Explicit representation of S-shaped and standard V–I curve of illuminated solar cell

Abstract

A generalized explicit model is proposed in this study to model the S-shaped and standard voltage-current characteristics (V–I) of illuminated solar cells. Even though the voltage-current characteristics of a typical solar cell follow a single exponential model (single diode model), there is evidence of S-shaped voltage-current characteristics that cannot be captured by the existing standard analytical models. The proposed explicit analytic representation is comparatively simple and produces satisfactory results in depicting the voltage-current curve for a wide variety of solar cells, including those with S-shaped characteristics. The methodology for determining the empirical parameters of the proposed model is also described, including an easy estimation of maximum power point voltage using model parameters.