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Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

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Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

An investigation on partial shading of PV modules with different connection


configurations of PV cells
Yaw-Juen Wang, Po-Chun Hsu*
Graduate School of Engineering Science and Technology, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, 123 University Road, Section 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Partial shading is a commonly encountered issue in a PV (photovoltaic) system. In this paper, five
Received 18 November 2010 different connection configurations of PV cells are studied to compare their performance under the
Received in revised form condition of partial shading. They are SS (simple series), SP (series-parallel), TCT (total-cross-tied), BL
24 February 2011
(bridge-linked) and HC (honey comb) configurations. The electric network of each connection configu-
Accepted 24 February 2011
ration is analyzed, taking into account the nonlinear nature of PV cells, by writing the Kirchhoff’s voltage
Available online 29 March 2011
and current equations. The analysis is followed by solving the simultaneous nonlinear equations using
the NewtoneRaphson algorithm, which allows the IeV (currentevoltage) characteristic of the module
Keywords:
Connection configurations
with a specific configuration in response to different types and levels of partial shading to be evaluated.
Partial shading Comparison of the maximum power and fill factors of the five connection configurations is then carried
Photovoltaic cells out. Also studied is the reverse voltage across each PV cell. It is found that in most cases, the TCT
Solar energy configuration has a superior performance over the other four configurations in most comparison indices.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction clouds also lead to this phenomenon. In building integrated PV


systems, PV modules installed with different orientations to fit the
PV (Photovoltaic) power is becoming an important source of building outer wall receive different levels of irradiance, which is
electrical energy for distributed generation systems and for stand- a situation similar to partial shading.
alone applications. Not only is PV power environmentally friendly The investigation into mismatch problems of PV arrays can be
but it has been becoming economically competitive with conven- traced back to as early as late eighties when Bishop [1] proposed
tional fuels in countries with abundant sunshine. PV cell is the a voltage sweeping method to draw the IeV (currentevoltage)
principal device for converting solar energy to electricity. A PV cell curve of a PV array with shaded cells. Since then, studies on
can supply limited current (several Amperes) and voltage (a little mismatch of PV arrays, in particular those caused by partial
more than half volt) when exposed to standard solar irradiance. shading, have become active. Shortly later, Abete et al. [2] applied
Hence many PV cells are interconnected and encapsulated into Bishop’s method to study the behavior of a mismatched PV array in
a single unit to make a PV module. Normally a PV module is presence of bypass diodes. We note that both Bishop [1] and Abete
composed of 36 cells connected in series, but other connection et al. [2] avoided solving nonlinear implicit equations governing PV
configurations are also possible. Although the PV cells constituting cell circuits by sweeping the diode voltage to obtain the corre-
a module are identical in their electrical properties, mismatch of sponding IeV curves of PV cells. On the other hand, the New-
those cells occurs when they are exposed to different levels of solar toneRaphson method, a widely applied iterative numerical method
irradiance. Hence, shading of one part of a PV module compared to for solving nonlinear equations, was not used for the analysis of PV
another is often a major cause of mismatch in PV modules. The array networks until the work of Quaschning and Hanitsch [3],
shaded cells absorb electric power generated by unshaded cells, subsequent to which Kawamura et al. [4], Alonso-Garcia et al. [5]
leading to highly localized power dissipation (hot spot) that may and Wang and Hsu [6] also adopted the NewtoneRaphson
bring about irreversible damage to the module. Partial shading can method for analyzing mismatched PV arrays.
be caused by snow, tree shadow or bird dung covering PV module Commercial simulation packages have played an important role
surface. In a large PV system occupying a wide area of land, moving in the analysis, design and optimization of PV systems. Both PV-
specific programs (e.g., PVSIM [7] and PVSYST [8], etc.) and general-
purpose programs (e.g., Matlab [9], Pspice [10e12], PSIM [13] and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ886 5 5342601; fax: þ886 5 5312065. EMTP [14], etc.) have also been extensively used to study mis-
E-mail address: g9110805@yuntech.edu.tw (P.-C. Hsu). matched PV arrays. It is worth noting that Pspice is a simulation

