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Addendum To PV Notes: 1 Fill Factor, FF

This document discusses key concepts related to photovoltaic (PV) systems including: 1. Fill factor - A measure of squareness of the I-V curve that impacts maximum power output. It varies slightly with irradiance and temperature. 2. Maximum power point tracking - A device that keeps PVs operating at their highest efficiency point by adjusting the load to match changing irradiance levels. 3. Module mismatch - Differences in electrical properties of cells/modules lead to losses. Mismatch in short-circuit current or open-circuit voltage cause the largest losses.

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27 views6 pages

Addendum To PV Notes: 1 Fill Factor, FF

This document discusses key concepts related to photovoltaic (PV) systems including: 1. Fill factor - A measure of squareness of the I-V curve that impacts maximum power output. It varies slightly with irradiance and temperature. 2. Maximum power point tracking - A device that keeps PVs operating at their highest efficiency point by adjusting the load to match changing irradiance levels. 3. Module mismatch - Differences in electrical properties of cells/modules lead to losses. Mismatch in short-circuit current or open-circuit voltage cause the largest losses.

Uploaded by

mdmarufur
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Addendum to PV Notes

1 Fill Factor, FF
Fill Factor ( ) is a property of a particular PV cell and is the ratio of the actual maximum power,
divided by the product of and

The is shown geometrically in Figure 1 and is the ratio of the two rectangles; it is a measure of
the squareness of the I-V curve. Squareness is reduced by internal resistance paths and
recombination effects.

Figure 1 Fill factor

In reality the varies slightly with irradiance and In the absence of measured data a theoretical
cell temperature (Ref), but this dependence is estimate of the FF may be made using the
usually neglected and is treated as a constant. following empirical equation (Green 1981):
The may be evaluated using the manufacturer
supplied values of , and measured under ( )
Standard Test Conditions (STC), and if we then
calculate and under actual operating
Where the normalized is given by
conditions the new maximum power may be
calculated from

Green, M.A. (1981) Solar cell fill factors: General graph and empirical expressions. Journal Solid-State
Electronics 24 788 – 789

2 Maximum Power Point Tracking


The point on the I-V curve at which a PV operates depends on the load to which it is connected. Each
load type will have its own I-V curve and where the two intersect determines the operating point.
Figure 2 PV operating point with resistive load

The equation of the resistive load characteristic comes from Ohm’s law:

This is the equation of a straight line where ⁄ is the gradient and an intercept of zero.

As increases the gradient decreases and the intersection point moves along the PV I –V curve from
left to right.

The value of resistance that will result in maximum power:

•Where and are the voltage and current at the maximum power point (MPP).

With a fixed resistance the operating point slips off the MPP as the solar irradiance changes.
There are different types of load to which a PV may be connected, each with there own load
characteristic

- Battery
- Inductive load (d.c. motor)
- Grid

Later, a device called a maximum power point tracker (MPPT) will be introduced, the purpose of
which is to keep the PVs operating at their highest efficiency point at all times.

3 Module mismatch
Mismatch losses occur when cells in a module, or modules in an array, do not have identical
electrical properties. Differences in any part of the I-V curves will lead to mismatch losses at some
operating point. However, the largest losses occur with mismatches in either the short-circuit
current or open-circuit voltage.

Reasons for mismatch

- Manufacturers tolerance
- Shading

Figure 3 Full PV characteristic curve

When manufacturers build PV modules they test and sort cells so that only matched (having the
same I-V characteristics) are used in the same module. However, there can be random variations
between modules from the same manufacturer.

3.1 Mismatch of cells in series


Excellent treatment in PV education
http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/modules/mismatch-for-cells-connected-in-series
3.1.1 Open-circuit voltage mismatch for cells connected in series
This only causes a minor problem as the current is not affected. One of the cells will be
operating at a lower voltage and therefore delivering less power.

An easy method of calculating the combined short-circuit current of series connected mismatched
cells. The current at the point of intersection represents the short-circuit current of the series
combination (ie. V1+V2=0).

3.1.2 Short-circuit current mismatch for cells connected in series

In a series arrangement the current through each cell must be the same. If the short-circuit currents
are not identical the operating point of each module will shift until the currents are equal resulting in
a slightly different voltage across each module. This means that neither module will be operating at
peak power.

The output of a cell reduces in proportion to the percentage of cell in shade. If the cell is connect in
series to form a string, then the string current will be reduced by the shaded cell.
3.2 Mismatch for Cells Connected in Parallel

http://www.iwes.fraunhofer.de/de/publikationen/uebersicht/2009/study_on_mpp_mismatchlosses
inphotovoltaicapplications.html

http://www.iwes.fraunhofer.de/de/publikationen/uebersicht/2009/study_on_mpp_mismatchlosses
inphotovoltaicapplications.html

http://files.pvsyst.com/help/index.html?mismatch_loss.htm

http://pvpmc.org/modeling-steps/dc-and-mismatch-losses-2/
Blocking diodes prevent discharge of battery

4 Model of PV
Luft, W., Barton, J. R., and Conn, A. A. (1967) Multifaceted solar array performance
determination. TRW Systems Group, Redondo Beach, California.

This model is simpler to solve than the standard single-diode model requiring only
manufacturer’s provided data. It is based on a curve fit to measured data.

⁄( )
[ ( )]

Where
( ) ( )

⁄( )
( )

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