Performance Comparison of Classical and Fuzzy Logic MPPT Controls for Photovoltaic Pumping Systems Under Rapid Irradiance Changes

Abstract

This study provides a comparative analysis of various MPPT commands aimed at achieving optimal output voltage regulation of photovoltaic modules and effective MPPT under variable irradiance level, Permanent Magnet DC motor speed fluctuations, and mechanical torque variations in a pv pumping system. Classical MPPT commands namely perturb and observe and incremental conductance, which generate a reference voltage, are compared with an artificial intelligence based method: Fuzzy Logic Control (FL). The FL approach is further divided into two types: Mamdani type Fuzzy Logic (FL-Mam) and Takagi Sugeno type (FL- TS). The system under study includes a PV array linked to boost converter, specifically of the Boost type, which feeds a motor-pump. The key parameter used for comparison is the power extracted from the system under rapid variations in irradiation level. All simulations and control algorithm designs were developed and implemented using MATLAB/Simulink. The findings confirm that the suggested FL controllers deliver enhanced efficiency and improved robustness when compared to conventional approaches. Unlike most existing FL MPPT techniques, which use two inputs the error E=dP/dV and its change, which denotes the slope of the P(V) curve, the new proposed approach redefines the FL inputs as the slope of the P(I) characteristic and its variation. This redefinition significantly im-proves the controller's responsiveness and stability, particularly under sudden irradiance variation, leading to enhanced overall performance of the PV pumping system. Moreover, performance evaluation shows that the DC/DC converter achieves an elevated efficiency of around 97%. In terms of dynamic response, the classical MPPT exhibit longer response times, with P&O reaching 155.43 ms and IC reaching 160.15 ms, while the proposed FL controllers significantly reduce the response time to 63.9ms for FL-Mam and 58.13ms for FL-TS ensuring faster tracking of MPP under abrupt variation in irradiance.