Name: 1.

SALEM El-hadi Instructor:

2. KHEMIES Hichem Dr. Kheldoun


E09 / Drives

















Comment:

Grade:








University Mhammed BOUGUERRA
Boumerdes
Institute of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering
Date:31/11/2013

SOLAR Cell model
Using MATLAB/Simulink
Experiment N:2
1 STATEMENTOFOBJECTIVE
DevelopaMATLAB/Simulinkmodelforanidealphotovoltaiccell.
Developapracticalmodelforaphotovoltaicmodule.
Seetheeffectofirradiationontheoutputofthephotovoltaicsystem.
2 INTRODUCTION
Theconcentrationontheuseoffossilfuelsforenergysupplyisthemainthreatforthestability
oftheglobalclimatesystemandournaturallivingconditions.Inordernottoharmournaturalliving
spacesandthreatentheirresilience,arenewedcompatibilitywouldrequireasuitableformofenergy
alternatives sources that should be independent, easily accessible, and low in cost and should be
environmentallyclean.
Renewableenergy,andinparticularpowergenerationfromsolarenergyusingPhotovoltaic(PV)
hasemergedinlastdecadessinceithastheaforesaidadvantagesandlessmaintenance,nowearand
tear.ThemainapplicationsofPVsystemsareineitherstandalonesystemssuchaswaterpumping,
domestic and street lighting, electric vehicles, military and space applications or gridconnected
configurationslikehybridsystemsandpowerplants.
The main aim of this lab report is to design and build the models of PV module based on the
mathematical equations using MATLAB/Simulink. These models do not consider the effect of
temperature. The principle and operation of the PV cell and the fundamental characteristics of PV
cell are discussed section 3. In section 4, the mathematical model of the ideal PV cell and also the
practical PV cell are described. The simulation model developed using MATLAB/Simulink and the
resultsobtainedarepresentedanddiscussedinsection5.
3 OPERATIONANDCHARACTERISTICOFPVSOLARCELL
3.1 PRINCIPLEOFOPERATIONOFSOLARCELL
An array of solar cells converts solar energy into a usable amount of direct current (DC)
electricity. The solar panels are mainly made out of semiconductor material and silicon being the
most abundantly used semiconductor. Solar cells are connected in series to increase the output
voltage.Similarly,the cellsin parallelwillyieldahighercurrent. Seriesconnectedcellsarecalledas
PVmodulesandtheinterconnectionseriesandparallelcombinationofsolarcellsisanarray.
The operation of solar cells may be described from a PN junction where there are diffusion
currents and drift currents for the direct and reverse polarization, respectively. Usually, the cells
operateinreversedirectionsothatthecurrentdriftisdesirable.WhenthePNjunctionisexposedto
light, photons with energy greater than the gap of energy are absorbed, causing the emergence of
electronhole pairs. These carriers are separated under the influence of electric fields within the
junction,creatingacurrentthatisproportionaltotheincidenceofsolarirradiation[1].

3.2 CHARACTERISTICOFSOLARCELL
Solar cells naturally exhibit a nonlinear IV and PV characteristics which vary with the solar
irradiation and cell temperature. The typical IV and PV characteristics of solar cell are shown in
figure31.

Figure31.Characteristicofsolarcell
The fundamental parameters related to solar cell are short circuit current (Isc), open circuit
voltage(Voc),maximumpowerpoint(MPP).
Short Circuit Current is the current that corresponds to the short circuit condition when the
impedanceislowanditiscalculatedwhenthevoltageequalstozero.
I(at I = u) = Isc (1)
I
sc
occurs at the beginning of the forwardbias sweep and is the maximum current value in the
powerquadrant.Foranidealcell,thismaximumcurrentvalueisthetotalcurrentI
pv
producedinthe
solarcellbyphotonexcitation.
OpenCircuitVoltageisthevoltagewhentheopencircuitoccursandthereisnocurrentpassing
throughthecell.Theopencircuitvoltageiscalculatedwhenthecurrentequalstozero.
I(at I = u) = Ioc (2)
V
oc
isalsothemaximumvoltagedifferenceacrossthecellforaforwardbiassweepinthepower
quadrant.Theopencircuitvoltagecanbeexpressedas:
Ioc =
A k 1
q
ln[
Ip
I0
(3)
where, I
pv
is the light generated current (it is directly proportional to the solar irradiation), I
0
is
the saturation or leakage current of the diode, q is the electron charge [1.60 x 10
19
C], k is the
Boltzmann constant [1.38x10
23
J/K], T is the cell operating temperature [in K] and A is the ideality
constantofdiode.

