Optimized MPPT Control for a Photovoltaic Pumping System

This work presents a new control strategy for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of a photovoltaic pumping system (PVPS). This system consists of a photovoltaic generator (PVG) connected to a direct current (DC) motor coupled to a centrifugal pump via a DC-DC boost converter. The duty of the boost converter is regulated by using a non-singular fast terminal sliding mode control (NFTSMC) technique. The Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) is exploited to optimize the gains of the developed controller. To show the efficiency of the designed controller, a comparative simulation in the Matlab/Simulink platform with Perturb and Observe (P&O) and finite time sliding mode control (FTSMC) is realized. The simulated results demonstrate the best tracking performance and fast-tracking response convergence in the finite time of the proposed controller.