Sensorless fuzzy logic controller (FLC) based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm for hydrokinetic energy harnessing

This paper presents a sensor-less control strategy based on the Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) Maximum Power Point Tracking Algorithm (MPPT) for stand-alone hydrokinetic energy harnessing in the river. The FLC MPPT algorithm was proposed due to the variation of the water velocity and the weakness of the conventional MPPT algorithm, such as the Perturb and Observe (P&O) MPPT algorithm under highly nonlinear water velocity. The hydrokinetic comprises a water turbine, permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), passive rectifier, and DC boost converter. In this work, MATLAB/Simulink has been implemented to design the circuit topology for hydrokinetic technology. Then, the modeling of the complete system has been simulated under the different speeds of water velocities. The proposed FLC MPPT has been compared to the conventional P&O MPPT algorithm regarding power efficiency and tracking response time. The results show that the proposed FLC MPPT algorithm achieved an average 93 % efficiency in extracting the output power and a 35.49 % faster response time than the P&O MPPT algorithm.