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Experimental analysis of solar PV characteristics under standard condition

Article in International Journal of Applied Engineering Research · January 2015

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IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15
Experimental Analysis of Solar PV
Characteristics Under Standard Condition
A.Aysha
Department of EEE
VV College of Engg.
Tisaiyanvilai, India.
Shaduleee04@gmail.com
C.Mahalakshmi
Department of EEE
VV College of Engg.
Tisaiyanvilai, India.
mahalakshmidivyacm@gmail.com
Abstract- This paper proposes a study of modelling and
simulation of PV arrays. The important objectives such that
the paper to match the experimental values with practical
values under Standard Test Condition (STC). The
performance of a solar photovoltaic system is dependent
upon the temperature and irradiance level and it is
necessary to study the characteristics of photovoltaic (PV)
system. In this paper, an equivalent electrical circuit of PV
system has been analyzed, modeled and simulated in
Simulink /Matlab environment using basic circuit equation,
one – diode model is implemented. Pure Analytical
approach is introduced to estimate unknown Parameters of
PV module; Performance of circuit is evaluated with
different environmental conditions and compared with real
results.
Index Terms – Equivalent circuit, modelling, simulation,
photovoltaic system.
I.INTRODUCTION
The rapid increase in the demand for electricity and
the gross changes in the environmental conditions
such as global warming led to a need for a new
source of energy that is cheaper and cause less
pollution. Solar energy has offered promising result
in the quest of finding the solution to the problem.
The harnessing of solar energy using PV modules
come with its own problems that arise from the
change in irradiation, temperature, dirt, insolation and
shadow conditions.
The incident sunlight can be converted into
electricity by photovoltaic conversion using a solar
panel. A solar panel consists of individual cells that
are large-area semiconductor diodes, constructed so
that light can penetrate into the region of the p-n
junction. The junction formed between the n-type
silicon wafer and the p-type surface layer governs the
diode characteristics as well as the photovoltaic
effect. Light is absorbed in the silicon, generating
both excess holes and electrons. These excess charges
can flow through an external circuit to produce
power. The electricity available at the terminals of a
International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
© Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm
17970
Dr.P.Rathika(HOD)
Department of EEE
VV College of Engg.
Tisaiyanvilai, India
dr_p_rathika@yahoo.com
S.Karthika(A.P)
Deapartment of ECE
VV College of Engineering
Tisaiyanvilai, India.
ns.karthika@yahoo.com
photovoltaic array may directly feed small loads such
as lighting systems and DC motors. The main
problem in solar power generation to use it as a main
power plant is its less efficiency. The factors like
irradiation, temperature, partial shadowing etc. are
influenced on energy production. While designs the
solar system to get maximum power the effect of
series and parallel resistance should be considered.
Thus this paper focuses in modeling of generalized
photovoltaic model that will be developed in
Matlab/Simulink platform; the result of simulation
has been validated with commercial PV modules.
II. MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF PV SYSTEM
The general model of solar cell can be derived from
physical characteristics of diode which is usually
being called as one-diode model. The equivalent
circuit of solar cell is shown in fig2. Equation 1
shows the shockley diode equation which describes
the I-V characteristic of diode.
Where ID is the diode current, Io is the reverse bias
saturation current, VD is voltage across the diode. In
addition the I-V characteristic of the PV panel is also
depending on the internal characteristics such as the
series resistance RS and parallel resistance RP. The
series resistance is the sum of structural resistance of
PV panel and it has strong influence when PV panel
act as voltage source. The parallel resistance has great
influence when PV panel act as current source. The
light generated current of the photovoltaic cell
depends linearly on the solar irradiation and is
influenced by the temperature. The fig1 shows the
ideal PV cell equivalent circuit. The basic equation
for the ideal cell is derived from the semiconductor
theory. It is mathematically represented as follows:
IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

III.MODELING OF PV DEVICE

The Fig2 shows the VI and PV characteristics of the

PV system including the resistance values. Rs
severely influenced on the power and current values.
When the value of series resistance is calculated
correctly then the influence of parallel resistance is
neglected. If the series resistance is not calculated
Fig:1 Ideal PV cell
correctly then voltage is influenced by the parallel
resistance [12].
The VI characteristic of the ideal cell is exponential
which is similar to that of diode. The most commonly
used configuration is one diode model that represents
the electrical behavior of the p-n junction. Obviously,
ideal cell does not have any losses so its equivalent
circuit also hasn‟t any resistance value.

