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Experimental analysis of solar PV characteristics under standard condition

Article in International Journal of Applied Engineering Research · January 2015

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IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

Experimental Analysis of Solar PV

Characteristics Under Standard Condition
A.Aysha Dr.P.Rathika(HOD)
Department of EEE Department of EEE
VV College of Engg. VV College of Engg.
Tisaiyanvilai, India. Tisaiyanvilai, India
[email protected] [email protected]

C.Mahalakshmi S.Karthika(A.P)
Department of EEE Deapartment of ECE
VV College of Engg. VV College of Engineering
Tisaiyanvilai, India. Tisaiyanvilai, India.
[email protected] [email protected]

Abstract- This paper proposes a study of modelling and photovoltaic array may directly feed small loads such
simulation of PV arrays. The important objectives such that as lighting systems and DC motors. The main
the paper to match the experimental values with practical problem in solar power generation to use it as a main
values under Standard Test Condition (STC). The power plant is its less efficiency. The factors like
performance of a solar photovoltaic system is dependent irradiation, temperature, partial shadowing etc. are
upon the temperature and irradiance level and it is influenced on energy production. While designs the
necessary to study the characteristics of photovoltaic (PV)
system. In this paper, an equivalent electrical circuit of PV
solar system to get maximum power the effect of
system has been analyzed, modeled and simulated in series and parallel resistance should be considered.
Simulink /Matlab environment using basic circuit equation, Thus this paper focuses in modeling of generalized
one – diode model is implemented. Pure Analytical photovoltaic model that will be developed in
approach is introduced to estimate unknown Parameters of Matlab/Simulink platform; the result of simulation
PV module; Performance of circuit is evaluated with has been validated with commercial PV modules.
different environmental conditions and compared with real
results.
II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF PV SYSTEM
Index Terms – Equivalent circuit, modelling, simulation,
photovoltaic system.
The general model of solar cell can be derived from
I.INTRODUCTION physical characteristics of diode which is usually
being called as one-diode model. The equivalent
The rapid increase in the demand for electricity and circuit of solar cell is shown in fig2. Equation 1
the gross changes in the environmental conditions shows the shockley diode equation which describes
such as global warming led to a need for a new the I-V characteristic of diode.
source of energy that is cheaper and cause less
pollution. Solar energy has offered promising result
in the quest of finding the solution to the problem.
The harnessing of solar energy using PV modules Where ID is the diode current, Io is the reverse bias
come with its own problems that arise from the saturation current, VD is voltage across the diode. In
change in irradiation, temperature, dirt, insolation and addition the I-V characteristic of the PV panel is also
shadow conditions. depending on the internal characteristics such as the
The incident sunlight can be converted into series resistance RS and parallel resistance RP. The
electricity by photovoltaic conversion using a solar series resistance is the sum of structural resistance of
panel. A solar panel consists of individual cells that PV panel and it has strong influence when PV panel
are large-area semiconductor diodes, constructed so act as voltage source. The parallel resistance has great
that light can penetrate into the region of the p-n influence when PV panel act as current source. The
junction. The junction formed between the n-type light generated current of the photovoltaic cell
silicon wafer and the p-type surface layer governs the depends linearly on the solar irradiation and is
diode characteristics as well as the photovoltaic influenced by the temperature. The fig1 shows the
effect. Light is absorbed in the silicon, generating ideal PV cell equivalent circuit. The basic equation
both excess holes and electrons. These excess charges for the ideal cell is derived from the semiconductor
can flow through an external circuit to produce theory. It is mathematically represented as follows:
power. The electricity available at the terminals of a

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
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III.MODELING OF PV DEVICE

The Fig2 shows the VI and PV characteristics of the

PV system including the resistance values. Rs
severely influenced on the power and current values.
When the value of series resistance is calculated
correctly then the influence of parallel resistance is
neglected. If the series resistance is not calculated
Fig:1 Ideal PV cell
correctly then voltage is influenced by the parallel
resistance [12].
The VI characteristic of the ideal cell is exponential
which is similar to that of diode. The most commonly
used configuration is one diode model that represents
the electrical behavior of the p-n junction. Obviously,
ideal cell does not have any losses so its equivalent
circuit also hasn‟t any resistance value.

