Illuminated IV Characteristics of partially shaded solar

modules
Mateo Hernandez a
a
Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg – Photovoltaic Laboratory. Experiment performed on 1/12/2023

Abstract. This study investigates the impact of shading on a series-connected solar cell array and evaluates the
effectiveness of a bypass diode as a mitigation solution. Shading reduces overall current and voltage, acting as a bottleneck
for performance. The bypass diode successfully creates an alternative current path, increasing short circuit current (10.652
mA vs. 8.176 mA) and mitigating shading effects. However, the Fill Factor (FF) decreases from 0.723 to 0.564 with the
diode due to partial bypassing of shaded cells and increased short circuit current. This trade-off highlights the complex
relationship between diode implementation and overall solar cell efficiency in shaded conditions.

Keywords: Shading, solar cell array, bypass diode, short circuit current, Fill Factor, mitigation, alternative path, voltage
drop, efficiency.

1. INTRODUCTION

The main purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of partial shading in the I-V characteristics of a solar cell
which is a common issue in solar power generation. The protocol tackles this problem by exploring the effect of
partially shaded conditions in an array of series-connected solar cells and the role of a bypass diode as a potential
solution. The conducted experiments demonstrated that diodes are able to mitigate the losses caused by shading by
providing an alternative path for current to flow, which helps adjust the I-V curve to the original model in normal
operation conditions. By doing this, the fill factor and the overall efficiency of the solar cell increase, or in our case,
the diode acts on the shaded-free solar cells and no improvement is observed.

The results put forth the idea of the utilization of diodes as a way to mitigate one of the most controversial topics
in photovoltaics, which is shading. The implementation of diodes is widely used in commercial solar modules, not
only for the reasons mentioned above but for avoiding hot spot formation.

2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

In the case of a series-connected array of solar cells, the voltage is cumulative, which means that the voltage of all
cells wired in series is n times as high as the voltage in one cell. In the case of the current, the level of current in such
series-wired configurations is determined by the weakest cell. In the case of two cells (cell A, cell B) connected in
series cell B is partially shaded, meaning its short circuit current is half of the Isc of cell A. The maximum power at
the MPP of the overall I-V curve does not equate to the cumulative power of cells A and B, but instead slightly more
than twice the maximum power of the weaker cell [1]. This is an example that involves two solar cells wired in series
and clearly describes the direct effect of the current, voltage, and power when a particular cell is partially shaded. This
example is summarized in Figure 1.

The scenario shown in Figure 1, differs to some extent from the real case of a solar module, since the maximum
power of series-connected solar cells is always somewhat lower than the cumulative maximum power of the individual
cells, this effect is called mismatch losses. Supplier in an attempt to reduce mismatch losses, they incorporate solar
cells whose Impp at MPP is as similar as possible, thus, the cells during the I-V measurements/characterization are
assigned to their appropriate Impp group.
 FIGURE 1. I-V characteristics of two series-connected solar cells where one of the cells is partially shaded [1].

2.1 Hot Spots

The majority of PV power plants contain several arrays of series connected solar cells in each module, and in such
cases, a short circuit of a partially or completely shaded cell. Combined with greater voltage loads on the cell in
question, can provoke a hot spot since the cell needs to without all the incoming load from all the other cells. Hot
spots are a risk for localized overheating and potential cell damage; therefore, a solution needs to be found in order to
mitigate this problem. In the presence of a bypass diode, the partially shaded cell will be subjected to a lesser load and
its area-specific thermal loss will be lower [2].

Usually, bypass diodes are not used for each cell because of costs, hence, one diode normally covers a group of
cells. Parallel connection of a standard bypass diode to each solar cell will fully mitigate the hot-spot formation,
allowing the current to bypass to the remaining solar cells, but at the same time, it's not economically viable for
manufacturers and far from indispensable. The following is an example of a series-connected array with a shaded or
defective solar cell that is subjected to loads from the rest of the cells. The overload voltage is substantially reduced
through the use of a bypass diode, as it is shown in Figure 2.

FIGURE 2. An array of series connected solar cells with a defective/shaded cell with a bypass connected in
parallel to reduce the voltage load [1].
 3. EXPERIMENTAL

3.1 Setup described in the experimental manual

In order to better understand the behavior of the current-voltage characteristics of the solar cell partially shading
conditions, several experiments were conducted using the following setup:

FIGURE 3. Circuit diagram for Protocol 4.6.

The required components for this experiment include a base unit, a potentiometer module, three large solar cells,
an A-V module, a power module that supplies a constant voltage during the course of the experiment (5V), three
lighting modules, and finally one diode module. Once the circuit is connected properly, we move forward to set the
potentiometer at the maximum resistance and slowly decrease this value in small steps until we reach a short circuit
current of around 150 mA (to avoid damage to the circuit). In the first experiment, we use the setup shown in Figure
3 but without the parallel diode, and with the third lighting module half-darkened (turn off two out of the four bulbs
available) in order to simulate partial shading. Once the measurements are recorded, the next step is to connect the
bypass diode module in parallel to the shaded cell and retake the measurements to have a comparison. The remarked
blue line represents the sourcemeter which was used as an alternative to the setup described above. The alternative
connection for performing the same experiments is described in section 3.2.

