Reconfiguration of PV array through recursive addition approach for optimal power extraction under PSC

Abstract

Partial Shading Conditions (PSCs) are one of the primary environmental factors that affect the photovoltaic (PV) systems' reliability as well as increase the complexity of MPPT tracking and the intricacies associated with it due to the formation of numerous peaks. The goal of the current article is to make PV systems immune to the foregoing negative effects of partial shading (PS) by proposing a novel reconfiguration technique based on the recursive addition approach. This novel technique tries to achieve a constant row current by repositioning the panels while keeping the electrical connections intact. In contrast to conventional designs, it ensures that no two panels in the same row are placed next to each other, thereby resulting in power augmentation. Firstly, by employing both software and hardware models, the efficacy of the suggested approach is assessed in a 5 × 5 PV array with short-narrow, short-wide, long-narrow, and random shading patterns. Additionally, the suggested technique is demonstrated on a 9 × 9 PV array for five distinct PS conditions through simulation models, illustrating that it is versatile for bigger PV array sizes too while also maintaining its potency under all kinds of shading patterns. It is observed that for all the configurations examined, the average increase in global maximum power point (GMPP) values for the hardware 5 × 5 array, validated on a hardware setup is 25.06 % when compared to the TCT. Additionally, the 9 × 9 array exhibits an average increase in GMPP values of 32.38 % compared to the TCT. The outcomes of the suggested method, as is clear from the above observations, are discovered to perform better for all of the shading patterns considered in the current study.