Both k and T should have the same temperature unit, either Kelvin or Celsius. The ideality
constant varies depending on PV technology [2]. Ideality constant of different PV technology is
presentedinTable31.
Table31.Idealityconstant(A)forPVtechnology

Technology IdealityFactor

Simono 1.2

Sipoly 1.3

aSi:H 1.8

aSi:Htandem 3.3

aSi:Htriple 5

CdTe 1.5

CIS 1.5

AsGa 1.3

Theidealityfactorofadiodeisameasureofhowcloselythediodefollowstheidealdiode
equation.
MaximumPowerPointistheoperatingpointatwhichthepoweristhemaximum(rated)across
theload.
P
m
= I

. I

(4)
Where,V
r
isthemaximumvoltageandI
r
isthemaximumcurrent.
4 MATHEMATICALMODELOFPVCELL
The ideal photovoltaic cell is shown in figure 41. The mathematical equation for IV
characteristicsoftheidealcellisgivenbyequations(5),(6)[3].

Figure41.EquivalentcircuitofidealPVcell
I
ccII
= I
sc
- I

(5)
where,I
D
istheShockleyequationanditcanbeexpressedas
I

= I
0
_c
q . v
ccll
kT
- 1] (6)
I
sc

I
D

I
cell

V
cell
D
+
-
ThephysicsofthePVcellisverysimilartothatoftheclassicaldiodewithapnjunction[4].An
ideal PV cell is assumed to have no series loss and no leakage to ground. However, due to its non
idealstructureinnature,therearesomelossesoccurredinrealPVcells.Therefore,theselossesare
expressedbyusingresistancesinequivalentcircuits.Figure42,showsanequivalentelectricalcircuit
modeling the complex physics of the PV cells. The shunt resistance, R
p
, is used to represent the
shuntleakagecurrent.Theseriesresistance,R
s
,isusedtorepresentthevoltagedropattheoutput.
ThesmallincreaseinRssignificantlyreducestheoutputofthePVmodule[5].Currentandvoltageof
PVpaneldependsonloadvalueandpresentsnonlinearcharacteristics.

Figure42.Equivalentcircuitofsolarcell
A general mathematical description of IV output characteristics for a PV cell has been derived
based on figure 42. The output current of the solar cell can be calculated by applying KCL at the
node
I
sc
- I

-
v
D
R
P
-I
ccII
= u (7)
AndtheoutputvoltageofthecellcanbecalculatedbyKVL
I
ccII
= I

- R
s
I
ccII
(8)
Where,I

= I
0
_c
v
D
v
t
- 1_andI
t
=
k1
q
= 26 mIisthethermalvoltage
The light generated current of the solar cell is mainly depends on the solar irradiation level,
whichisexpressedas
I
p
= I
sc
. 0 (9)
where,I
sc
istheshortcircuitcurrentofthePVcellat25Cand1000W/m2,
Producers usually provide electrical specifications of the PV module at standard conditions,
namelysolarradiationof1000W/m2andcelltemperatureof25C.
PVmoduleisformedbyconnectingPVcellinseriesandparalleltoeachother.Inthiscase,the
output voltage and current of PV module is expressed in Equation (10) and Equation (11),
respectively.
I = N
s
. I
ccII
(10)
I = N
p
. I
ccII
(11)
I
sc

I
cell

I
D

D V
D

+
-
V
cell

+
-
R
p
R
s
Herein,Vistheoutputvoltage,andIistheoutputcurrent.N
s
andN
p
areexpressednumbersof
seriesandparallelconnectedPVcells,respectively.
5 MODELINGANDSIMULATIONOFPVMODULE
5.1 PART1:IDEALPVMODEL
The ideal PV cell is modeled by equation (5) and equation (6). The blocks developed using
MATLAB/simulinkforthePVmoduleisshowninfigure51.

Figure51.IdealPVmodelSimulinkschema
5.2 PART2:PRACTICALPVMODEL
The block of the practical model developed using MATLAB /Simulink based on Equation (7) is
showninfigure52.

Figure52.PracticalPVmodelSimulinkschema
Equation (7)
solved for V
D

using Algebraic
Constraintblock I

= I
0
_c
v
D
v
t
- 1_
I
ccII
= I

-R
s
I
p
I
p
= N
s
. I
ccII

Algebraic
Constraint
blocksolves
forI
PV
that
resultinV
PV

This block model needs some parameters that should be in the workspace before running the
simulation.Theseparametersare
1. Seriesresistance,R
s
.
2. Parallelresistance,R
p
.
3. PNjunctionreversecurrent,I
0
.
4. Insolationtocurrentgain,G.
5. Thermalvoltage,V
t
.
6. Numberofseriesconnectedcells,N
s
.
Before running the simulation, the following MATLAB code must be executed. The code
computes the model parameters I
0
, R
s
and R
p
based on the data given in the datasheet of the PV
module.ThiscoderequiresthatshortcircuitcurrentI
sc
,opencircuitvoltageV
oc
,ratedvoltageV
r
and
ratedcurrentI
r
arealreadyintheworkspacebeforeexecution.