Fig:2 Solar cell equivalent

Single-diode model of the theoretical photovoltaic

cell and equivalent circuit of a practical photovoltaic
device including the series and parallel resistances.
The basic equation (1) of the elementary photovoltaic
cell does not represent the I-V characteristic of a
practical photovoltaic array. Practical arrays are
composed of several connected photovoltaic cells and
the observation of the characteristics at the terminals
of the photovoltaic array requires the inclusion of
additional parameters to the basic equation.The
accuracy of the solar cell can be increased by
introducing a resistance. The series and parallel
resistances are added to get improved value. These
resistances are included in order to represent the Fig.3. Characteristics of PV array with optimum series resistance
losses in solar power generation. The fig.2 shows the Rs value
equivalent circuit of the PV panel including
resistance. This circuit can be mathematically Fig3. shows the influence of Rs on the current and the
represented as follows [1] power values. But in fig4 the values are correctly
match with the experimental value. The light
generated current without the influence of resistances
I=IPV- losses (2) (Rs,Rp) is difficult to calculate. Datasheets only
inform the nominal short circuit current (Isc,n) which
Here I0 is the reverse saturation current flow through is the maximum current available at the practical
the diode, Vt is the thermal voltage and „a‟ is the device. So the assumption Isc ≈ Ipv is made for
diode constant which is used to analyze the design purposes [9]. The light generated current also
performance of the panel. It varies between the values influenced by the temperature and irradiation.
1≤a≤1.5.Thermal voltage can be calculated using the
formula Vt=NsKT/q with Ns number of cells IPV,n is the light generated current at nominal
connected in series. K is the Boltz-man constant conditions (25oC, 1000 W/m2). G is the irradiation
and Gn is nominal irradiation. I0 is the nominal
(1.38× J/K). T is the actual temperature. T n is
saturation current [8]. It can be explained as follows
the nominal temperature (25oC) [10].
IPV = (IPV,n + KI ∆T) (G/Gn) (4)
T=∆T-Tn (3)
The value of diode constant is arbitrarily chosen. This

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
© Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

17971
IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

value affects the VI characteristics curve. The
following equation simplifies the model [13] and
cancels the model error of the open-circuit voltages
and the region of I-V curve.
I0 = (5)
IV. SELECTING THE RESISTANCE VALUES
{Rs,Rp} that warranties that
Pmax,m=Pmax,e=VmpImp at the (Vmp,Imp) point of
the I–V curve, i.e., the maximum power calculated by
the I–V model of (3) (Pmax,m) is equal to the
maximum experimental power from the datasheet
(Pmax,e) at the MPP. Conventional modeling
methods found in the literature take care of the I–V
curve but forget that the P–V (power versus voltage)
curve must match the experimental data too. For
example, in [2], the series resistance of the array
model is neglected.

From the equation (1) only the module is designed.

Io +VmpI0–Pmax,e} (6)
In that equation the Rs and Rp values are unknown. A
few authors have proposed ways to mathematically
The method gives the Rs value for A665-3712 array is
determine these resistances. Although it may be
0.128Ω. The condition Pmax = Vmp Imp satisfies only at
useful to have a mathematical formula to determine
these unknown parameters, any expression for Rs and the point Rs=0.128Ω.
Rp will always rely on experimental data. Some
authors propose varying Rs in an iterative process, V. IMPROVING THE MODEL
incrementing Rs until the I–V curve visually fits the
experimental data and then vary Rp in the same To get best model the value of Rs and RP is further
fashion. This a quite poor and inaccurate fitting improved. For that the following equation is
method, mainly because Rs and Rp may not be introduced.
adjusted separately if a good I–V model is desired.

IPV,n = Isc,n (7)

This equation is used when the Ipv ≠ Isc . In this case

the series and shunt resistance values are known [2].
Thus it is used to get exact light generating current.

TABLE I
Specifications of A665-3712 solar array at
25oC, AM 1.5, 1000W/m2

Vmp 17V

Imp 2.176A

Voc 21.6V

Isc 2.438A

Pmax,e 36.99W

KV -0.34 V/ K

KI 0.05 A/ K

Ns 36

The data in the table gives the parameters at nominal

Fig.4.Characteristics of PV array without selecting optimum
series resistance Rs value
This paper proposes a method for adjusting Rs and
Rp based on the fact that there is an only pair
condition [11]. For the same array the values are
taken practically at different temperature. They are
noted at the given below table(II).

