ELEC 5564M POWER GENERATION BY RENEWABLE SOURCES

MODELLING A PV MODULE USING MATLAB

Liena Vilde 200589145 MSc Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy Systems University of Leeds

2010

1.Aims and Objectives

The aim of this exercise is to write a MATLAB program for simulating a PV module consisting of 40 PV cells connected in series and 2 cells connected in parallel, and observe the system response to various weather conditions (change in ambient temperature and solar irradiance). The objectives of this assignment are learning to use MATLAB for simulating I-V and P-V characteristics of a PV module, implementing the Newton-Raphson method for solving the nonlinear equation to obtain the I-V characteristic curve, and writing the MATLAB program so that it can later be used for developing a complete system model including a DC-DC converter.

2.PV Cell Description

2.1.Operating Principle
A PV cell is a semiconductor p-n device that produces current when irradiated. This is due to electron-hole pair forming in the semiconductor material that absorbs photons with energy exceeding the band-gap energy of the semiconductor material. The PV cell consists of front and back contacts attached to the semiconductor material, the contacts can collect the charge carriers (negatively charged electrons and positively charged holes) from the semiconductor p and n layers and supply the load with the generated current (DC).

2.2.Equivalent Circuit Model

A PV cell can be represented by a current source connected in parallel with a diode, since it generates current when it is illuminated and acts as a diode when it is not. The equivalent circuit model also includes a shunt and series internal resistance that can be represented by resistors Rs and Rsh (Figure 1). Rsh and Rs can be replaced with an equivalent junction resistor Rj for a simplified model (Figure 2)

V out

Rs Isc D
m k a

Rsh

Rl

Figure 1: Equivalent Circuit

V out

Isc

Rj

Rl

Figure 2: Simplified equivalent circuit

Connecting PV cells in parallel, as shown in Figure 3, increases the total current generated by the module (Iout=I1+I2+I3+). The total current is equal to the sum of current produced by each cell. To increase the total voltage of the module, cells have to be connected in series as in Figure 4 (Vout=V1+V2.+V3+).

Isc

D
m k m k a k a

Is c1

D1
m

Is c2

D2

Isc

Isc1

D
m k

D1
m k

Isc2

Rs Rsh

D2
m k

Figure 4

Figure 5

2.3.Mathematical Representation
The equivalent circuit in Figure 1 shows that the current generated by each PV cell is (1)

Isc is dependant on weather conditions - ambient temperature TA, irradiation G -, therefore it describes the spectral response of the PV cell. (2)

ISCR: short circuit current at Tr ki: temperature coefficient of the short circuit current Tr: reference temperature (3)

IS: reverse saturation current q: charge of an electron A: junction ideality factor K: Boltzmann constant (4)

IOR: reverse saturation current at reference temperature EG: band-gap of the semiconductor material (5)

NOCT: Nominal Operating Cell Temperature For np cells in parallel and ns cells in series, the total shunt and series resistances are equal to: 7

(6), (7)

Substituting equations (2) to (7) into equation (1), a mathematical description for a PV module with np x ns cells can be obtained: (8)

3.Newton-Raphson Algorithm
Newton-Raphson method is used for finding roots of a non-linear function by successively better approximations. If f(x) is a non-linear function, the first step to find its roots (zeros) is to calculate or evaluate its derivative f(x). Next step is to choose an initial x value xn . Each successive value of x closer to the value of x for f(x)=0, can be calculated by: (9)

Figure 5 shows a graphical representation of the Newton-Raphson method and how each successive value of x is closer to f(x)=0. The iteration can be continued until the absolute relative approximate error ER is equal to pre-specified relative error tolerance ES: (10)

xEn x1 y n+ x S

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Figure 5: Graphical Representation of Newton-Raphson Method

The I-V characteristic of the PV module in equation (8) can be expressed as f(I): (11)

The derivative of f(I) is equal to: (12)

When V=0, I=ISC; when I=0, V=VOC. The method for finding the I-V characteristic curve for a PV module using the Newton-Raphson algorithm is described with the help of a flow chart in the following page.

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Calculate PV parametersf(I) (n+1) characteristic equations and specifications Find=0 Increment V START V V =V I=III END from I=IIV=0 and f(I) No (nV1) SC YesPP+I=I IPV =I(n+1)PV

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4.MATLAB Code for the PV Module Simulation

%PV Module Specifications: A=1.72; %Ideality factor q=1.6e-19; %Charge of 1 electron [Coulomb] k=1.380658e-23; %Boltzmann constant [J/K] Eg=1.1; %Band gap energy [eV] Ior=19.9693e-6; %Reverse saturation current at Tr [A] Iscr=3.3; %Short circuit current generated at Tr [A] ki=1.7e-3; %Temperature coefficient of short circuit current [A/K] ns=40; %Number of cells connected in series np=2; %number of cells connected in parallel Rs=5e-5; %Internal series resistance of a cell [Ohm] Rp=5e5; %Internal parallel resistance of a cell [Ohm] Tr=301.18; %Reference temperature [K] %Initialise the parameters for I-V characteristic calculation: V=0; %Initially, I=Isc -> V=0 Vinc=0.01; %V increment Es=0.01; %Relative error tolerance Er=5000; %1st relative error value loop=0; %Initial number of loops

