Analytical Modeling of Current-Voltage Photovoltaic Performance: An Easy Approach to Solar Panel Behavior

In this paper, we propose very simple analytical methodologies for modeling the behavior of photovoltaic (solar cells/panels) using a one-diode/two-resistor (1-D/2-R) equivalent circuit. A value of a = 1 for the ideality factor is shown to be very reasonable for the different photovoltaic technologi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 11; no. 9; p. 4250
Main Authors Álvarez, José Miguel, Alfonso-Corcuera, Daniel, Roibás-Millán, Elena, Cubas, Javier, Cubero-Estalrrich, Juan, Gonzalez-Estrada, Alejandro, Jado-Puente, Rocío, Sanabria-Pinzón, Marlon, Pindado, Santiago
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.05.2021
Subjects
Alternative energy sources
analytical
Energy industry
Energy resources
Equivalent circuits
Exact solutions
Lambert W-function
Mathematical models
parameter extraction
Performance evaluation
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaics
Power
Renewable resources
solar cell
Solar cells
Solar energy
solar panel
Solar panels
spacecraft solar panels
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Summary:In this paper, we propose very simple analytical methodologies for modeling the behavior of photovoltaic (solar cells/panels) using a one-diode/two-resistor (1-D/2-R) equivalent circuit. A value of a = 1 for the ideality factor is shown to be very reasonable for the different photovoltaic technologies studied here. The solutions to the analytical equations of this model are simplified using easy mathematical expressions defined for the Lambert W-function. The definition of these mathematical expressions was based on a large dataset related to solar cells and panels obtained from the available academic literature. These simplified approaches were successfully used to extract the parameters from explicit methods for analyzing the behavior of solar cells/panels, where the exact solutions depend on the Lambert W-function. Finally, a case study was carried out that consisted of fitting the aforementioned models to the behavior (that is, the I-V curve) of two solar panels from the UPMSat-1 satellite. The results show a fairly high level of accuracy for the proposed methodologies.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app11094250