A novel PV array reconfiguration technique based on circular array data structure

Abstract

Partial shading condition (PSC) poses a significant challenge to solar power generation as it has a severe impact on the performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems, leading to a decrease in energy yield and reliability. Reconfiguration of PV arrays is a potential technique to deal with this challenge, however, reconfiguration techniques proposed in the past are restricted in their suitability for practical implementations in real-world installations as they are only optimal for specific shading patterns. To overcome this limitation, the article introduces a novel reconfiguration approach inspired by the circular array data structure, a commonly utilized tool in the realm of computer science. The proposed circular array transformation (CAT) technique shows great potential in mitigating the impact of partial shading (PS) and maximizing the overall power generation across a wider range of PSCs. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is validated through simulations and experimental studies conducted on a 5 × 5 PV array. Furthermore, the scalability of the proposed reconfiguration technique is verified through extensive simulations on a 9 × 9 PV array. Comparative analysis reveals that the proposed CAT rearrangement approach exhibits clear dominance and outperforms existing and recently published state-of-the-art reconfiguration methods.