Modeling and simulation of photovoltaic cells/modules/arrays

The first purpose of this paper is to present a brief introduction to the behavior and functioning of a PV device and write its basic equation, without the intention of providing an in-depth analysis of the photovoltaic phenomena and the semiconductor physics. The introduction on PV devices is followed by the modeling and simulation of PV cell/PV module/PV array, which is the main subject of this paper. A MATLAB Simulink /PSIM based simulation study of PV cell/PV module/PV array is carried out and presented .The simulation model makes use of basic circuit equations of PV solar cell based on its behaviour as diode, taking the effect of sunlight irradiance and cell temperature into consideration on the output current I-V characteristic and output power P-V characteristic .A particular typical 50W solar panel was used for model evaluation, and results of simulation were compared with points taken directly from the data sheet and curves published by the manufacturers show excellent correspondence to the model.