Abstract
The mismatch in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) modules causes significant power loss in a large PV array, which is known as mismatch power loss (MML). The PV array output power generation can be improved by minimizing MML using different techniques. This paper investigates the performance of different module arrangement techniques to minimize MML both for long series string (LSS) and long parallel branch (LPB) in series-parallel (SP) array configurations at uniform irradiance condition. To investigate the significance of MML LSS-SP configuration with dimensions: 1 × 40, 2 × 20, 4 × 10, 5 × 8 and LPB-SP configuration with dimensions: 40 × 1, 20 × 2, 10 × 4, 8 × 5 were used. A comparative analysis is made to find the effectiveness of MML reduction techniques on PV arrays with three different power ratings. Simulation results show that the PV modules arrangement obtained by the genetic algorithm (GA) and current based arrangement (Im) performed better than the arrangements obtained by all other techniques in terms of PV array output power and MML minimization. The performance of the proposed technique was analyzed for both LSS-SP and LPB-SP array configurations in 400 W, 3400 W, and 9880 W arrays. To substantiate the simulation results experiment was performed using a 400 W PV array in outdoor weather condition and obtained similar results. It was also observed that the percentage of recoverable energy (%RE) obtained by arranging the modules using the GA method was higher than Im based method for both LSS-SP and LPB-SP array configurations. A maximum %RE of 4.159 % was recorded for a 5 × 8 LSS-SP array configuration by applying the GA based MML reduction method.
Highlights
The utilization of solar energy has received remarkable attention across the globe over the last decade [1]
The results show that each array configurations have an influence on the %mismatch power loss (MML) and it follows a similar trend for three different PV power systems
Maximum output power was obtained using genetic algorithm (GA) based arrangement for all these array configurations, and the highest power of 392.559 W is obtained in a 5 × 8 configuration
Summary
The utilization of solar energy has received remarkable attention across the globe over the last decade [1]. 1% using GA technique whereas MML is always higher than 1.02% for other conventional module arrangement techniques by Im, Isc, and Pm. In the work in Reference [32], a (9 × 9) TCT PV array reconfiguration is arranged using GA based technique under partial shading conditions to minimize MML. In the work in Reference [35], an adaptive GA based reconfiguration technique is applied to a (4 × 4) SP PV array to maximize the output power of the PV array under the different pattern of partial shading conditions. In Reference [36], a GA based optimal reconfiguration technique is applied to a PV array to maximize the output power at partial shading condition. To the author’s knowledge, to minimize the MML in a large PV generation at uniform irradiance condition the GA based module arrangement technique has only investigated on LSS-SP array configurations, not for LPB-SP array configurations. The experimental %RE is calculated and compared for 400 W (LSS-SP and LPB-SP) array configurations by applying GA based method and Im based method
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