Estimating one-diode-PV model using autonomous groups particle swarm optimization

Abstract

In this paper, the one-diode model of a photovoltaic PV solar cell (PVSC) is estimated for an experimental characteristic curves data by using a recently proposed version of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, which is known as the Autonomous Groups Particles Swarm Optimization (PSOAG). This meta-heuristic algorithm is used to identify the model of the PVSC. The PSOAG divides the particles into groups and then, uses different functions to tune the social and cognitive parameters of these groups. This is done to show the individuals’ diversity inside the swarm. Although, these individuals do their duties as part of the society, they are not similar in terms of intelligence and ability. By using these groups, the performance of the PSO is improved in terms of convergence rate and escaping the local minima/maxima. Six versions of PSOAG algorithms were developed in this work. Therefore, nine versions of PSOAG, including these six algorithms and three newly developed PSOAG reported previously, will be used in this research to cover more social’s behaviors. The results are compared to the original PSO and other versions of PSO like conventional and Asymmetric Time-varying Accelerated Coefficient PSOs, and the improved PSO. The result shows that the proposed methods improve the performance by up to 14% in terms of root mean squared error and maximum absolute error, and by up to 20% in term of convergence rate, when these were compared to the best results obtained from the other algorithms.