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.02.052
3070 Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

tool for electronic circuits, and PSIM and EMTP are simulation
programs for power system networks.
Relatively fewer studies adopt an experimental approach to the
mismatch problem. However, we can mention the work of Alonso-
Garcia et al. [15] in which mismatch of 33 PV cells in a module
caused by both parameter diversity and partial shading has been
studied experimentally. Also presented in [15] are statistical
properties (i.e., mean, standard deviation, maximum and minimum
values) of the short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, maximum
power and fill factor of the cells. In addition to the aforementioned
studies on the mismatch problem, the works of Gautam et al.
[16e19] merit particular mention. Gautam et al. compared three
interconnection schemes of PV cells: SP (series-parallel), TCT (total-
cross-tied) and BL (bridge-linked), for their losses, maximum
power, fill factors, reliabilities and energy yields considering
mismatch caused by the manufacturer’s tolerances in cell charac-
teristics and by partial shadowing, and concluded that both TCT and Fig. 2. Diode IeV characteristic (solid curve) approximated by two (dotted lines) and
BL connection schemes had superior performance over the SP four (dashed lines) line segments.
scheme. The tolerances in the cell characteristics were evaluated by
the Monte Carlo technique in which the cell open-circuit voltage
The basic principle of the PLPB model is to approximate the
and photo-current were randomized with uniform distribution or
nonlinear IeV curve of the diode by 2h linear segments as shown
Gaussian distribution. The PV array networks were analyzed by the
in Fig. 2. The diode IeV curve for Vd between zero and the cell
NewtoneRaphson method in [16], and by a linear programming
open-circuit voltage Voc is depicted in Fig. 2. The curve is first
technique in [17] to accelerate the solving speed. The fractional
approximated by two line segments (dotted lines) with their
power losses caused by mismatch for different circuit topologies
corner voltage E2. The curve to the left of E2 is again approximated
and different ensembles (aging cells and fresh cells) have been
by two segments with a corner voltage E1; and the portion to the
investigated in [20], which reveals that appropriate series paral-
right of E2 approximated by another two segments with a corner
leling arrangement can reduce power loss resulting from mismatch.
voltage E3. Hence, the diode IeV curve is now approximated by
This finding agrees with the works of Gautam et al.
four line segments (dashed lines) with three corner voltages E1, E2
In this paper, the electrical performance of a PV module with not
and E3. This procedure continues until a required accuracy is
only SP, TCT and BL connection configurations, but also with SS
obtained. It is noted that 2h line segments are used in the hth
(simple series) and HC (honey comb) connection configurations is
approximation step, and the larger the number h, the better the
analyzed. The NewtoneRaphson method is to be used to solve the
approximation.
module circuit. A new model of PV cells, called the PLPB (piecewise
linear parallel branches model) [21], is also proposed to analyze
a mismatched PV module. The results obtained by both the PLPB
2.2. Realization of equivalent circuit
and NewtoneRaphson methods will be compared to validate each
other. This paper starts with a brief introduction to the PLPB model.
In Fig. 2, when the diode IeV curve is approximated by four line
This is followed by the application of the proposed model to the
segments with corner voltages E1, E2 and E3, and their respective
analysis of partial shading of a PV module. The IeV curve, maximum
slopes m1, m2, m3 and m4, the piecewise linearized IeV relation can
power, fill factor and a loss index of a module with SS, SP TCT, BL
be represented by four linear circuit branches connected in parallel
and HC connection configurations will be compared and analyzed.
as shown by Fig. 3. Each branch consists of an ideal diode, a resis-
tance and a voltage source in series. In Fig. 3 the voltage source E0 is
2. Introduction to the PLPB model actually zero. The voltage source E0 is drawn to make all the
branches have the same circuit structure. The resistances in Fig. 3
2.1. Basic principle are related to the segment slopes by the following equations:

