Investigation of the effects of homogeneous and heterogeneous solar irradiations on multicrystal PV module under various configurations

This research work investigates the power-voltage (P-V) and current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of multicrystal photovoltaic (PV) module, connected in series, parallel and series-parallel configurations. The modular characteristics of PV module have been performed under homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions. The experimental and simulation results indicate that for a given number of PV modules, the array configurations affect the maximum available output power and more local maxima are found under partially shaded conditions. The analysis of bypass diodes effect has been carried out under partial shadings on the PV module strings. The obtained results reveal that, the presence of bypass diodes allow the unshaded modules of all the series assemblies to conduct their maximum currents at a given solar radiation and temperature. Moreover, the comparative analysis of PV module has been carried out for different configurations under the above disturbances. Maximum output power is obtained, when PV modules are configured parallelly, even under shading conditions. The specifications of the PV module have been obtained from the manufacturer datasheet (KC200GT) for these investigations.