TITLE:
Maximum Power Point Tracking of Hybrid Tidal Current—Supercapacitor Energy Conversion System
AUTHORS:
Marwa M. Elzalabani, Faten H. Fahmy, Abd El-Shafy A. Nafeh, Gaber Allam
KEYWORDS:
Tidal Current Energy, PMSG, MPPT, HCS, Boost Converter, Supercapacitor, Bidirectional Converter
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Power and Energy Engineering,
Vol.4 No.4,
April
28,
2016
ABSTRACT: This paper proposes control of maximum power tracking system of tidal current energy system. A permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG) works as a variable speed generator in the proposed energy system. A controller was applied to achieve the maximum power control of tidal current turbine on a wide range of water current speed change. A dynamic model and simulation of the energy system coupled with current change are presented. The measured DC voltage and DC current are used to determine the position of maximum power point that controls the DC/DC boost converter duty cycle depending on the Hill Climb Search (HCS) algorithm. This algorithm doesn’t require any information or measurements about current’s speed change or generator’s characteristics. A supercapacitor added to fix the load voltage despite of tidal current speed or load variations. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the controller proposed system.