Fig:2 Solar cell equivalent

Single-diode model of the theoretical photovoltaic

cell and equivalent circuit of a practical photovoltaic
device including the series and parallel resistances.
The basic equation (1) of the elementary photovoltaic
cell does not represent the I-V characteristic of a
practical photovoltaic array. Practical arrays are
composed of several connected photovoltaic cells and
the observation of the characteristics at the terminals
of the photovoltaic array requires the inclusion of
additional parameters to the basic equation.The
accuracy of the solar cell can be increased by
introducing a resistance. The series and parallel
resistances are added to get improved value. These
resistances are included in order to represent the Fig.3. Characteristics of PV array with optimum series resistance
losses in solar power generation. The fig.2 shows the Rs value
equivalent circuit of the PV panel including
resistance. This circuit can be mathematically Fig3. shows the influence of Rs on the current and the
represented as follows [1] power values. But in fig4 the values are correctly
match with the experimental value. The light
generated current without the influence of resistances
I=IPV- losses (2) (Rs,Rp) is difficult to calculate. Datasheets only
inform the nominal short circuit current (Isc,n) which
Here I0 is the reverse saturation current flow through is the maximum current available at the practical
the diode, Vt is the thermal voltage and „a‟ is the device. So the assumption Isc ≈ Ipv is made for
diode constant which is used to analyze the design purposes [9]. The light generated current also
performance of the panel. It varies between the values influenced by the temperature and irradiation.
1≤a≤1.5.Thermal voltage can be calculated using the
formula Vt=NsKT/q with Ns number of cells IPV,n is the light generated current at nominal
connected in series. K is the Boltz-man constant conditions (25oC, 1000 W/m2). G is the irradiation
and Gn is nominal irradiation. I0 is the nominal
(1.38× J/K). T is the actual temperature. T n is
saturation current [8]. It can be explained as follows
the nominal temperature (25oC) [10].
IPV = (IPV,n + KI ∆T) (G/Gn) (4)
T=∆T-Tn (3)
The value of diode constant is arbitrarily chosen. This

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
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IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
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value affects the VI characteristics curve. The {Rs,Rp} that warranties that
following equation simplifies the model [13] and Pmax,m=Pmax,e=VmpImp at the (Vmp,Imp) point of
cancels the model error of the open-circuit voltages the I–V curve, i.e., the maximum power calculated by
and the region of I-V curve. the I–V model of (3) (Pmax,m) is equal to the
maximum experimental power from the datasheet
(Pmax,e) at the MPP. Conventional modeling
methods found in the literature take care of the I–V
curve but forget that the P–V (power versus voltage)
I0 = (5) curve must match the experimental data too. For
example, in [2], the series resistance of the array
model is neglected.
IV. SELECTING THE RESISTANCE VALUES

From the equation (1) only the module is designed.

Io +VmpI0–Pmax,e} (6)
In that equation the Rs and Rp values are unknown. A
few authors have proposed ways to mathematically
The method gives the Rs value for A665-3712 array is
determine these resistances. Although it may be
0.128Ω. The condition Pmax = Vmp Imp satisfies only at
useful to have a mathematical formula to determine
these unknown parameters, any expression for Rs and the point Rs=0.128Ω.
Rp will always rely on experimental data. Some
authors propose varying Rs in an iterative process, V. IMPROVING THE MODEL
incrementing Rs until the I–V curve visually fits the
experimental data and then vary Rp in the same To get best model the value of Rs and RP is further
fashion. This a quite poor and inaccurate fitting improved. For that the following equation is
method, mainly because Rs and Rp may not be introduced.
adjusted separately if a good I–V model is desired.

IPV,n = Isc,n (7)

This equation is used when the Ipv ≠ Isc . In this case

the series and shunt resistance values are known [2].
Thus it is used to get exact light generating current.

TABLE I
Specifications of A665-3712 solar array at
25oC, AM 1.5, 1000W/m2

Vmp 17V

Imp 2.176A

Voc 21.6V

Isc 2.438A

Pmax,e 36.99W

KV -0.34 V/ K

KI 0.05 A/ K

Ns 36

The data in the table gives the parameters at nominal

Fig.4.Characteristics of PV array without selecting optimum condition [11]. For the same array the values are
series resistance Rs value taken practically at different temperature. They are
noted at the given below table(II).
This paper proposes a method for adjusting Rs and
Rp based on the fact that there is an only pair

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VI. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The experiment is done practically at 30oC

temperature. The data obtained from the experiment
is noted at table II. The short circuit current and open
circuit voltage is found out and they are compared
with their rated values. The arrangement is shown in
fig 5. The panel is first directly connected in series
with ammeter and parallel with voltmeter in order to
measure the short circuit current (Isc) and open circuit
voltage (Voc). Then additionally one rheostat is
connected in series with panel. With the help of
rheostat the voltage or current values can be adjusted.
So by varying the rheostat the voltage and current
values are measured. From the values the
Characteristics curves are plotted. Fig6 and fig 7
shows the PV and VI characteristics curves[9].

Fig.7. VI characteristics for the experiment values

VII. SIMULATION OF THE ARRAY

For simulating the PV panel initially the values are

derived using the given equations. The PV module
can be simulated with an equivalent circuit model
shown in fig2.
Fig.5. experimental arrangement

From the PV curve the maximum power generated is

obtained. For the same experiment simulation is done
and their output curves are compared with the
practical values. While doing simulation the losses
should be included to get accurate maximum power.

