Partial shading is an unavoidable factor that reduces the performance of solar PV systems. The PV system receives uneven irradiation due to partial shading which causes the mismatch loss. The partial shading distracts the irradiation from the PV modules that makes the healthy modules as idle or low performing modules. The mismatch loss can be mitigated by uniformly distributing the partial shading over the PV array. In this work, L-shaped propagated array configuration method with a new dynamic reconfiguration algorithm have proposed for enhancing the energy conversion under the partial shading conditions. A new kind of array configuration is implemented in a 4×4 PV array for the better shade dispersion. Further, a dynamic reconfiguration algorithm is employed to disperse the effect of partial shading. The combination of new array configuration and reconfiguration method is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink® and implemented in hardware. The outputs are measured under all possible shading patterns and validated with the outputs of convention methods for observing the enhanced energy conversion rate of the proposed system.
Due to the flexibility, sustainability, affordability, and ease of installation of solar photovoltaic systems, their use has significantly increased over the past two decades. The performance of a solar PV system can be constrained by a variety of external conditions, including hotspots, partial shade, and other minor faults. This causes the PV system to permanently fail and power losses. The power output in a partially shaded solar system is improved in this work by the introduction of a fault classifier based on thermal image analysis with a reconfiguration algorithm. For that purpose, the entire PV array is divided into two parts, with one of these being the male part and the other being the female part. MOSFET switches are used to build the switching matrix circuit that connects these parts. The Flir T420bx thermal camera captures thermal pictures, and MATLAB/Simulink® is used to extract the image properties. The pairing reconfiguration pattern is found using an algorithm based on image processing and the image attributes. The switching signals to the switching circuit are triggered by an Arduino controller. The image attributes of the thermal images may also be used to categorize PV system defects. This reconfiguration technique is easy, simple to use, and it can also be used to check the health of each PV module. The performance of the proposed work was validated using a 5 kW PV system with a 4 × 5 TCT array configuration at Sethu Institute of Technology’s renewable energy lab in India. The proposed method was simulated using the MATLAB-Simulink software program, and the outcomes were verified on different hardware setups.
Partial shading causes mismatch losses in the solar PV system. In the PV array, the power output from the healthy PV modules is gone in vain due to the mismatch losses. The PV array construction with the high resistivity to the mismatch loss generation is the progressing research work in the research field. In this work, a new kind of array configuration scheme is framed for the PV system for overcoming the effect of partial shading. The proposed array configuration has a high resistivity to the mismatch loss generation over the other conventional array configuration methods. The array configuration is framed in a pattern that is similar to the spiral step pattern. Each row of the PV array is constructed with the PV modules from each row of the conventional Total Cross Tied configuration with the optimized distance. This row construction allows the system to uniformly disperses the partial shading over the PV array. The simulation analysis is carried out by applying various shading patterns in MATLAB/Simulink®. The performance of the proposed array configuration is also analyzed in the experimental setup and the results were presented.
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