Performance Enhancement of a Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Array by Optimal Reconfiguration and Current Injection Schemes

Srinivasan Vadivel, C. S. Boopthi, Sridhar Ramasamy, Mominul Ahsan, Julfikar Haider and Eduardo M. G. Rodrigues
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Srinivasan Vadivel: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu 603 203, India
C. S. Boopthi: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu 603 203, India
Sridhar Ramasamy: Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu 603 203, India
Mominul Ahsan: Department of Computer Science, University of York, Deramore Lane, York YO10 5GH, UK
Julfikar Haider: Department of Engineering, Manchester Metropolitan University, John Dalton Building, Chester Str., Manchester M1 5GD, UK
Eduardo M. G. Rodrigues: Management and Production Technologies of Northern Aveiro—ESAN, Estrada do Cercal 449, Santiago de Riba-Ul, 3720-509 Oliveira de Azeméis, Portugal

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-21

Abstract: The output of a photovoltaic array is reduced considerably when PV panels are shaded even partially. The impact of shading causes an appreciable loss in power delivery, since the PV panels are connected in series and parallel to contribute to the required voltage and power for the load. The prevailing research on mitigating the shading impact is mostly based on complex reconfiguration strategies where the PV panels are subjected to complex rewiring schemes. On the other hand, to disperse the shading many studies in the literature defend the physical rearrangement of the panels. The available intensive reconfiguration schemes, such as the series parallel (SP), bridge link (BL), honeycomb (HC), and total cross tied (TCT) schemes, try only to mitigate the shading impact and there is no scope for compensation; as a result, a loss of output power is inevitable. In the proposed research work, both the mitigation of and the compensation for the losses incurred due to shading are studied. In this work, an optimal reconfiguration scheme is adopted to reduce the shading impact and a power electronic circuit with a battery source is designed to compensate for the shading losses in all aspects. In the optimal reconfiguration scheme, a bifurcation strategy is adopted in each column and the electrical connections of the PV panels are interchanged such that the shading impact is dispersed. The power electronic circuit consists of a half-bridge buck converter with a battery source that injects the current required by a shaded column. This setup compensates for the shaded PV array’s power and improves the efficiency of the total system. The proposed scheme was implemented in a 3200 W system and subjected to various shading patterns, including single panel shading, corner shading, long and wide shading, and random shading. The proposed scheme was simulated in the MATLAB Simulink environment and compared with static 4 × 4 PV array configurations, including the series parallel (SP), bridge link (BL), honeycomb (HC), and total cross tied (TCT) configurations. The comparative performance was assessed in terms of mismatch power loss, fill factor, and efficiency. The proposed system is suitable for all shading patterns and was proved to be very efficient even in the worst shading, where 1353 W was saved.

Keywords: photovoltaic array; partial shading; series parallel; reconfiguration; current injection; maximum power point tracking; DC to DC converter (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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