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T HE opening of the electricity market and the need for rarely reveal their code). However, mathematical and software
alternatives to conventional fossil fuel based electricity integration complexities involving software numerical
generation has brought renewed interest in grid-connected integration methods and modeling non-linearities at the small
photovoltaic (PV) systems. New studies are being performed time-steps needed for simulation with power electronic
at the power system level to examine the impacts of greater converters can make this a challenging task. The resulting
penetrations of this form of distributed generation (DG), but it model may not be as robust or reliable as desired; trouble-
is not uncommon to find that the PV array models used are shooting and debugging can also potentially be time intensive.
oversimplified. Furthermore, modeling the continuous non-linear I-V curve
The output of a PV array is highly non-linear, and to based on (1) (see Section B) using the compensating current
simplify the array to a constant voltage source or a current- source method can result in excessive computations which
controlled voltage source is often not appropriate. Several considerably slow simulation speed [6].
models for PV arrays have been proposed in the literature [1]- To overcome these problems, this paper presents a PV
[4]. However, in some cases, the models are not fully array model based on the single-diode model described below,
explained and in all cases, their complexity, when coupled and implemented directly as an electrical circuit in a way that
with the difficulties of implementing them in various software avoids the mathematical complexities of the implicit and non-
programs, can be a deterrent to their use. Furthermore, the linear (1). This circuit-based method is advantageous because
level of detail inherent in these models may not be necessary it allows the electrical engineer to visualize and better
understand the PV device, and its behavior in the connected
circuit, than if it were simply a black box or in the form of a
This work was supported by the Power System and Computer Application
Lab (PSCAL), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering,
complex equation.
Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, S. Korea.
R. C. Campbell is currently with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 USA (e-mail:
ryanchasecampbell@hotmail.com).
2
Current (A)
irradiance. Refinement of the PV cell model includes the
effects of series and shunt resistance, as shown connected by 1
Series R
the dashed lines. A second diode can also be included [7], [8],
[1], as it provides an even more accurate I-V curve that 0.5
accounts for the difference in current flow at low current
values due to charge recombination in the semiconductor's
0
depletion region. Note that in this paper, only the single diode 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
model is used. Voltage (V)
R sh 2.00
Ideal
1.50
where
1.00
I'sc is the light-generated current (short-circuit value
assuming no series/shunt resistance) 0.50
Io1 is the dark saturation current -x +x
0.00
q is the charge of an electron (coul)
k is the Boltzman constant (j/K) -0.50
-y
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80
T is the cell temperature (K)
Voltage, (V)
I, V, Rs, Rsh are cell current (A), voltage (V), series and
Fig. 3. Two-segment PWL Circuit & I-V Curve
shunt resistance (Ohms) as indicated in Fig. 1.
While this approximation may be sufficient for some
Fig. 2 illustrates the I-V characteristics of the single diode
studies, it is not a very good match to the ideal curve and will
model, showing the ideal curve and illustrating the effects of
clearly over-estimate the maximum power point (MPP) of the
series and shunt resistances.
PV array, which is located at the knee of the curve. It will also
be problematic for MPP tracking controls, since the slope of
3
the curve changes so abruptly - in reality, the MPP is not E. Calculation of PWL Model Parameters
nearly so sharp so it is far easier for the power electronics to Methods for determining the vertex points and calculating
control the operating point. Some improvement could be made the values of the bypass resistors and diode turn-on voltages
in these respects by aligning the MPP's, but this would require are thus needed, and several are presented below:
exaggerated series and shunt resistances, which would reduce - The values of bypass resistors and diode turn-on
the overall curve fitting accuracy. voltages can be selected iteratively by trial-and-error to
A much better fit to the non-linear curve can be achieved fit any reference curve available (such as the ideal curve
using three series diodes and two low valued bypass resistors, of Fig. 2).
as shown in Fig. 4. In fact, the curve can be fit to any degree - PV module manufacturers often provide measured data
of desired accuracy in this way by simply adding more bypass for their products, either on their Websites, or upon
resistor and diode pairs. Methods for determining the request. Depending on the data quality, an appropriate
appropriate values for the resistors and diode voltages will be PWL-type curve fitting technique, such as the MDL
discussed in the next section. (minimum descriptor length) method in [9] or [10], can
be used to fit the data. Low quality data sets may benefit
3.50
+y
from pre-fitting using a PV-specific method (e.g., [11]).
