Nowadays, owing to the growing interest in renewable energy, Photovoltaic systems (PV) are responsible of supplying more than 500,000 GW of the electrical energy consumed around the world. Therefore, different converters topologies, control algorithms, and techniques have been studied and developed in order to maximize the energy harvested by PV sources. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) methods are usually employed with DC/DC converters, which together are responsible for varying the impedance at the output of photovoltaic arrays, leading to a change in the current and voltage supplied in order to achieve a dynamic optimization of the transferred energy. MPPT algorithms such as, Perturb and Observe (P&O) guarantee correct tracking behavior with low calibration parameter dependence, but with a compromised relation between the settling time and steady-state oscillations, leading to a trade off between them. Nevertheless, proposed methods like Particle Swarm Optimization- (PSO) based techniques have improved the settling time with the addition of lower steady-state oscillations. Yet, such a proposal performance is highly susceptible and dependent to correct and precise parameter calibration, which may not always ensure the expected behavior. Therefore, this work presents a novel alternative for MPPT, based on the Earthquake Optimization Algorithm (EA) that enables a solution with an easy parameters calibration and an improved dynamic behavior. Hence, a boost converter case study is proposed to verify the suitability of the proposed technique through Simscape Power Systems™ simulations, regarding the dynamic model fidelity capabilities of the software. Results show that the proposed structure can easily be suited into different power applications. The proposed solution, reduced between 12% and 36% the energy wasted in the simulation compared to the P&O and PSO based proposals.

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Nowadays, photovoltaic (PV) systems are responsible for over 994 TWH of the worldwide energy supply, which highlights their relevance and also explains why so much research has arisen to enhance their implementation; among this research, different optimization techniques have been widely studied to maximize the energy harvested under different environmental conditions (maximum power point tracking) and to optimize the efficiency of the required power electronics for the implementation of MPPT algorithms. On the one hand, an earthquake optimization algorithm (EA) was introduced as a multi-objective optimization tool for DC–DC converter design, mostly to overcome component shortages by optimal replacement, but it had never been tested (until now) for PV applications. On the other hand, the original EA was also taken as inspiration for a promising EA-based MPPT, which presumably enabled a solution with simple parametric calibration and improved dynamic behavior; yet prior to this research, the EA-MPPT had never been experimentally validated. Hence, this work fills the gap and provides the first implementation of the EA-based MPPT, validating its performance and suitability under real physical conditions, where the experimental testbed was optimized through the EA design methodology for DC–DC converters and implemented for the first time for PV applications. The results present energy waste reduction between 12 and 36% compared to MPPTs based on perturb and observe and particle swarm optimization; meanwhile, the designed converter achieved 7.3% current ripple, which is between 2.7 and 12.7% less than some industrial converters, and it had almost 90% efficiency at nominal operation. Finally, the EA-MPPT proved simple enough to be implemented even through an 8-bit MCU (ATmega328P from Arduino UNO).

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