2012 7th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering 20-22 December, 2012, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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A Modified Simulation Method of Photovoltaic Module in Simulink Environment

Hasan Mahamudul, 1,* Mekhilef Saad, 2 and Metselaar, Ibrahim Henk
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya. 2 Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya 3 Center for Advanced Materials Research, University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia * hasan_041097@yahoo.com
AbstractThis paper represents a versatile simulation process of a photovoltaic module mainly using matlab function in simulink platform. To analyze the characteristics curves single diode circuit model and a SOLKAR 36 W PV module is used. The P-V and I-V curves obtained from this model for various radiations and temperature are investigated. This model can also be used for the simulation of any specified PV module with least changing in parameters. Index TermsSimulation, PV module, Simulink.
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I. INTRODUCTION To overcome the challenge of energy for the world needs from the last few decades a lot of research is going on renewable energy among them solar energy is the pioneer, at present a lot of research is going on this area. The sun is a constant unique source of energy as long as the world exists, the sun will continue to give its energy to the earth. Unfortunately, a very small amount of the huge energy which sun gives to earth can be utilized. Data shows that the amount of power which comes from the sun to the earth is nearly 1.81011 MW [13] and its really difficult to believe that the worlds rate of energy consumption is only 0.1% of this gigantic amount. On the other hand, due to the depletion of energy source like coal, oil and natural gas with the rapid growth of population and dramatic industrialization a long term solution of energy crisis must be found. Thats why most of the research at this moment is going on how more energy can be captured from the sun.[2][3] Photovoltaic system is the most fundamental technique to utilize solar energy and this system is formed by photovoltaic cell which is actually a photoactive semiconductor material, it absorbs the light energy and converts it into electricity. The most important factors which make it more popular is, this conversion of energy is free from any kind of pollution and carbon-di-oxide (CO2) emission .Also, it does not need that much maintenance and operation cost is low.[3][4] The efficiency of a PV system depends on the parameters like temperature, solar radiation, variation in sunlight, shadow e.t.c. Basically, the generation of energy from the PV system varies with its environmental and operational conditions. The first step of any research with PV system is the modelling of PV module to determine the characteristic curves of the system, because the selection of others necessary topologies such as Maximum power point tracking algorithm (MPPT) and converter selection are mostly depend on these curves. The simulation and modelling process of Photovoltaic module is upgraded day by day for the better understanding of its work by the researcher. For the performance analysis of a PV
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system presently PV balance of system(BOS) research uses mathematical function based modeling. But this model could not be utilized immediately by the professionals due to a high failure rate. As a result the modification and simplification of PV module is continuing to make its performance better. [7] In this paper a very simple procedure of PV module simulation is illustrated with user friendly matlab function blocks from the simulink libraries. In part II. The necessary equivalent circuit model is demonstrated and described. All the mathematical equations related to PV system are also included in this portion. In part.III simulink implementation of the whole system is shown. In III.A. Complete block diagram of PV panel and III.B internal equation based function diagram is illustrated. Familiarization with some special signal blocks is also enclosed here. In part IV. The characteristic curves obtained using this model is attached here sequentially to investigate. At last, In part V. A precise conclusion is added to finalize the work. II. MODELLING OF PV CELL AND MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS A PV cell can be modelled using the following equivalent circuit [2], [8], as shown in figure 1.

Figure.1 Electrical equivalent circuit of PV Cell

Here, Ro is the load resistance, Rs is the series resistance and Rsh represents the shunt resistance. Due to the much higher value of Rsh with respect to Rs, the shunt resistance is neglected for the simplification of the modelling [5]. The output current of a PV cell can be calculated using [14] I0=Iscr/ (e qVoc/kT-1) Where: Iscr is the short circuit photon generated current. k is Boltzmanns constant. T is the cell operating temperature in Kelvin (K). q is the charge of an electron. V oc is open circuit voltage. (1)

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A series of PV cells which are connected together is called a string and a module is made of cell strings. The equivalent circuit of a PV module can be illustrated in figure 2. [8]

And the from[9]:

cell reverse saturation current Irs is calculated (4)

Irs =Irr [T/Tr] exp (qEg/kA [1/Tr-1/T])

Where: Irr is the reverse saturation current at Tr. Eg is the band gap energy of the semiconductor used in the cell. The above four are the main equations for the mathematical modelling of a photovoltaic module .The main input parameters used for this simulation are T, S, ns, np And Vin which is considered as triangular wave with a maximum value of Voc. (2) By changing only these parameters any specific PV module can be simulated. SOLKAR 36 W PV module is used here [6] as an example and Electrical Characteristics data of the module is given in table 2.
Table.2 SOLKAR 36 W PV module specification

Figure.2 Electrical equivalent circuit of PV module

The output current of a PV module is defined as [9], [10] Io = npIph npIrs [exp (k0 V/ns)-1]

Where I0 is the PV array output current, V is the array output voltage, Iph is the cell photocurrent that is proportional to solar irradiation. Irs is the cell reverse saturation current that mainly depends on temperature. ns and np are the number of series and parallel cells in the PV module respectively. Ko is a constant [9], calculated from: K0=q/kTA Where: A is the p-n junction ideality factor. Its value depends on PV technology [12]
Table 1. Factor A for different PV technology

