Tracking power photovoltaic system with sliding mode control strategy

The output power induced in the photovoltaic modules depends on solar radiation and temperature of the solar cells. To maximize the efficiency of the system, it is necessary to track the maximum power point of the PV array. In this paper an application of sliding mode control strategy is applied to track maximum power of photovoltaic cells. In this control system, it is necessary to measure the PV array output power and to change the duty cycle of the DC/DC converter control signal. This method is simple and robust to irradiance and temperature variations. To test the robustness of this control, we compared the results with those obtained using the Perturb & Observ. method. Obtained results are presented and show the performances of sliding mode control strategy under the parameter variation environments.