Ideal - Another option is to use the Sandia National
3.00
1
2
Laboratories model and database [5], which is based on
2.50 real module and array data. The Sandia model can be
3
used to generate the vertices of the PWL curve based on
Current, (A)
2.00
PWL the five key points of the I-V curve shown in Fig. 5.
4
1.50 Note that compared to the previous figures, which gave
curves for individual cells, Fig. 5 gives a curve for a
1.00
module composed of series-connected cells. This
0.50 method is also suitable for entire arrays, and the Sandia
-x +x model does provide data for several arrays.
0.00
-y
-0.50
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80
Voltage, (V)
Fig. 4. Four-segment PWL Circuit & I-V Curve
1) When the load resistance is small, all diodes are off, and
the bypass resistors provide a path for voltage to build
up across the bottom diode, resulting in the first segment
Fig. 5. PWL Vertex Determination via the Sandia Model [5]
of the curve in the constant-current region.
2) As the load resistance increases, voltage builds up across
The Sandia model or any curve for which the appropriate
the bottom diode until its turn-on voltage is reached, at
data points are available (i.e., Ix and Ixx as shown in Fig. 5)
which point more current is drawn through the branch
can then be used to determine the resistor and diode voltage
(though limited by the bypass resistors) resulting in the
values of the proposed model according to the following
second PWL segment.
procedure:
3) If the value of the middle resistor is greater than that of
the top resistor, then the middle diode will turn on next,
1) Choose diode on resistances to be very small (e.g., 0.001
resulting in operation in the third PWL segment.
Ohm), depending on the software limitations;
4) Finally, the top diode switches on and the device
2) Choose diode off resistances to be very large (e.g., 1E6
operates in the (nearly) constant voltage region of the
Ohm);
PWL curve. The slope of this segment is determined by
3) Calculate Rsh and Rs from (2) and (3), which give the
the equivalent resistance of the branch comprised of 3
slopes of the first and forth segments, respectively, as
diode on-resistances and 2 bypass resistors.
defined by Fig. 4 or Fig. 5:
4
0.5Voc − Vsc
R sh = R1 = (2)
Isc − I x F. Accounting for Changes in Cell Temperature or Incident
Irradiance
Voc − 0.5(Voc + Vmp ) As mentioned in Section B, PV device I-V characteristics
R s = R4 = (3) are temperature dependent; however, for many studies, such
(I xx − I oc ) as for transient analyses, changes in cell temperature are not of
much interest and can often be assumed zero. Solar cell
4) Calculate the top and middle bypass resistor values (Rtop temperature varies with incident sunlight, ambient temperature
and Rmid, respectively) from the simultaneous solution of and wind, but these effects can not change the temperature of
(4) and (5), in which the values of diode on and off a PV module very quickly, thus the assumption of constant
resistances suggested in steps 1 and 2 are used for temperature is often reasonable. However, in some cases, it
clarity: may be necessary to examine a scenario at one temperature
and then change the cell temperature and re-run the
simulation. It may also be necessary to account for the small
⎛ 1E6 R mid 1E6 R top ⎞
variation in open-circuit voltage produced by changes in
R sh ⎜ 0.001+ + ⎟
⎝ 1E6 + R mid 1E6 + R top ⎠ incident sunlight. Rather than re-calculating the diode voltages
R2 = R s + (4) and bypass resistors based on a curve at another temperature
1E6 R mid 1E6 R top
R sh + + or photo-current, an easy modification of the proposed model
1E6 + R mid 1E6 + R top is to insert an inverted ideal DC voltage-source into the diode
branch below the bottom diode, as shown in Fig. 6.
⎛ 0.001 R mid 1E6 R top ⎞
R sh ⎜ 0.001+ + ⎟
⎝ 0.001 + R mid 1E6 + R top ⎠
R3 = R s + (5)
0.001 R mid 1E6 R top
R sh + +
0.001 + R mid 1E6 + R top
Vmp − 0.5Voc
R2 = (6) Fig. 6. Addition of Voltage Source to Account for Open-circuit Voltage
I x − I mp Variation
IV. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author gratefully acknowledges the advice and
encouragement of Professor Myong-Chul Shin of the
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering,
Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, S. Korea and Dr. Hak-
man Kim of the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute
(KERI), Uiwang City, Gyeong-gi Province, S. Korea. The
author also wishes to thank Mr. Chang-Dae Yoon and the
members of the Power System and Computer Application Lab
(PSCAL) for their assistance and support.
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