Circuit design – equivalent circuit of the photovoltaic cell

Today, we were devoted to the theoretical analysis and the equivalent circuit design of the photovoltaic array.

A single solar cell can be represented by a simplified equivalent circuit model and the circuit is shown in the figure 1. The photovoltaic(PV) arrays are made up of many solar cells and they are combined in series or in parallel. In the figure, it should be noted that I­_ph­ is the photocurrent and it is a function of irradiation level and junction temperature. I_c is the cell output current and V­_c is the cell output voltage. The photovoltaic arrays are made up of many solar cells and they are combined in series or in parallel. Thus the array current is n times of cell current where n is the number of the cells connected in parallel and the full array voltage is the cell voltage multiplied by the number of the cells connected in series.

These are the theory of simulation model. Then, next work is to use the Matlab-Simulink GUI Environment to simulate the circuit and discuss the I-V and P-V characteristics. It can be found that the output voltage is affected by the load current and the solar irradiation level. 

These are the theory of simulation model. Then, next work is to use the Matlab-Simulink GUI Environment to simulate the circuit and discuss the I-V and P-V characteristics.