Fig. 1 shows the single-diode equivalent circuit model [22] of PV 1 1 1 1


R1 ¼ ;R ¼ ;R ¼ ;R ¼ (1)
cell which is commonly used in many studies and provides suffi- m1 2 m2  m1 3 m3  m2 4 m4  m3
cient accuracy for most applications. In Fig. 1, IL is the light-gener-
To generalize, the diode in Fig. 1 is replaced with a q-branch
ated current, Id and Vd the diode current and voltage, I and V the cell
diode equivalent circuit (q ¼ 2h). The result is shown in Fig. 4 which
current and voltage, Rs and Rp the cell series and parallel resis-
tances. It can be seen from Fig. 1 that the nonlinearity of a PV cell is
indeed attributed to the nonlinearity of the diode.

Fig. 1. Single-diode model of PV cell. Fig. 3. Diode equivalent circuit using four parallel branches.
Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078 3071

where I0 is the reverse saturation current, q the electron charge


(q ¼ 1.602  1019 C), n the ideality factor, k the Boltzmann’s
constant ðk ¼ 1:38  1023 J=KÞ, and T the cell absolute tempera-
ture in Kelvin.

2.4. Implementation of the PLPB model

The algorithm of the equal-area method described previously


Fig. 4. Circuit configuration of the PLPB model. can be implemented in circuit simulation software such as PSIM or
EMTP. Fig. 6 shows an example of four-branch model. In practical
is the basic circuit configuration of the PLPB model for PV cell. The applications, more branches, e.g., 8, 16 or 32 branches, can be used
resistances in Fig. 4 have a more general expression. for better approximation of the PV cell IeV characteristic. In Fig. 6,
1 all the diodes are ideal. They actually serve as switches. The values
R1 ¼ ; (2)
m1 of IL, R1, R2, R3, R4, E1, E2 and E3 are calculated and controlled at each
simulation step by the control program according to the input
1 values of solar irradiance and cell temperature. In EMTP for
Rk ¼ for k  2; k ¼ 2; 3; 4; .; 2h (3)
mk  mk1 example, a control module called MODELS associated with the
circuit serves for modeling the control behavior of the system to be
simulated. Fig. 7 shows a screen snapshot of the eight-branch
circuit diagram that is plotted using the ATPDraw program. ATP-
2.3. Determination of corner voltages
Draw is a pre-processor of the EMTP that allows users to draw
circuit diagrams.
The resistances of the PLPB model are related to the slopes by (2)
and (3). However, before all the slopes of line segments can be
determined, we need to determine the corner voltages. An easiest
3. Analytical modeling of a PV module
way to determine the corner voltages E1, E2,.,Ek-1 is to place them
equally spaced over the interval of interest. In the case of Fig. 2, the
In this paper, a PV module composed of 36 PV cells is considered,
interval was (0, Voc) but this can be changed according to our need.
the interconnection scheme of which can be SS, SP, TCT, BL or HC.
Equally spaced corner voltages do not allow the piecewise linear
The mismatch considered is that caused by non-uniform solar
segments to best approximate the curve. In this paper a more
irradiance received by each cell. The equivalent circuit of a cell has
efficient method that, for a given number of linear segments, allows
been shown in Fig. 1, in which the light-generated current IL is
a better approximation, is proposed.
proportional to the solar irradiance G and can be given by
Fig. 5 shows a known curve g(x) which is to be approximated by
two linear segments L1(x) and L2(x) over the interval (xL, xR). The IL ðGÞ ¼ ðG=G0 Þ$Ig0 (5)
corner point xG needs to be determined. An equal-area method [21]
for finding xG so that the areas formed by the curve g(x) and the two where Ig0 is the light-generated current at the reference irradiance
line segments L1(x) and L2(x) are equal, i.e., A1 ¼ A2, is proposed. The G0 that takes the value of 1 kW/m2. The IeV relation of the cell
equal-area method has an advantage of fitting high curvature satisfies the following implicit function:
portion with shorter segment, which automatically improves the
quality of approximation. V þ IRs
f ðI; V; GÞ ¼ IL ðGÞ  Id ðV þ IRs Þ  I ¼ 0 (6)
The equal-area method can readily be applied to the PLPB Rp
model. It suffices to replace the known function g(x) with the diode
where Id refers to the diode current given by (4). When analyzing
IeV characteristic equation a module circuit, one may begin with writing the equations gov-
    erning the IeV relations of the 36 cell, then apply Kirchhoff’s
qVd
Id ðVd Þ ¼ I0 $ exp 1 (4) voltage and current laws (KVL and KCL) to loops and nodes to write
nkT
equations according to the circuit topology.

