Comparison between four dissimilar solar panel configurations

Several studies on photovoltaic systems focused on how it operates and energy required in operating it. Little attention is paid on its configurations, modeling of mean time to system failure, availability, cost benefit and comparisons of parallel and series–parallel designs. In this research work, four system configurations were studied. Configuration I consists of two sub-components arranged in parallel with 24 V each, configuration II consists of four sub-components arranged logically in parallel with 12 V each, configuration III consists of four sub-components arranged in series–parallel with 8 V each, and configuration IV has six sub-components with 6 V each arranged in series–parallel. Comparative analysis was made using Chapman Kolmogorov’s method. The derivation for explicit expression of mean time to system failure, steady state availability and cost benefit analysis were performed, based on the comparison. Ranking method was used to determine the optimal configuration of the systems. The results of analytical and numerical solutions of system availability and mean time to system failure were determined and it was found that configuration I is the optimal configuration.