%cal cul at i on of PV modul e par amet er s

%l i mi t at i on: const ant t emper at ur e
Ns = r ound( Voc/ 0. 61) ; %def aul t number of cel l s i n ser i es
Vt = 26e- 3; %t her mal vol t age
G = I sc/ 1000; %i r r adi at i on t o shor t - ci r cui t cur r ent gai n
Vmpc = Vr / Ns; %cel l vol t age at r at ed Pmax
Vocc = Voc/ Ns; %cel l open- ci r cui t vol t age
Rmpp = Vmpc/ I r ; %cel l l oad r essi st ance at Pmax
%
Rp = 100*Vocc/ I sc; %i ni t i al val ue f or Rp
Vdm= Vocc; %i ni t i al val ue f or VDM
%
%i t er at i ve sol ut i on f or model par amet er s: I o, Rs, Rp
f or i =1: 10
%
I dm= I sc - I r - Vdm/ Rp; %pn- j unct i on ( di ode) cur r ent at MPP
I o = ( I sc- Vocc/ Rp) / ( exp( Vocc/ Vt ) - 1) ; %pn- j unt i on r ever se cur r ent
Vdm= Vt *l og( I dm/ I o+1) ; %pn- j unct i on ( di ode) vol t age ai MPP
Rs = ( Vdm- Vmpc) / I r ; %cel l ser i es r esi st ance
Rd = ( Rmpp- Rs) *Rp/ ( Rp- Rmpp+Rs) ; %di ode i ncr ement al r esi st ance at MPP
I dm= Vt / Rd; %di ode cur r ent at MPP based on i ncr ement al r esi st ance
Rp = Vdm/ ( I sc - I r - I dm) ; %cel l par al l el r esi st ance
%
end
%
5.3 SIMULATIONSANDRESULTS
PART1:IDEALPVCELL

Figure53.ExperimentalsetupforidealPVcellsimulation

Figure54.SimulationresultsfortheidealPVcell
PART2:PRACTICALPVCELL
Table51.ElectricalcharacteristicofPVmodule

Description
MaximumPower(Pm) 85W
Voltage@Pmax(Vr) 17.2V
Currentat@Pmax(Ir) 4.95A
ShortCircuitcurrent(Isc) 5.45A
OpenCircuitvoltage(Voc) 22.2A

Figure55.ExperimentalsetupforpracticalPVcellsimulation

Figure56.SimulationresultsforthepracticalPVcell
5.4 DISCUSSIONOFRESULTS
ThePVmodulegiveninlabsheetischosenformodeling.Thetypicalelectricalcharacteristicsof
thismodulearegivenintable51.
The experiment carried out using MATLAB/simulink for the PV module is shown in figures 55.
The values of R
s
and R
p
are calculated using the MATLAB code and the optimum values which
satisfiesthePVmoduleareR
s
=0.0122andR
p
=2.1627
TheIVcharacteristicsandPVcharacteristicscurvesobtainedfromthesimulationforthegiven
PVmoduleatT=25C(298.15K)anddifferentvaluesofirradiationG=[2004006008001000]W/m
arepresentedinfigure56.Theoutputpowerofthemoduleis85W.Theoutputobtainedfromthe
modelexactlymatcheswiththedata providedbythedatasheetforbothIV characteristicsandPV
characteristicsofthegivenPVmodule.
6 CONCLUSIONS
A PV module model based on the mathematical model of solar cell is developed using
MATLAB/Simulinkblocks.TheessentialinputparameterssuchasV
r
,I
r
,V
oc
andI
sc
aretakenfromthe
manufacturers datasheet for the typical 85W module selected for analysis. The IV and PV
characteristics outputs are generated using the developed model for the selected module and the
obtainedresultsarewellmatchedwiththedatasheetinformation.

REFERENCES
[1] Markvart T.: Solar Electricity, J ohn Wiley & Sons, 1994.

[2] C. C. Hua and C. M. Shen, Study of maximum power tracking techniques and control of dc-dc converters for
Photovoltaic power system, Proceedings of 29th annual IEEE Power Electronics Specialists Conference,
vol. 1, 1998, pp. 86-93.

[3] H. S. Rauschenbach. Solar cell array design handbook. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980.

[4] H. Patel, and V. Agarwal. Matlab-based modeling to study the effects of partial shading on PV array
Characteristics. IEEE Trans on Energy Conversion 2008, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 302310.

[5] M.R. Patel, Wind and Solar Power Systems: Design, Analysis, and Operation. 2005, CRC Press, Second
Edition, USA, 472p.