%Typical NOCT [C], ambient temperature in Kelvins (Ta), insolation in kW/m^2 (G) values: NOCT=44; G=1; Ta=298.15; %Cell temperature: Tc=((NOCT-20)*G/0.8)+(Ta); %Reverse saturation current for Tr: Is=(Ior*((Tc)/Tr)^3)*exp(((q*Eg)/(k*A))*((1/Tr)-(1/Tc))); %Short circuit current: Isc=(Iscr+ki*(Tc+273.15-Tr))*G; %Equivalent shunt resistance: Rsht=(np/ns)*Rp; %Equivalent series resistance: Rst=(ns/np)*Rs; %Calculating P to make F1 subscript indices real and positive %integers P=q/(A*k*Tc); It=np*Isc; I=Isc; Vval=V; Ival=Isc*np; %Initialise I=Isc when V=0: %Set of voltage values %Set of current values

while (I>0)

%I=0 -> V=Voc, calculating V for all values of Isc>I>0

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%Using Newton-Raphson algorithm for calculating I while (abs(Er)>Es) %While absolute relative approximate error %bigger than specified error tolerance loop=loop+1; %Increase loop count F1=(I)*(1+(Rst/Rsht))-It+(np*Is*exp(P*((V/ns)+I*Rst))+(V/ (ns*Rsht))); Fdash=(1+(Rst/Rsht))+np*P*Rs*Is*exp(P*((V/ns)+I*Rst)); Inext=I-(F1/Fdash); %Next value of I for the next loop

Er=((Inext-I)/Inext)*100; %New error value to be compared to Es I=Inext; if (I<0) %Set I to be the new value of I %Only allowing I values to be positive %End algorithm when I<0

I=0; break; end; if (loop==50000) break; end; end;

%End calculations after 50 000 positive

Ival=[Ival,I]; Er=1000;

%Obtain the set of I values %Re-set the error value for the algorithm to work

if (I==0) Vval=[Vval,V];

%After I=0, obtain the set of V values

break; else Vval=[Vval,V]; V=V+Vinc; end; end; P=[Ival.*Vval]; M=max(P); figure(1); plot(Vval,Ival); grid; hold on; figure(2); %Plot the I-V characteristic curve %If Isc>I>0, continue calculating V

%Plot the P-V characteristic curve

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plot(Vval,Ival.*Vval); grid; hold on;

Results

5.Results
Figure 6 (a) shows how the I-V characteristic changes depending on irradiation G (in kW/m2) when Ta=25C. ISC=3.8A, given that np=2, Imax of the PV module is 7.6A, Vmax=19.25V. Since ISC is directly proportional to G, the characteristic curves in Figure 6 show the predicted response to the change of irradiation. There is a change in VOC as G reduces from 1 to 0.2, but this is not as considerable as the change in IOC from 7.6 to 1.5A.

Figure 6

(a)

Graph in Figure 6 (b) shows how the I-V curve changes when ambient temperature Ta increases and when G is constant (1 kW/m2). Ta has an effect on VOC: VOC of each cell reduces by approximately 0.23mV for every 1C increase of Ta. ISC increases slightly as Ta increases, but not enugh to compensate the power loss due to decreasing VOC.

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Figure 6

(b)

The graphs in Figures 7 (a) and (b) show the P-V characteristic curves for the PV module, and their dependence on irradiation G (in kW/m2) and Ta (C). Both sets of curves show the expected results, which correspond to the I-V characteristics. With reduction of G, power decreases due to decrease in current (100W to 20W) and increase of Ta reduces power due to decrease in V (106W to 80W).

Figure 7 (a)

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Figure 7 (b)

PMPP, W PMPP, W

1.0 99.57 15 106.20

0.8 80.83 25 99.57

G, kW/m2 0.6 61.07 Ta, C 35 92.95

0.4 40.48 45 86.36

0.2 19.46 55 79.80

6.Conclusions
The disadvantage and limiting factor of using the Newton-Raphson method for solving non-linear equations such as f(I), is the fact that it uses approximation, therefore the accuracy of the method is determined by the pre-set relative error tolerance. The smaller the error tolerance, the more accurate the result, but this also increases the processing time during a simulation. In systems where quick response and small processing time is of importance, there will be a trade-off between time and accuracy.

7.References
1. Getting Started with MATLAB, The MathWorks, 2007 19

2. Power Generation by Renewable Sources, Dr L. Zhang, 2010

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