Inspection of Maximum Power Point Tracking Methods Suitable for Low-Power Electronics

This paper presents inspection of direct and indirect Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithms suitable for low-power applications. Theoretically, indirect algorithms are faster than direct ones, however less efficient in power extraction. Among both types, we chose one of the simplest and the most used algorithms. Open Circuit Voltage and Perturb and Observe (P&O) methods were selected. During the testing of Energy Harvester (EH) controlled by MPPT algorithms, we focused on parameters such as accuracy of reaching the Maximum Power Point (MPP), deviation from the MPP and speed of convergence. We found that the direct MPPT algorithm is more suitable for low power applications under various conditions, because it is 1.6 times faster and the deviation from MPP is 4.12 times smaller.