Fig. 5. Determination of the corner point using the equal-area method. The value of xG
is so determined that the areas A1 and A2 are equal. Fig. 6. Implementation of the PLPB model in EMTP.
3072 Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

Fig. 7. Simulation circuit diagram in EMTP.

3.1. Simple series connection configuration Im ¼ I1 þ I2 þ I3 þ I4 (11)

The simplest configuration of PV cells in a PV module is SS in The voltages of the four parallel strings are equal to the module
which 36 cells are connected in series as shown in Fig. 8. The IeV voltage. Hence, the following KVL equations can be given
relation of each cell is given by X
9 X
18 X
27 X
36
Vk ¼ Vk ¼ Vk ¼ Vk ¼ Vm (12)
f ðIm ; Vk ; lk Þ ¼ 0; k ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 36 (7) k¼1 k ¼ 10 k ¼ 19 k ¼ 28

where f refers to the implicit function of (6), lk and Vk to the solar An SP module has 40 unknowns: 36 cell voltages and four string
irradiance and the voltage of the kth cell, Im and Vm to the current currents. Eq. (9) expresses 36 equations, and (12) expresses four
and voltage of the module. For the SS configuration, all the cells equations, which make a total of 40 equations.
have the same current equal to the module current, so no KCL
equation is required. 3.3. Total-cross-tied connection configuration
There is only one closed loop in the SS configuration. The cor-
responding KVL equation is Fig. 9(b) depicts the TCT scheme. The IeV relations of the 36 cells
can be written as
X
36
Vk ¼ Vm (8) f ðIk ; Vn ; lk Þ ¼ 0; k ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 36 (13)
k¼1
where k refers to the cell number and the voltage subscript n is
It is noted that an SS module has 37 unknowns: 36 cell voltages related to k by
and the module current. Eq. (7) actually represents 36 independent 8
equations, which with (8) make up a set of 37 equations that allow >
> k for 1  k  9
<
k  9 for 10  k  18
the 37 variables to be solved. n ¼ (14)
> k  18 for 19  k  27
>
:
k  27 for 28  k  36
3.2. Series-parallel connection configuration
The voltage Vn refers to the voltage of four parallel cells at the nth
row. The module voltage Vm is then the sum of the voltages of nine
The circuit of SP configuration is shown in Fig. 9(a). The module
rows:
has four parallel strings, each contains nine cells connected in
series. The IeV relations of the 36 cells can be written as X
9
Vm ¼ Vn (15)
n¼1
f ðIn ; Vk ; lk Þ ¼ 0; k ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 36: (9)
Fig. 9(b) also shows the node numbers from one to eight. At each
The subscript n for the nth string current In is given by
node, the KCL equation can be written as:
8
>
> 1 for 1  k  9 3 
X 
< I9nþc  I9nþðcþ1Þ ¼ 0; c ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 8:
2 for 10  k  18 (16)
n ¼ (10)
>
> 3 for 19  k  27 n¼0
:
4 for 28  k  36 The TCT configuration has 36 cell currents and nine row voltages
The module current Im equals the sum of the four string currents. as independent variables, making a total of 45 variables. It is
checked that (13) provides 36, (15) provides one and (16) provides
eight equations, making up a set of 45 equations that can be solved
to find the 45 unknowns.

