A new model for a photovoltaic panel using Proteus software tool under arbitrary environmental conditions

Abstract

The photovoltaic (PV) panel generates power based on different parameters, including environmental conditions such as solar irradiance, temperature, and internal electrical parameters of the PV panel. Thus, a PV model should be studied in advance to forecast and evaluate the impact of these factors on the PV performance, and this model should be matched with the PV panel's real behavior. For this reason, this paper developed a new model for a PV panel using the Proteus software. A flexible PV model with possibility of varying the weather conditions has been proposed using mathematical equations of a single-diode equivalent circuit, (i.e., photo-generated current, shunt-resistor current, and diode current). Moreover, these equations were modeled using “Pick Devices” in Proteus software library. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed model, it was applied on two types of monocrystalline, and multi-crystalline silicon cells of PV panel technologies. Subsequently, the corresponding current-voltage (I–V) and power-voltage (P–V) characteristics are obtained and compared with the manufacturer's data, PVsyst software, and other authors' results under arbitrary values of irradiance and temperature. The simulation results identified that the proposed model is flexible, simple, and suitable for different PV panel technologies under diverse weather conditions.