Performance comparison of mismatch power loss minimization techniques in series-parallel PV array configurations

Abstract

The mismatch in current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of photovoltaic (PV) modules causes significant power loss in a large PV array, which is known as mismatch power loss (MML). The PV array output power generation can be improved by minimizing MML using different techniques. This paper investigates the performance of different module arrangement techniques to minimize MML both for long series string (LSS) and long parallel branch (LPB) in series-parallel (SP) array configurations at uniform irradiance condition. To investigate the significance of MML LSS-SP configuration with dimensions: 1 × 40, 2 × 20, 4 × 10, 5 × 8 and LPB-SP configuration with dimensions: 40 × 1, 20 × 2, 10 × 4, 8 × 5 were used. A comparative analysis is made to find the effectiveness of MML reduction techniques on PV arrays with three different power ratings. Simulation results show that the PV modules arrangement obtained by the genetic algorithm (GA) and current based arrangement (Im) performed better than the arrangements obtained by all other techniques in terms of PV array output power and MML minimization. The performance of the proposed technique was analyzed for both LSS-SP and LPB-SP array configurations in 400 W, 3400 W, and 9880 W arrays. To substantiate the simulation results experiment was performed using a 400 W PV array in outdoor weather condition and obtained similar results. It was also observed that the percentage of recoverable energy (%RE) obtained by arranging the modules using the GA method was higher than Im based method for both LSS-SP and LPB-SP array configurations. A maximum %RE of 4.159 % was recorded for a 5 × 8 LSS-SP array configuration by applying the GA based MML reduction method.