3.4. Bridge-linked connection configuration

Fig. 10 shows the circuit of the BL configuration which is more


complicated than the earlier ones. The IeV relations of the 36 cells
Fig. 8. Simple series of 36 PV cells in a module. can be given by
Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078 3073

Fig. 9. (a) SP and (b) TCT connection configurations of 36 PV cells in a module.

  8
f In ; Vj ; lk ¼ 0; k ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 36 (17) >
> 7 for n ¼ 1
<
9 for n ¼ 2
where, according to the circuit of Fig. 10, the current subscript n and c ¼ (21)
> 11 for n ¼ 3
>
the voltage subscript j are related to the cell number k by :
13 for n ¼ 4
8 8
>
> 1 for k ¼ 1; 2 >
> 24 for k ¼ 28; 29 Similarly, for the nodes at the middle column (i.e., node numbers 1,
>
> >
>
< 2 for k ¼ 3; 4 < 25 for k ¼ 30; 31 4, 7 and 10), the KCL equations can be written as
n ¼ 3 for k ¼ 5; 6 n ¼ 26 for k ¼ 32; 33 (18)
>
> >
> In þ Inþ9  Inþ1  Inþ10 ¼ 0; n ¼ 6; 8; 10; 12
> 4 for k ¼ 7; 8
> >
> 27 for k ¼ 34; 35 (22)
: :
k  4 for 9  k  27 28 for k ¼ 36
For the nodes at the right column (i.e., nodes 3, 6, 9 and 12), the KCL
8 equations are written as
>
> k for 1  k  17
<
k  9 for k ¼ 18; 19
j ¼ (19) In þ Ic  Inþ1  Icþ1 ¼ 0; n ¼ 16; 18; 20; 22 (23)
>
> k  2 for 20  k  35
:
27 for k ¼ 36:
in which the subscripts c and n relate to each other by
It is noted that there are 28 currents and 33 voltages as vari-
ables, hence 61 equations are needed. In the BL configuration, 8
>
> 24 for n ¼ 16
12 nodes are indicated in Fig. 10. For the nodes at the left <
25 for n ¼ 18
column (i.e., node numbers 2, 5, 8 and 11), the KCL equations c ¼ (24)
>
> 26 for n ¼ 20
are written as :
27 for n ¼ 22
In þ Ic  Inþ1  Icþ1 ¼ 0; n ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4 (20)
For each loop containing four cells, the KVL equations are given as
where the subscript c is related to n by follows:
3074 Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

The circuit of Fig. 10 has 33 voltages and 28 currents, summing


up to 61 unknown variables. It is checked that (17) gives 36 IeV
equations, (20), (22) and (23) give 12 KCL equations, and (25)e(30)
give 13 KVL equations, making up a total of 61 equations.

3.5. Honey comb connection configuration

The HC scheme proposed by the authors is shown in Fig. 11. The


HC scheme is inspired from the hexagon shape of the honey comb
as shown in Fig. 11(a) in which obliquely hatched blocks denote
a parallel combination of two cells while the unhatched blocks
denote a single cell. The circuit of the HC scheme is shown in
Fig. 11(b) which does not obviously show honeycombs. The cell IeV
relations are given by
 
f In ; Vj ; lk ¼ 0; k ¼ 1; 2; 3; .; 36 (31)

where the current and voltage subscripts n and j are related to the
cell number k by
8 8
>
> 1; k ¼ 1 >
> k  4; 10  k  28
>
> >
>
< 2; k ¼ 2; 3; 4 < 25; k ¼ 29; 30; 31
n ¼ 3; k ¼ 5 n ¼ 26; k ¼ 32 (32)
>
> >
>
>
> 4; k ¼ 6; 7; 8 >
> 27; k ¼ 33; 34; 35
: :
5; k ¼ 9 28; k ¼ 36

