An image encryption concept based solar photovoltaic array reconfiguration techniques for mismatch mitigation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The partial shading phenomenon significantly limits the PV array output. To maximize the output power during shading, various reconfiguration techniques have been reported in the literature. However, many of these techniques are not scalable, ineffective, and inconsistent in uniform shade dispersion. Therefore, two highly efficient Arnold’s Cat Map and Henon Map-based chaotic approaches which are widely used in image encryption are employed to effectively disperse the shade by reconfiguring the modules without disturbing the electrical circuitry. The proposed approaches are evaluated in a MATLAB environment for symmetrical 8 × 8 PV array and unsymmetrical 5 × 7 PV array under different groups of progressive shading like left-to-right, triangular, top-to-bottom, and diagonal shading conditions. The efficacy of the proposed approaches is compared with conventional Series-Parallel, Total-Cross-Tied, existing Chaotic Baker-Map, Odd-Even, and Odd-Even-Prime-based reconfiguration techniques and extensively analyzed using different performance indices. A laboratory experimental setup of a 4 × 4 PV array reconfiguration system is developed and examined under distinct progressive shading cases. From the quantitative results obtained, it is noted that the proposed approaches offer consistently superior and reliable performance compared to existing state-of-art configurations under shading reinforcing their effectiveness.