Assistant research scientist Dr. Morcos Metry presented his paper co-authored with M.S. student Ms. Nabila ElBeheiry etitled “Event-triggered Online MPC Model Calibration for Photovoltaic Power Optimizers” at the IEEE Energy Conversion and Congress Exhibition poster session in Nashville, TN on October 31st.
In power electronics, parameters of the converter model equations are subject to mismatch including but not limited to capacitor values, equivalent series resistances, and load values. Solar photovoltaic (PV) dc optimizers and microinverters placed on the back sheet of the solar panel are exposed to excessive heat compared to an inverter in a less austere environment. Thus, exacerbating the effects of parameter mismatch. This paper addresses the parameter mismatch effects in model predictive controllers (MPC) using a parameter calibration technique to identify system parameters, augmented within the MPC framework; hence, mitigating parameter mismatch and improving tracking efficacy. The significance of this method is utilizing an error signal within the MPC control loop as an event-based trigger for the calibration process without the need for any sophisticated detection methods.