8 8
>
> k; 1  k  9 >
> k  4; k ¼ 22; 23; 24
> 1; k ¼ 10
> >
> 14; k ¼ 25
>
> >
>
>
> >
>
>
> k  1; k ¼ 11; 12; 13 >
> k  5; k ¼ 26; 27
< <
5; k ¼ 14 16; k ¼ 28
j ¼ j ¼
>
> k  2; k ¼ 15; 16; 17 >
> k  6; k ¼ 29; 30; 31
>
> >
>
>
> 9; k ¼ 18 >
> 19; k ¼ 32
>
> >
>
>
> k  3; k ¼ 19; 20 >
> k  7; k ¼ 33; 34; 35
: :
11; k ¼ 21 22; k ¼ 36
(33)
There are 12 nodes for which the KCL equations are given by

In þ Ic  Inþ1  Icþ1 ¼ 0 (34)


where the subscript n takes 12 values as

n ¼ 1; 2; 3; 4; 7; 8; 11; 12; 15; 18; 19; 22 (35)


and the subscript c is related to n by
8 8 8
>
> 6; n ¼ 1 >
> 16; n ¼ 7 >
> 24; n ¼ 15
Fig. 10. BL connection configurations of 36 PV cells in a module. < < <
9; n ¼ 2 17; n ¼ 8 25; n ¼ 18
c ¼ c ¼ c ¼
> 10; n ¼ 3
> > 20;
> n ¼ 11 > 26;
> n ¼ 19
: : :
13; n ¼ 4 21; n ¼ 12 27; n ¼ 22
Vj þ Vjþ1  Vjþ9  Vjþ10 ¼ 0; j ¼ 1; 3; 5; 7 (25) (36)
Then the KVL equations for the close loops containing six or four
Vj þ Vjþ1  Vjþ7  Vjþ8 ¼ 0; j ¼ 11; 13; 15 (26) cells are written as follows.

Vj þ Vjþ1 þ Vjþ2  Vc  Vcþ1  Vcþ2 ¼ 0 (37)


Vjþ8 þ Vj  Vjþ15  Vjþ16 ¼ 0; j ¼ 9 (27)
with (j, c) ¼ (2, 10) and (6, 13).
Vj þ Vjþ8  Vjþ17  Vjþ16 ¼ 0; j ¼ 10 (28)
Vc þ Vj  Vjþ6  Vjþ7 ¼ 0 (38)

Vj þ Vjþ1  Vjþ9  Vjþ10 ¼ 0; j ¼ 19; 21; 23 (29) with (j, c) ¼ (10, 1) and (15, 9).

Finally, the KVL equation for the loop containing the nine cells in Vj þ Vj7 þ Vjþ1  Vjþ6  Vjþ7  Vjþ8 ¼ 0; j ¼ 12 (39)
the first column is given by
Vj þ Vj6 þ Vjþ1  Vc  Vcþ1  Vcþ2 ¼ 0 (40)
X
9
Vj ¼ Vm (30)
with (j, c) ¼ (17, 23) and (20, 26) Finally, the KVL equation for the
j¼1
close loop containing the nine cells in the left column is
Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078 3075

Fig. 11. (a) HC connection inspired by the hexagonal honey comb in which the unhatched blocks denote a single cell while the obliquely hatched blocks denote two cells connected
in parallel (b) HC connection configurations of 36 PV cells in a module.

