A power compensation strategy based on electric double layer capacitors for a partially shaded PV array

This paper presents a novel power compensation system for a photovoltaic (PV) array that is partially covered by a shade. The control strategy adopts electric double layer capacitors (EDLC) as a energy storage device, which brings advantages into the system configuration of both main and control system over using a battery or DC-DC converters. In addition, the energy flow of the EDLC can be simply controlled by a relay with only detecting the terminal voltage of the EDLC. The control characteristics of the proposed system are examined by simulation analyses. And, the system feasibility is demonstrated and verified from experimental results of the laboratory prototype system.