Maximum power Voltage at(Vmpp) Current at(Impp) Open circuit Voltage(Voc) Short Circuit current(Isc) Short circuit current temperature coefficient(Ki) Open circuit voltage coefficient(Kv) Number of series cell(Ns) Number of parallel cell

37.08 W 16.56 V 2.25 A 21.24 V 2.55 A (0.065+0.015)%/C -(160+20)mv/C 36 1

III. SIMULINK IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PV MODULE The modelling is based on mathematical equations and the above equations (2), (3), (4) are used here consequently to obtain the PV output current, voltage and power for required conditions For this some special simulink block is used such as;
Table .3 Important simulink block

Technology Si Mono Si-poly a-Si:H a-Si:H tandem a-Si:H triple CdTe CTS AsGa

A 1.2 13 18 3.3 5 1.5 1.5 1.3

For PV input voltage

In equation (2), cell photocurrent Iph is calculated from[9]: Iph= [Iscr +Ki (T-Tr)] S/100. Where: S T Tr Ki is Solar irradiation. is cell operating temperature. is the reference temperature. is short circuit current coefficient. (3)

For variable temperature and irradiation input

For including the mathematical equations in the model for Iph, Irs and Ipv

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A.

Complete simulink block diagram of PV system

Fig.3: Simulink block diagram of PV System.

B .Internal equation based function diagram of the PV Panel

Fig.4: Internal equation based function diagram of PV panel

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IV. CHARACTERISTICS CURVES ANALYSIS A. P-V and I-V curves for various temperatures

V. CONCLUSIONS This model is a modified and simple way of photovoltaic module simulation. The characteristic curves obtain from this model are matched with the theoretical result which ensures the validation of this model. Further extension and future work like MPPT algorithm implementation, partial shading effect analysis, converter connection for supplying load in standalone PV system, smart grid photovoltaic interconnection e.t.c can make use of this model as a fundamental stage. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to thank all the members of Renewable energy cluster of University of Malaya for their kind cooperation.This work is under an ongoing project of University of Malaya (UM.C/HIR/MOHE/ENG/21-Phase Change Materials for Energy Storage System).Authors would like to thank the University Research grant authority for their necessary economic support. REFERENCES
[1] S. Nema, R.K.Nema, and G.Agnihotri, Matlab / simulink based study of photovoltaic cells / modules / array and their experimental [2] Jee-Hoon Jung, and S. Ahmed, Model Construction of Single Crystalline Photovoltaic Panels for Real-time Simulation, IEEE Energy Conversion Congress & Expo, September 12-16, 2010, Atlanta, USA. [3] I. H. Altas and A.M. Sharaf, A Photovoltaic Array Simulation Model for Matlab-Simulink GUI Environment, IEEE, Clean Electrical Power, International Conference on Clean Electrical Power (ICCEP '07), June 14-16, 2007, Ischia, Italy. [4]S.Chowdhury, S.P.Chowdhury, G.A.Taylor, and Y.H.Song, Mathematical Modeling and Performance Evaluation of a Stand-Alone Polycrystalline PV Plant with MPPT Facility, IEEE Power and Energy Society General Meeting - Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century, July 20-24, 2008, Pittsburg, USA. [5]M.Veerachary,Power Tracking for Nonlinear PV Sources with CoupledInductor SEPIC Converter, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 41, No. 3, July 2005. [6] N. Pandiarajan and R. Muthu, Mathematical Modeling of Photovoltaic Module with Simulink, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES

Figure.5: I-V curve for 25C, 45C and 65C.

Figure.6: P-V curve for 25C, 45C and 65C.

B. P-V and I-V curves for various irradiations

11), Jan 2011.

[7] N Pandiarajan and R Muthu, Development of Power ElectronicCircuit Oriented Model of Photovoltaic Module, International Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology, vol. 2, no. 4th, pp. 118127, 2011.), Jan 2011. [8] K Kachhiya, M Lokhande and M patel , Matlab/Simulink Model of Solar Module and MPPT algorithm , in Proceedings of the National Conference on Recent trends in Engineering & technology [9] Safari. A and S. Mekhilef Simulation and Hardware Implementation of Incremental Conductance MPPT with Direct Control Method Using Cuk Converter IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 58, Issue 4, 2011, 1154 -1161 [10] G. Petrone, G. Spagnuolo, R. Teodorescu, M. Veerachary, and M. Vitelli,Reliability issues in photovoltaic power processing systems, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 2569--2580, Jul. 2008. [11] C. Hua, J. Lin, and C. Shen, Implementation of a DSP-controlled photovoltaicsystem with peak power tracking, IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron.,vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 99--107, Feb. 1998. [12] Rakesh A.Patel Design and Implementation of single phase grid connected Photovoltaic Inverter using DSP,Nirma University of Science and Technology Ahmedabad, May 2008. [13]R. Messenger and J. Venture Photovoltaic System Engineering, CRC Press,2000,pp.41-51 [14] Akihiro Oi Design and Simulation of photovoltaic water pumping system Thesis faculty of California polytechnic State University San Luis, Sep ,2005.

Figure.7: P-V curve for 1000W/m2, 500 W/m2 and 100 W/m2 irradiation

Figure.8: I-V curve for 1000 W/m2, 500 W/m2 and 100 W/m2 irradiation.