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Experimental Characterization for a PV Module Using Low Cost Method

Conference Paper · April 2014

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 Experimental Characterization for a PV Module
Using Low Cost Method
I.M. Mahmoud1, S.O. Abdellatif2, T. S. Abdel-salam 3 A.Bayoumi4 , A.Sahbel5, O. E. Abdellatif6
1,2,3 4,5
Electrical Engineering Department Mechanical Engineering Department
The British University in Egypt The British University in Egypt
Cairo, Egypt. Cairo, Egypt.
3 6
Electrical Engineering Department, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Ain Shams University, Banha University,
Cairo, Egypt Cairo, Egypt

Abstract— The fabrication and characterization of PV characteristic for seven PV modules, is introduced in [1]. A set
modules are always done under standard test conditions of resistors are connected together and are controlled by relays
(STC). However, the condition of operation are often far and switches. In [2], a simple electronic load for testing a set
from this standard conditions. As a result, developing a
of PV panels using linear metal oxide field effect transistors
characterization circuit is considered as a point of interest
for researchers. This paper presents a new methodology in (MOSFETs) is presented. The proposed set up under test gives
characterizing a PV module using an electronic load the current versus voltage and power versus voltage
circuit. The circuit is implemented using a power characteristics of PV panels by quickly scanning the load. A
MOSFET driven by a pulse width modulator (PWM) developed system is published in [3] based on that in [2]. This
developed by LABVIEW. The system is tested and its system uses LABVIEW with Microcontroller unit connected
results are validated by comparing it with simulation to the electronic load circuit providing higher accuracy and
results performed by Comsol Multiphysics and Matlab.
lower tracing time. The design is considered low cost system
The system shows high accuracy with respect to the
previous published work with lower cost and higher but it still was complex. In [4], the electronic circuit was
simplicity enhanced by using a DAQ system with LABVIEW application
for controlling the MOSFET gate-source voltage. For
Keywords— Photovoltaic, Characterization, Electronic load, and enhancing the I-V and P-V characteristic that was shown in
Pulse width modulation (PWM)
[4], a new design for the electronic circuit is suggested which
I. INTRODUCTION consist of MOSFET controlled by means of an innovative
Photovoltaic (PV) represents one of the most promising sweeping gate-source voltage. These system shows a high
means of maintaining our energy intensive standard of living tracing frequency but with low accuracy. In order to improve
while not contributing to global warming and pollution. PV the tracing of the I-V characteristics, an oscilloscope with
refers to the direct generation of electricity by solar irradiance. pulse width modulation circuit is presented in [5]. The circuit
The irradiance and the temperature are considered the main was developed in [6] with low-cost DAQ system in order to
environmental parameters that the generated power of the PV trace the I-V characteristic accurately.
depends on. Changes in the irradiance and the temperature
cause a variation in voltage and current respectively. In this paper, an improved electronic load circuit is presented
to characterize a PV module by tracing their I-V and P-V
The PV manufacturers are utilized to obtain the module characteristic curves. Power MOSFET is used as an electronic
parameters as short circuit current ( ), open circuit voltage ( load for tracing the current voltage characteristics by varying
), maximum power ( ) and fill factor ( ). This is its gate source voltage ( ) through generating a signal using
executed under a standard test conditions which is irradiance a low cost NI-DAQ. Performing PWM using LABVIEW is
equal to 1000 W/m2, cell temperature is 25 oC. However, these considered as an innovation with respect to the work in [4, 6]
conditions are sometimes far from the daily working since it provides the same accuracy in [6], but with lower cost
conditions. As a result, a low cost, precise characterizing and less sophistication.
system is required to examine the PV performance during its
working conditions. A system for measuring the I-V
 II. MODELLING AND SIMULATION (5)
A numerical model based on Comsol Multiphysics [7] and
Matlab simulation tool for a PV module is introduced as Where and are the so-called band parameters that
shown in Figure 1 [8]. This model is used as a verification tool account for degeneracy and a spatially varying band gap and
for our experimental results. For optical modeling Maxwell’s electron affinity these terms were ignored in the preceding
equations are solved in three dimensions to calculate the discussion and can usually be ignored in no degenerate homo-
absorption coefficient of the Si and AM1.5G is assumed [9]. structure solar cells.
On the other hand, drift diffusion model is considered for the
III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
semiconductor modeling of the device where carrier transport
is assumed to be in one direction including both bulk and The I-V characteristics of a 150 Watt polycrystalline PV
surface recombination [10]. module [12] were traced using the circuit shown in Figure 2
with a power MOSFET (IRFP260N) as a varying electronic
The operation of most semiconductor devices, including solar load. The I-V and P-V characteristics of a polycrystalline PV
cells, can be described by the so-called semiconductor device module were traced using the circuit shown in Figure 2. The
equations, first derived by Van Roosbroeck as given in [11]. A circuit is based on MOSFET IRFP260N as a varying
generalized form of these equations is given below. electronic load with heat sink to dissipate the power. The
characteristics of the MOSFET in both linear and saturation
(1) region are described respectively by [13].

