 to180; hence this
controller can provide either leading or lagging angles. The
control parameters are derived based on the procedure given
in [12]. The final equations are as follows.
I

(15)
K tan 1 boost  45 q

no phase boost is applied. Therefore with the proper design of

K factor controller can provide the desired phase boost to get
the targeted phase margin (around 60) at cr. The calculated
K factor control parameters for the boost converter are K=
7.35, kc = 2.87, z = 136 rad/s and p=7348 rad/s. The
comparison of bode plots of boost converter Gpr(s) and closed
loop transfer function GL(s), which includes the K factor
controller transfer function Gc(s), along with Gpr(s), are
shown in Fig. 6. The closed loop transfer function GL(s) has
phase margin (PM) of 60 at cr = 1000 rad/s. The gain
margin (GM) is -22.8 dB at 7080 rad/s. From the values of
PM and GM, the closed loop system is said to be stable.

Phase (deg)

is that it eliminates the steady state error. However, it reduces

the phase margin of the system, which can cause the
instability of a system with a second order plant model shown
in (6). In order to eliminate this problem, additional poles
with low time constant (Tp) are used along with PI controller.
The time constants of the controller are related by a gain
called K factor. In this paper K factor type III controller
whose transfer function given in (14) is used.
2
kc 1  s Zz 
Gc ( s)
s 1  s Z p 2
(14)

< 180

F. MPPT Algorithm for PV array

Perturb and Observe (known as P&O) algorithm, shown
in Fig.7, is used in this paper for maximum power tracking of
PV array. This method involves perturbation of the voltage,
V, and observing the change in power output, P. If the
perturbation in one direction increases the power output of
the PV array, then the same direction of perturbation is
continued. Otherwise, the direction of perturbation is
reversed. Thus, it is a continuous process of searching for the
voltage on power Vs voltage (P-V) curve, which increases the
power output of the PV array. This method is well described
in the literature [7], hence, not explained here in detail.

Fig. 5. Bode plot of a K factor type III control

E. K factor Controller design procedure for boost converter

In this section a brief overview of feedback controller
design procedure using K factor control method is given.
From the bode plot of boost converter transfer function, Gpr(s)
shown in Fig.6, a desired crossover frequency, cr is chosen.
It is selected beyond the resonance frequency of the input
filter in order to get a fast behavior. It should not be chosen
too high either because noise may be amplified. Furthermore,
the phase angle of the open loop transfer function (boost
converters) should definitely not go lower than -180 below
cr. Hence, cr = 1000 rad/s is selected and the phase at this
cr is -179. By using PI control alone, this will further
subtract another 90 phase and would go lower than -180 if

Fig. 7. Description of P&O algorithm for MPPT

III. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

This section presents the simulation results of the
characteristics of 160 W PV module, BP3160 and the MPPT
of 5.7 kW PV array using P&O algorithm, at different
atmospheric conditions. The effectiveness of the proposed K
factor control for the boost converter is presented. The
simulations are performed using PSCAD/EMTDC software.

A. PV module Characteristics
Fig 8 and Fig 9 show the voltage vs current and voltage vs
power characteristics, respectively for different solar
insolation conditions at constant cell temperature T = 25C.
With the increase of the solar insolation, the short circuit
current of the PV module increases and the maximum power
output is also increased.

Fig. 11. P-V characteristics of 160W Module,BP 3160(varying Temperature)

Fig. 8. I-V characteristics of 160 W PV Module, BP 3160(varying Insolation)

Fig. 12. Comparison of PV Module characteristics (Simulation Vs Actual)

Fig. 9. P-V characteristics of 160W PV Module, BP 3160(varying Insolation)

Fig 10 and Fig 11 show the voltage vs current and

voltage vs power characteristics, respectively for different
cell operating temperature and constant solar insolation S =
1000 W/m2. With the increase of the temperature, the open
circuit voltage is decreased; however the short circuit current
increased to some extent, hence the maximum power output
is decreased.

B. MPPT of PV array with DC/DC Boost converter

The performance of proposed K factor control for DC/DC
boost converter is verified by simulating the 5.7 kW PV array
for MPPT at different atmospheric conditions. The MPP
voltage of the PV array is 210 V at STC and varies with
temperature and insolation. The performance of controller for
boost converter is verified for a step change in its reference
voltage (MPP Voltage) at t= 0.6s and 0.7s as shown in Fig 13.
It can be seen that the actual converter input voltage (i.e. PV
output voltage), Vin, is tracking the reference voltage, Vinref
within few ms, which shows the effectiveness of the
proposed K factor controller.

Voltage (V)

PV Array Output Volatge

222.5
220.0
217.5
215.0
212.5
210.0
207.5
205.0
202.5
200.0

Vinref

0.550

Vin

0.600

0.650

0.700

0.750

0.800

Time(s)
Fig. 13. Tracking of 5.7 kW PV array output voltage
Fig. 10. I-V characteristics of 160 W Module,BP 3160(varying Temperature)

The accuracy of the proposed PWL model for PV

module is verified by comparing the I-V characteristics from
PSCAD simulation with the specification sheet of BP3160.
The results are shown in Fig 12.

PV array output voltage, current and power for a

change in cell temperature is given in Fig.14. Initially it is
assumed that the PV array is operating at STC, and is at the
corresponding MPP. At t = 2 s, the temperature is increased
by 15C (i.e. from 25C to 40 C), then the PV array settles at

its new MPP. The oscillations in the MPP reference voltage,

Vinref are due to the P&O algorithm which does not provide
accurate MPP voltage, instead oscillates around MPP point.
The actual PV array output voltage (i.e. boost converter input
voltage) is tracking its reference showing the effectiveness of
the proposed controller.
MPPT P and O (PV Output Volatge)
220.0

Vinref

Vin

T =25C

215.0

Voltage (V)

210.0
205.0

T =40C

200.0
195.0
190.0
185.0
1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

2.60

2.80

MPPT Pand O ( PV Ouput Current)

IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a circuit based model for PV array, which
considers the influence of solar insolation and atmospheric
temperature, for application in power system transient
simulation has been proposed. The accuracy of the PV array
model is verified by comparing the simulated characteristics
of 160 W PV modules from BP solar with the corresponding
results given in its data sheet. The maximum power point
tracking of PV array has also been performed by controlling
the DC/DC boost converter whose reference is the MPP
voltage from a MPP tracker, based on P&O algorithm. The
modeling of DC/DC boost converter and the design of its
passive elements has been presented. A modified PI control
called K factor control method is applied to the boost
converter to improve the transient behavior of the controller.
The effectiveness of the proposed controller has been verified
with the simulations of PV array at varying atmospheric
conditions.

Iin

29.0

References

28.0

Current (A)

27.0

[1]

26.0
25.0
24.0
23.0

[2]

22.0
21.0
1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

2.60

2.80

[3]

MPPT P and O (PV output Pow er)

6.0k

[4]

Pin

Power (W)

5.5k

[5]

5.0k
4.5k

[6]

4.0k
3.5k

[7]

3.0k
1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

Time(s)

2.20

2.40

2.60

2.80

[8]
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The tracking of PV array MPP voltage for a change in solar

insolation at t=2s is shown in Fig. 15, which shows the
performance of the proposed controller for varying
atmospheric conditions.

[9]

[10]

Voltage (V)

MPPT P and O (PV Output Volatge)

215.0
212.5
210.0
207.5
205.0
202.5
200.0
197.5
195.0
192.5
1.40

Vinref

Vin

[11]

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[12]
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1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

Time(s)
Fig. 15. 5.7 kW PV array output for varying insolation

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