Open Access

ARTICLE

A New Flower Pollination Algorithm Strategy for MPPT of Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Arrays

by Muhannad J. Alshareef^*

Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing in Al-Qunfudhah, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, 24382, Saudi Arabia

* Corresponding Author: Muhannad J. Alshareef. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Nature-Inspired Algorithms for Engineering Design Optimization)

Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing 2023, 38(3), 297-313. https://doi.org/10.32604/iasc.2023.046722

Received 12 October 2023; Accepted 12 December 2023; Issue published 27 February 2024

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) systems utilize maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers to optimize power output amidst varying environmental conditions. However, the presence of multiple peaks resulting from partial shading poses a challenge to the tracking operation. Under partial shade conditions, the global maximum power point (GMPP) may be missed by most traditional maximum power point tracker. The flower pollination algorithm (FPA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) are two examples of metaheuristic techniques that can be used to solve the issue of failing to track the GMPP. This paper discusses and resolves all issues associated with using the standard FPA method as the MPPT for PV systems. The first issue is that the initial values of pollen are determined randomly at first, which can lead to premature convergence. To minimize the convergence time and enhance the possibility of detecting the GMPP, the initial pollen values were modified so that they were near the expected peak positions. Secondly, in the modified FPA, population fitness and switch probability values both influence swapping between two-mode optimization, which may improve the flower pollination algorithm’s tracking speed. The performance of the modified flower pollination algorithm (MFPA) is assessed through a comparison with the perturb and observe (P&O) method and the standard FPA method. The simulation results reveal that under different partial shading conditions, the tracking time for MFPA is 0.24, 0.24, 0.22, and 0.23 s, while for FPA, it is 0.4, 0.35, 0.45, and 0.37 s. Additionally, the simulation results demonstrate that MFPA achieves higher MPPT efficiency in the same four partial shading conditions, with values of 99.98%, 99.90%, 99.93%, and 99.26%, compared to FPA with MPPT efficiencies of 99.93%, 99.88%, 99.91%, and 99.18%. Based on the findings from simulations, the proposed method effectively and accurately tracks the GMPP across a diverse set of environmental conditions.

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Keywords

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