4.1. Results obtained by analytical and PLPB models


X
9
Vk ¼ Vm (41)
With 36 PV cells stricken by unequal solar irradiance as shown
k¼1
in Fig. 12, the circuits of PV modules with SS, SP, TCT, BL and HC
There are 28 independent voltages and 28 independent currents connections depicted in Figs. 9e11 have been solved using the
in Fig. 11(b), a total of 56 variables. It is checked that (31) gives 36 analytical methods presented in Section 3 in which KCL, KVL and
equations, (34) gives 12 equations and (37)e(41) give 8 equations, nonlinear implicit equations governing the cell IeV relations have
summing up to 56 equations, equal to the number of unknown been written. For each configuration, the number of equations is
variables. equal to the number of unknowns. The NewtoneRaphson method
has been used to solve the equations to obtain the current and
4. Results of performance evaluation voltage variables at a given value of module voltage Vm. An

To evaluate the performance of the five aforementioned cell


connection configurations under mismatch caused by non-
uniform solar irradiance striking the module, a random number
generator is used to generate 36 irradiance values that are
uniformly distributed between 0.85 and 1.01 kW/m2 as shown in
Fig. 12. To simplify the calculation, the temperature of all the cells
are fixed at 45  C. These values are used to analyze the five PV
cell connection schemes with both the analytical model and the
PLPB model. Fig. 12. Randomly generated solar irradiance.
3076 Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

IeV curves are obtained using a 16-branch PLPB model with


different values of irradiance as its inputs. Though not shown in
Fig. 13, these curves have been compared with the results of the
analytical model, and a good agreement has been achieved.
The IeV curves of PV modules having a solar irradiance pattern
as given by Fig. 12 are shown in Fig. 14(a)e(e) that correspond
respectively to SS, SP, TCT, BL and HC configurations. The module
IeV curves computed by the analytical and the PLPB models are
shown by scattered circles and solid curves, respectively. It can be
seen that the two models agree very well with each other for all the
five configurations, which demonstrates the correctness of the both
methods. Except for the SS configuration, also shown in
Fig. 14(b)e(e) are the currents of the branches immediately next to
the module positive terminal, as functions of the module voltage
Fig. 13. IeV curves of 36 cells with unequal solar irradiance as shown in Fig. 12. Vm. These currents sum up to the module current Im.
When unequal solar irradiance strikes on PV cells, voltages of
alternative method for solving the circuits is to directly simulate the the cells are also unequal. Negatively biased voltages may appear
circuits with the aid of the PLPB model described in Section 2. across some cells. This situation is severest when the module
Fig. 13 shows the IeV curves of 36 cells in a module when these cells terminals are short-circuited. Fig. 15(a)e(e) not only show the
are receiving different levels of irradiance as shown in Fig. 12. These voltage profile of the cells for five different connection

Fig. 14. IeV curves of PV modules with (a) SS, (b) SP, (c) TCT, (d) BL and (e) HC connection, calculated by the analytical (scattered circles) and PLPB (curves) models.
Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078 3077

Table 1
Comparison of peak power and fill factor.

Peak power (W) Fill factor


SS 48.713 0.681
SP 48.807 0.69
TCT 49.248 0.677
BL 48.875 0.678
HC 49.081 0.68

configuration has a most negative voltage of about 2.5 V which


may need to be considered for a possible avalanche breakdown.

4.2. Performance evaluation

The maximum power and the fill factor of a module with


a specific connection configuration under the solar irradiance
condition as shown in Fig. 12 are listed in Table 1 for comparison. In
terms of the maximum power, the TCT and HC configurations rank
the first two positions. However, in terms of the fill factor, the SP
configuration has the highest value although the differences
between these values are rather small.
In Table 2, the voltages and currents of four cells corresponding
to five different connection configurations are compared. The four
cells’ locations and their number are listed in the first column. The
intensities of solar irradiance striking on these cells are different
but kept unchanged for all the connection configurations. Because
of change of the cell connection configuration, the voltage across
a specific cell may also change. For example, the cell no. 23 located
at 5e3 has negative voltages for SS, SP and TCT configurations, but
has positive voltage for BL and HC configurations. Table 2(b) shows
the variations of currents caused by the connection configuration.

