TY - JOUR
T1 - Photovoltaics in the shade
T2 - One bypass diode per solar cell revisited
AU - Pannebakker, Boudewijn B.
AU - de Waal, Arjen C.
AU - van Sark, Wilfried G.J.H.M.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - Deployment of residential photovoltaic solar energy systems is strongly increasing, which gives rise to problems such as partial shading and pollution, omnipresent in the built environment. Conventional modules are sensitive to the current mismatches introduced by shadows because of their series architecture of electrical interconnections. This paper presents simulations and experiments showing that a new generation of bypass diodes (BPDs) can be used, up to 1 BPD per cell, to improve the shading tolerance of conventional crystalline modules. We have used cardboard of 0% transmission, and a wire mesh (net) of 38% transmission. The more BPDs are used, the higher the maximum power under shading conditions. Using 20 smart BPDs, or 1 BPD per three cells, leads to an improvement of a factor 3 in power output; for our netting experiments, a factor 1.5 is found. Both performance enhancement and lower diode temperatures lead to increased shade resilience and reliability.
AB - Deployment of residential photovoltaic solar energy systems is strongly increasing, which gives rise to problems such as partial shading and pollution, omnipresent in the built environment. Conventional modules are sensitive to the current mismatches introduced by shadows because of their series architecture of electrical interconnections. This paper presents simulations and experiments showing that a new generation of bypass diodes (BPDs) can be used, up to 1 BPD per cell, to improve the shading tolerance of conventional crystalline modules. We have used cardboard of 0% transmission, and a wire mesh (net) of 38% transmission. The more BPDs are used, the higher the maximum power under shading conditions. Using 20 smart BPDs, or 1 BPD per three cells, leads to an improvement of a factor 3 in power output; for our netting experiments, a factor 1.5 is found. Both performance enhancement and lower diode temperatures lead to increased shade resilience and reliability.
KW - Bypass diode
KW - Mismatch
KW - Shading
KW - Smart PV module
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019698673&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/pip.2898
DO - 10.1002/pip.2898
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85019698673
SN - 1062-7995
VL - 25
SP - 836
EP - 849
JO - Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications
JF - Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications
IS - 10
ER -