Modelling and simulation of photovoltaic arrays under varying conditions

This paper presents the modelling and simulation results of the effects of varying conditions on the characteristic of a PV (photovoltaic) array with due account of its use in residential applications. The varying conditions include insolation, temperature and arbitrary partial shading. A model of a PV array is developed by modifying the model of a basic PV cell found in the SimElectronics toolbox of the Simulink/MATLAB software, which uses the two-diode model of a PV cell. The model parameters were modified to match a given set of parameters provided by a particular datasheet. The simulation results concurred with those found in the relevant datasheets. The software can be used as a computer-aided design tool to aid the design of PV arrays taking into account the effects of the said conditions.