5. Conclusion

In this paper, an analytical method for analyzing PV modules


with five different cell connection configurations: SS, SP, TCT, BL
and HC, has been developed. The analytical method is based on the
nonlinear IeV characteristics of solar cell and the KVL and KCL
relations of cell connection circuits, and it needs to be solved by the
NewtoneRaphson algorithm. The results obtained by the analytical
method have been validated with the PLPB model, a circuit-
oriented model that can be used in a circuit simulation program
such as EMTP.
The evaluation of the five connection configurations has been
carried out by applying to the 36 cells in a module a randomly
generated solar irradiance which is uniformly distributed between
0.85 and 1.01 kW/m2, and comparing the maximum powers and
the fill factors for the five connection schemes.

Fig. 15. Voltage profiles calculated by the analytical model (black bars) and the PLPB
model (red bars) for (a) SS, (b) SP, (c) TCT, (d) BL and (e) HC configurations when the Table 2
module terminals are short-circuited. For interpretation of the references to colour in Voltages and currents of cells at specific locations.
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.
Location (cell no.) SS SP TCT BL HC
(a) Cell voltages (V)
1e1 (1) 0.4863 0.4868 0.3101 0.2545 0.3907
configurations when the module terminals are short-circuited, they 3e2 (12) 0.4564 0.4390 0.4650 0.4829 0.4789
5e3 (23) 0.3201 0.1223 0.0345 0.4241 0.0626
also compare the results obtained by the analytical (black bars) and
8e4 (35) 0.3740 0.4060 0.4168 0.4429 0.4604
the PLPB (red bars) models. Again, the results calculated by the two
models are very close, validating our analytical modeling in Section (b) Cell currents (A)
3. The voltages shown in Fig. 15 are voltage variables shown in the 1e1 (1) 2.9454 2.9420 3.1970 3.2030 3.1700
circuits of Figs. 8e11. Hence the SS and SP configurations have 36 3e2 (12) 2.9454 2.9850 2.9200 2.8490 3.0100
voltages, TCT has only nine voltages, and BL and HC configurations 5e3 (23) 2.9454 2.9320 2.9260 2.8510 2.9200
8e4 (35) 2.9454 2.9270 2.9170 2.8800 2.8390
have 33 and 28 voltages, respectively. It is also noted that the HC
3078 Y.-J. Wang, P.-C. Hsu / Energy 36 (2011) 3069e3078

For the solar irradiance pattern considered in this paper, the TCT
scheme has the highest value of the peak power. Then the HC and Table A.3 Voltages and current of a short-circuited PV module
BL schemes follow. However, it is noted that in this paper only one with the SS configuration.
Voltage Solution (V) Voltage Solution (V) Voltage Solution (V)
pattern of the solar irradiance has been considered. It is still too
early to draw a conclusion on which cell connection configuration is V1 0.4873 V14 0.4907 V27 1.4086
V2 0.4935 V15 0.6598 V28 0.4801
better than others. Future studies will be to extend our determin-
V3 0.4955 V16 0.4961 V29 0.4539
istic modeling to the Monte Carlo simulation technique to consider V4 0.4921 V17 0.4595 V30 0.4847
a large number of solar irradiance patterns so that a more reliable V5 1.2118 V18 0.4776 V31 0.7798
conclusion on the performance of different cell connection V6 1.3606 V19 1.4326 V32 0.4542
V7 0.4953 V20 0.4756 V33 0.4641
configurations can be obtained.
V8 0.4582 V21 0.4949 V34 1.3366
V9 0.463 V22 0.0694 V35 0.3685
V10 0.2458 V23 0.3382 V36 1.4614
Appendix. Sample calculation for the SS configuration V11 0.4648 V24 0.4791
V12 0.4569 V25 0.4998 Current Solution (A)
V13 0.6358 V26 0.4891 Im 2.8579
Eq. (6) in a more detailed form is given by
     
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