Development and simulation of a high-precision MPPT controller for thin-film solar cells

Vitalii Fedenko; Bogdan Dzundza

doi:10.15222/TKEA2025.3-4.40

Vitalii Fedenko Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8907-683X
Bogdan Dzundza Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6657-5347

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15222/TKEA2025.3-4.40

Keywords: MPPT controller, thin-film solar cell, renewable energy, highly sensitive sensors, CdTe

Abstract

The paper presents circuit implementations of a high-precision MPPT (maximum power point tracking) controller adapted to operate with small samples of thin-film solar cells based on cadmium telluride (CdTe). The implemented circuit showed high stability during experimental studies and can operate with currents from 1 μA to 3 A. The effectiveness of the selected maximum power point tracking algorithm was evaluated using a simulation model based on the pvlib library, which operates on the basis of the five-parameter De Soto model and the MPP incremental conductance tracking algorithm with specified parameters. The simulation results show a tracking efficiency of 97.88% over the year and 99.83% over the day, which ensures high efficiency considering the very low output power levels of thin-film photovoltaic cells.

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