Performance analysis of partially shaded photovoltaic array using magic square view configuration for shade dispersion

Abstract

The power generated by the photovoltaic (PV) array is affected by the partial shading, caused by the neighbouring object shadows, dirtiness, moving clouds, bird droppings, different orientation angles of PV modules, deposition of dust in modules, and the physical location of the PV module. Therefore, the PV systems exhibit multiple peaks of generated power and do not always track the maximum power point (MPP). Thus, to overcome these problems of multiple peaks, the PV panels are reconfigured using either electrical or physical reconfiguration methods. The main aim of this paper is to investigate the performance of magic square view (MSV) configuration of PV modules under partial shading conditions (PSCs). For validation, three kinds of PSCs patterns are considered and are then compared to the Total Cross Tied (TCT) and Sudoku (SDK) configurations: long and wide, short and narrow, and long and narrow. Overall, the obtained results show that the MSV configuration allows us to increase the power generated by the PV array by 34% and 7% under the three types of shadow studied as compared to the TCT and SDK configurations, respectively. The PV array configurations parameters are performed based on MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The simulation and performance analysis of PV array configurations is performed with 81 PV modules of BP Solar Poly BP 380 modules.