Three power MOSFETs are used to tolerate the maximum

power of 150 Watt as shown in Figure 2. The MOSFETs are
operated in its ohmic region where the resistive value is
controlled through the gate voltage which is generated by a
NI-DAQ 6009. Where is the gate-source voltage, the
drain-source voltage, the device constant, the threshold
voltage and the drain current of the MOSFET. As is
less than the threshold voltage , the MOSFET will be OFF.
When is increased above the MOSFET will operate in
Figure 1. PV module using in COMSOL the saturation region and the drain current rises quadratically
with . At lower solar module voltage the operating point of
This is a form of Poisson’s equation, where N is the net charge the MOSFET shifts to the linear region where the drain current
due to dopants and other trapped charges. The hole and changes linearly with VGS. Thus, by sweeping the gate voltage
electron continuity equations are the operating point of the MOSFET sweeps the I-V
characteristic of the module between and Isc. Pulse width
(2) modulation (PWM) process is used to control the gate voltage
as illustrated in Figure 3. The PWM frequency is set to 1 KHz
(3) and a saw-tooth signal is used to vary the pulse duration. The
modulation process is developed by connecting the saw-tooth
Where G is the optical generation rate of electron–hole pairs generator with the duty cycle adjuster of the square wave
and and are the recombination rate for both holes and generator. The saw-tooth frequency is adjusted to be 1 Hz so
electrons, Thermal generation is included in and . The that a complete characterization process occurs in 1 sec with
hole and electron current densities are given by 1000 samples. In order to isolate the DAQ to avoid any
loading problem, a buffer is implemented using LM741 with
(4) an adjustable gain to calibrate the operating point according to
the required gate voltage.
In order to acquire the PV voltage and current, two acquiring respect to the MOSFETs equivalent resistance. Regarding
circuits is used. For voltage, a potential divider is inserted Current, a high power low resistive value resistance is
parallel to the PV with relativity high resistive value with embedded in series with the PV module. A low resistive value
respect to the MOSFETs equivalent resistance. Regarding resistance is chosen to avoid its loading effect. A mechanical
Current, a high power low resistive value resistance is setup is designed and implemented on the roof of the British
embedded in series with the PV module. A low resistive value University in Egypt (BUE) with an inclination angle of 30o
resistance is chosen to avoid its loading effect. A mechanical with respect to the normal direction as shown in Figure 4.
setup is designed and implemented on the roof of the British
University in Egypt (BUE) with an inclination angle of 30 o
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
with respect to the normal direction as shown in Figure 4.
Experimental results are taken in more than one day and some
In order to acquire the PV voltage and current, two acquiring of them are chosen to be presented in this work. A comparison
circuits is used. For voltage, a potential divider is inserted between experimental, simulation results and the standard
parallel to the PV with relativity high resistive value with curves is illustrated in Figure 5 using the numerical model

Figure 2:.Electronic load circuit

Figure 3:.LABVIEW block diagram for PWM

described above. These output characteristics are taken under experimental data which can be considered as a validation for
irradiance 620 W/m2 where the maximum power observed was our new approach in characterizing the PV module using a
about 100 W, ISC=8 A and VOC=20 V. The results shows a LABVIEW PWM. On the other hand, both experimental and
great accordance between the simulation model and the simulation results are a little bit far from the standard curves as
the measurements condition was far from the ideal one. This REFERENCES
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