Electrical and Mathematical Models of PV Cells Strategies and Critical Assessment

Marco Semeraro

Key information

Authors:

Marco Semeraro (Marco Semeraro)

Supervisors:

Luís Filipe Moreira Mendes (Luís Filipe Moreira Mendes)

Published in

July 23, 2020

Abstract

Modelling of a device is essential to analyse, optimize and predict its performance with respect to the physics at the basis of its functioning. In a world struggling with energy-related issues, effective modelling of Photovoltaic (PV) systems can be a key factor for today’s society betterment and progress. The main concerns with PV modelling are on the one hand, the number of degrees of freedom of the (most accurate) mathematical models with respect to the number of available data (information available on the device datasheet) and, on the other hand, their dependency on widely varying operating conditions. In this study, a framework for PV modelling is built with the aim to provide a tool for a reasoned selection of the modelling strategies, based on their physical implications. The diode-based models are analysed and the conventional techniques to extract their model parameters and account for their dependency on irradiance and temperature are presented along with their issues. The Complete Single-Diode Model featuring 5 model parameters proves to represent the best trade-off between simplicity and accuracy. For this reason, it is further analysed by comparing two different irradiance-temperature approaches, i.e. the Adaptive-Parameter Modelling (APM) and the Constant-Parameter Modelling (CPM). The parameter extraction based on the Newton-Raphson method proves to be a key step for the accuracy of both the models: when properly designed, it allows both the models to show excellent fit with the experimental data, whereas APM proves to perform slightly better than CPM at the expenses of the computing time.