A Power Electronics Equalizer Application for Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Modules

This paper studies a photovoltaic (PV)-module-embedded power-electronics topology derived from a battery equalizer. The proposed topology eliminates the multiple maximum power point peaks common to partial shading in PV modules. The topology does so by equalizing the overall energy of the PV module through the use of only one inductive storage element. A theoretical study is carried out to describe the physical equations of the topology. Based on it, a prototype is designed and built. It is tested with a partially shaded PV module, raising its power output by nearly 40% at best. The results are compared to similar topologies dedicated to mitigate partial shading in PV applications.