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
© Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

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IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

VI. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The experiment is done practically at 30oC

temperature. The data obtained from the experiment
is noted at table II. The short circuit current and open
circuit voltage is found out and they are compared
with their rated values. The arrangement is shown in
fig 5. The panel is first directly connected in series
with ammeter and parallel with voltmeter in order to
measure the short circuit current (Isc) and open circuit
voltage (Voc). Then additionally one rheostat is
connected in series with panel. With the help of
rheostat the voltage or current values can be adjusted.
So by varying the rheostat the voltage and current
values are measured. From the values the
Characteristics curves are plotted. Fig6 and fig 7
shows the PV and VI characteristics curves[9].

Fig.7. VI characteristics for the experiment values

VII. SIMULATION OF THE ARRAY

For simulating the PV panel initially the values are

derived using the given equations. The PV module
can be simulated with an equivalent circuit model
shown in fig2.
Fig.5. experimental arrangement

From the PV curve the maximum power generated is

obtained. For the same experiment simulation is done
and their output curves are compared with the
practical values. While doing simulation the losses
should be included to get accurate maximum power.

Fig.8. PV array circuit model

Fig8 shows the circuit model which have one

current source (Im), two resistors (Rs , Rp) and a
controlled voltage source. It can be implemented
using MAT lab[3]. An intricate PSPICE based
simulation was presented in [5], where the I-V
equation is numerically solved within the PSPICE
software. And also in [6] the series resistance is
neglected to simplify the circuit model but in [5] the
parallel resistance is neglected.

Fig.6. PV characteristics for the experiment values

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
© Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

17973
IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

The solar photovoltaic system is modeled, designed

and simulated in MATLAB/ SIMULINK. The
MATLAB/ SIMULINK model of PV array is shown
in fig(9). The inputs of solar subsystem is solar
irradiation and temperature while the output is current
and voltage. Since the environmental conditions are
not controlled, testing the proposed model for
different levels of solar irradiation and temperature
variations. Simulation results are verified by
comparing experimental results with values provided
in PV data sheets.This simulink can be used for
various operating conditions and for various PV
arrays. It will give very accurate results[1]. The
results obtained from the simulation is shown in
fig10. They are correctly have the same values of
practical results. This is only possible while selecting
appropriate series resistance values. If the series
resistance is not selected correctly then they will
distort the output curves. The variation in curves
when selecting suitable series resistance value is
compared with assumed value in fig.6 and 7. Thus it
is clear that by including accurate series resistance
value gives the correct output which is completely
match with the experimental outputs shown in fig10.

Fig.10. Simulation outputs for the experimental values (vI)

Fig.9. Photo voltaic circuit model built with

MATLAB/SIMULINK
Fig.11. Simulation outputs for the experimental values (pv)

International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
© Research India Publications; http://www.ripublication.com/ijaer.htm

17974
 IEEE Sponsored 2nd International Conference on Innovations in Information Embedded and Communication Systems
ICIIECS’15

TABLE II [4].Hiren Patel and Vivek Agarwal “MATLAB- Based

VIII .CONCLUSION
In this paper a PV array simulation model has been
developed using MATLAB/ SIMULINK
environment. By inserting the main electric
parameters in the array of PV panel it has been
obtained the main operating characteristics of the PV
array. This paper analyzed with the developed
modeling of the PV arrays. Finally the objective of
this paper is achieved by equating the mathematical I-
V characteristics to the I-V curve of the practical
array. By using other methods there is need of
guessing any values except diode constant (a). They
frequently neglect the resistance values. But the fact
is if the resistance values are considered then it was
very easy to match practical power with experimental
power value. This paper has presented in detail the
equations that form the single PV model. In order to
show the practical use of the proposed modeling
method this paper has presented circuit model that
can be used to simulate PV arrays with circuit
simulators. Not only that the assumption Ipv ≈ Isc used
in many modelling works are replaced in this method.
The developed model is useful for educational
purposes. The results obtained with this model can be
effectively used with off-line capabilities of
MATLAB/ SIMULINK to investigate the
effectiveness of MPPT methods. Also it gives the
possibility to illustrate the efficiency of solar PV
system.
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[12] F. Nakanishi, T. Ikegami, K. Ebihara, S. Kuriyama, and
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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research, ISSN 0973-4562 Vol. 10 No.20 (2015)
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