International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

Vol. 4(10), Jan, 2014, pp. 138-145, ISSN: 2305-0543

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138

Evaluation and Simulation of Solar Cell by Using Matlab
Rasool Feiz Kerendian
1*
, Shima Nemati
2
, Javad Ebrahimi
1
and Arash Zeynalzadeh
3

1
Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch
2
Islamic Azad University, Qazvin Branch
3
Young Researcher and Elite Club, Borujerd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Borujerd, Iran
*Corresponding Author E-mail: rasool.feiz@yahoo.com

Abstract
Today there is a crisis resulting from the use of fossil fuels, thus, the use of renewable
energies, can be considered an appropriate policy. New energy sources are including wind,
solar and... , between these energies, solar energy has grown dramatically. So knowing
photovoltaic behavior under different climatic conditions is essential. Hence, in this paper a
photovoltaic cell has been modeled by using MATLAB software. Changes in temperature
and radiation intensity are inputs and I-V and P-V characteristics are output to consider
predicting photovoltaic behavior.

Keywords: Irradiation, Solar cell, MATLAB, Temperature

1. Introduction
Renewable energy is undoubtedly an important part of life in the future constitute. These
energy are source such as wind energy, solar energy, bio-energy and others that reloaded by
natural and it will be one of the important part of power generation in the new millennium.
Due to environmental pollution, Renewable energy will play an important role in life. These
include many benefits such as clean energy, free, and low maintenance cost and etc [1-3].
Photovoltaic is such tools due to the many benefits have growth and made in different
capacities [4]. Photovoltaic received solar radiation and without causing pollution, and
directly converts it to electrical energy. This suitable energy has well known advantages (it is
International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

Vol. 4(10), Jan, 2014, pp. 138-145, ISSN: 2305-0543
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139

free and available). The electricity is available at photovoltaics terminals to feed the small
load such as DC motor without converter. Some application need converter to use the energy
that produced by photovoltaic. The generated voltage is about 0.5 to 0.8 volts and its
depending on the semiconductor and cell technology [5]. To form a PV module the PV cells
are interconnected. To match the requirements of DC current and voltage the PV are
connected in parallel and series. The efficiency of a PV device depends on the spectral
distribution of the solar radiation. The Sun is a light source whose radiation spectrum may be
compared to the spectrum of a black body near 6000 K. The study of the effect of the solar
radiation on PV devices is difficult because the spectrum of the sunlight on the Earths
surface is influenced by factors such as the variation of the temperature on the solar disc and
the influence of the atmosphere [6, 7]. Photovoltaic physical structure is shown in Figure 1:



Figure 1: The physical structure of the PV

Since the amount of energy produced by a photovoltaic cell to feed a load is not enough, to
matching demand, these cells are connected in series and parallel [6].

2. Model of photovoltaic

I: Solar PV module Current (A)
V: Solar PV module Voltage (V)
Iph: Photo current (A)
International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

Vol. 4(10), Jan, 2014, pp. 138-145, ISSN: 2305-0543
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: Diode reverse saturation current in the equivalent circuit (A)

Rs: Series resistance in the equivalent circuit of the module (m)
Rsh: Parallel resistance in the equivalent circuit of the module ()
N: Diode ideality factor (1<n<2 for a single solar cell)
Q: Electron charge (=1.60210-19 C)
K: Boltzmanns constant ( = 1.38110-23 J/K)
T: Temperature (Kelvin)
Vt: Thermal voltage
G: irradiation on the surface of device (at reference condition G=1000 w/m2)

: is the band gap energy of semiconductor

There are several models to describe the behavior of the PV model: ideal model, general
model, appropriate model (without the parallel resistance), and the models with two and three
diodes. In this section mathematical description of general PV model is presented. The
practical and general model that studied in past two decade is showed in figure 2[8].


Figure 2: Practical model

International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

Vol. 4(10), Jan, 2014, pp. 138-145, ISSN: 2305-0543
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141

As is clear from figure 2, this model consists of series resistors and parallel resistors and a
diode in parallel with it. Changes in any of these parameters have impact on the non-linear I-
V and P-V characteristic curve [9].
Its mathematical equation is as follows:

*(

) +

(1)

A number of authors have used an additional diode in the models.

and N are parameters

associated with the diode.

is dependent to radiation intensity and temperature and its
equation is as follows:

(2)

Where:

(3)

PV cells temperature is T and

is reference temperature. Diode reverse saturation current is

described by equation 4:

+ (4)

called the thermal voltage. Mathematical formula which shows a thermal voltage is given
below:

(5)

International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

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3. Simulation results

The aim of this section is to provide the reader with all necessary information to develop
photovoltaic models and circuits that can be used in the simulation of power converters for
photovoltaic applications and shows the effect of different environmental condition to allow
estimate the electrical behavior of the cell. To perform the required simulations MATLAB
software is used. The results of the simulation for practical model that described in the
previous section are presented in this section. Figure 3 and 4 shows

and

simulated
model in MATLAB software.


Figure 3: Model of PV photocurrent

International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

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143


Figure 4: Model of reverse saturation current of diode

Effect of temperature
Figure 5 shows the Effect of temperature on I-V and P-V curve:


A: I-V curve for different temperature

B: P-V curve for different temperature
Figure 5: Effect of different temperature
International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

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It is clear by increasing the temperature; open circuit voltage is decreased also it can be seen
from figure 5(B) the by increasing the temperature, peak of power will decrease.

Effect of sun irradiation
The effect of solar radiation is showed in figure 6.


A: I-V curve for different solar irradiation

B: P-V curve for different solar irradiation
Figure 6: Effect of different solar irradiation

The above I-V curves show the effect of changes on the current is very high and it is more
than the voltage. By increasing radiation intensity, both voltage and current value increases.
Power will also increase with increasing sun irradiation.


International Journal of Mechatronics, Electrical and Computer Technology

Vol. 4(10), Jan, 2014, pp. 138-145, ISSN: 2305-0543
http://www.aeuso.org Available online at:
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145

Conclusion

This paper, investigated a photovoltaic model to predict its electrical behavior against the
changing in environmental parameters. Different values of temperature and radiation
intensity are inputs and I-V and P-V characteristics are output. Increasing temperature yields
decreasing voltage and power and by increasing sun irradiation the voltage and current values
and also power will increase. Now, by information this paper provides, we can estimate the
electrical behavior of the cell in various environmental condition.

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