Fig.8. PV array circuit model

Fig8 shows the circuit model which have one

current source (Im), two resistors (Rs , Rp) and a
controlled voltage source. It can be implemented
using MAT lab[3]. An intricate PSPICE based
simulation was presented in [5], where the I-V
equation is numerically solved within the PSPICE
software. And also in [6] the series resistance is
neglected to simplify the circuit model but in [5] the
parallel resistance is neglected.

Fig.6. PV characteristics for the experiment values

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
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The solar photovoltaic system is modeled, designed

and simulated in MATLAB/ SIMULINK. The
MATLAB/ SIMULINK model of PV array is shown
in fig(9). The inputs of solar subsystem is solar
irradiation and temperature while the output is current
and voltage. Since the environmental conditions are
not controlled, testing the proposed model for
different levels of solar irradiation and temperature
variations. Simulation results are verified by
comparing experimental results with values provided
in PV data sheets.This simulink can be used for
various operating conditions and for various PV
arrays. It will give very accurate results[1]. The
results obtained from the simulation is shown in
fig10. They are correctly have the same values of
practical results. This is only possible while selecting
appropriate series resistance values. If the series
resistance is not selected correctly then they will
distort the output curves. The variation in curves
when selecting suitable series resistance value is
compared with assumed value in fig.6 and 7. Thus it
is clear that by including accurate series resistance
value gives the correct output which is completely
match with the experimental outputs shown in fig10.

Fig.10. Simulation outputs for the experimental values (vI)

Fig.9. Photo voltaic circuit model built with

MATLAB/SIMULINK
Fig.11. Simulation outputs for the experimental values (pv)

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TABLE II [4].Hiren Patel and Vivek Agarwal “MATLAB- Based

modeling to study the effects of partial shading on PV array
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vol 23, NO 1, mar 2008.
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and E.M.Abou-elzahab, “Fuzzy modelling of photovoltaic
panel equivalent circuit” in Proc.40th Midwest symp.circuits
syst Aug 1997.
[6].K.Khouzam, C.Khoon ly,C.Koh and P.Y.Ng,
“simulation and real time modeling of space photovoltaic
systems” in Proc.IEEE photovoltaic spec.conf 1994.
[7].K.Kurokawa, H.Sugiyama, and D.Uchida,
“Sophisticated verification of simple monitorde data for
japanese field program” in Proc. 2nd world conf. and exhib.
Photovolt. Solar energy convers., Vienna, Jul.1998.
[8].G.R.Walker and P.C.Sernia,”cascaded DC-DC converter
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electroics, jul 2004.
[9].H.Kawamura,K.Naito,,N.Yonekura,S.Yamanaka,H.Ohn
VIII .CONCLUSION o, “Simulation of I-V characteristics of a PV module with
shaded PV cells” solar energy Mater.Solar cells,Feb 2003.
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developed using MATLAB/ SIMULINK the simulation and design optimization of photovoltaic
systems”, IEEE Trans, Energy Convers sep 1991.
environment. By inserting the main electric
[11] E. I. Ortiz-Rivera and F. Z. Peng, “Analytical model
parameters in the array of PV panel it has been for a photovoltaic module using the electrical
obtained the main operating characteristics of the PV characteristics provided by the manufacturer data sheet,” in
array. This paper analyzed with the developed Proc. IEEE 36th Power Electron. Spec. Conf. (PESC),
modeling of the PV arrays. Finally the objective of 2005, pp. 2087–2091.
this paper is achieved by equating the mathematical I- [12] F. Nakanishi, T. Ikegami, K. Ebihara, S. Kuriyama, and
V characteristics to the I-V curve of the practical Y. Shiota, “Modeling and operation of a 10 kW
array. By using other methods there is need of photovoltaic power generator using equivalent electric
guessing any values except diode constant (a). They circuit method,” in Proc.Conf.Record 28th
IEEEPhotovoltaic Spec. Conf., Sep. 2000, pp. 1703–1706.
frequently neglect the resistance values. But the fact
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is if the resistance values are considered then it was PV generation suitable for stability analysis,” IEEE Trans.
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power value. This paper has presented in detail the
equations that form the single PV model. In order to
show the practical use of the proposed modeling
method this paper has presented circuit model that
can be used to simulate PV arrays with circuit
simulators. Not only that the assumption Ipv ≈ Isc used
in many modelling works are replaced in this method.
The developed model is useful for educational
purposes. The results obtained with this model can be
effectively used with off-line capabilities of
MATLAB/ SIMULINK to investigate the
effectiveness of MPPT methods. Also it gives the
possibility to illustrate the efficiency of solar PV
system.

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