3.2 Alternative setup (note: this is the actual setup used in the laboratory practice)

In this particular case, we opted to use a sourcemeter that is connected in series to three large solar cells that are
illuminated by three lighting modules. The experiments were conducted using a power module set at 5V that powers
the lighting modules, and those provide light to the array of cells. The measurements were taken automatically by the
app IVy using a Tablet, and this device is connected directly to the sourcemeter which gathers the data in real-time.

Several steps need to be considered prior to performing the measurements. One of them is setting the current limit
where we want to take the measurements. In this case, we defined it by try-and-error to see the appropriate range, to
later run the test and get the best results possible.

The set of experiments consisted of running a real-time measurement using two lighting modules fully powered
and the remaining one with only two out of the four available bulbs (partially shaded). The first measurements
consisted of recording a test for the setup shown in Figure 3 but without a diode and the second test connected the
bypass diode in parallel as described in section 3.1. The data was stored in a CSV file and later plotted using Origin
Pro. The results are described in the next section.
 4. RESULTS & ANALYSIS

Qualitative analysis

Figure 4 shows the different I-V and P-V curves under conditions of partial shading and the inclusion of a bypass
diode as a solution to this issue. The qualitative graph describes (a) partially shaded cell without diode (b) partially
shaded cell with a diode in parallel. Figure 4.(a) depicts I-V characteristics of a solar cell when the curve is distorted
due to partial shading. The short circuit current decreases due to the reduction of incident light, and that shifts the
curve downwards, when the open circuit voltage remains with minor changes. On the other side, Figure 4.(b) shows
the direct effect of the diode in the I-V curve, since this provides a different path for the current to flow, and part of
the current that was already lost due to shading, can now flow through the diode and this the main cause of the bump
in the I-V and P-V curve.

(a)

(b)

FIGURE 4. Experiment results. (a) I-V and P-V curves for the series-connected solar cells with partial shading
conditions. (b) I-V and P-V for the series-connected solar cells with partial shading with a diode in parallel.
 Finally, there is a third experiment that consists of connecting three large series-connected solar cells in order to
have a reference value under full illumination conditions. The I-V characteristics are summarized in Table 1.

FIGURE 5. I-V and P-V curves for three large series-connected solar cells

Quantitative analysis

Table 1, shows a summary of the I-V characteristics that can be extracted from Figure 4, and they represent a direct
comparison of the main parameters that help understand the effects of partial shading and the role of the diode in the
proposed experiments.

TABLE 1. Summary of the major parameters obtained analytically from Figure 4 and Figure 5.

I-V Partially Partially Three solar

characteristics Shaded Shaded with cells in series
without diode diode
Isc [mA] 8.176 10.652 9.932
Impp [mA] 7.048 7.087 1.196
Voc [V] 1.434 1.416 1.413
Vmpp [V] 1.203 1.199 1.195
MPP [mW] 8.482 8.510 10.682
FF 0.723 0.564 0.761

5. DISCUSSION
The following is a deeper analysis of the different results obtained from the proposed experiment, which lays out
the different effects of shading and the mitigation solutions for a common problem seen in the solar industry nowadays.

In the case of the partially shaded cell in a series-connected array, we saw the influence of shading on the overall
performance of the cell. We can point out that the shading reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the specific
cell, meaning, this specific cell is acting as a resistor, limiting the flow of current in the array, becoming finally a
bottleneck for current flow. The voltage across the systems is also affected by shading, since if one cell is shaded and
not contributing much current, the voltage drop can increase, potentially leading to a reduction of the output voltage
of the array. Overall, the efficiency of the cell is reduced by this effect and the impacts of shading are corroborated in
the results obtained in the proposed study.

In the scenario where we have a diode that is connected in parallel to the partially shaded solar cell, we can explore
clearly the influence of this component in the results that are summarized in Table 1. We saw that the diode is capable
of creating an alternative path for current to flow and that reduces the overall resistance in the system and that is why
we see an increase in the short circuit current (10.652 mA) compared to the case without the diode (8.176 mA).
Regarding the open circuit voltage Voc, a minor change has been observed for the case of a partially shaded cell with
a diode, and that reflects that the influence of the diode has a direct contribution, and more importantly, can course
correct the negative effects of current losses in the system. All those effects can be seen in Figure 4.(b), in particular,
the bumps in the I-V and P-V curves. The bumps occur when the bypass diode starts conducting, providing a low-
resistance path for the current to bypass the shaded cell, mitigating the influence of shading on the overall performance
of the solar cell array.

Regarding the Fill Factor FF for the two cases, we can see a reduction of this value when we connect the bypass
diode to the series-connected solar cells. The Fill Factor FF of a solar cell is a measure of how effectively it converts
sunlight into electrical power. In the context of a bypass diode in a partially shaded array, the FF is reduced from 0.723
for the case without a diode, to 0.564 for the experiment with a diode. This is because bypass diodes are designed to
bypass shaded cells to prevent them from affecting the current of the array, however, the diode partially bypasses the
shaded cell, and the current through the cell is not fully utilized for power generation, and also the short circuit current
is higher which is virtually reducing the Fill Factor since this is defined as the ratio of the maximum power (P mpp) to
the product of the open circuit Voc and short circuit current Isc [3].

6. CONCLUSION

In summary, the experiment demonstrated the significant impact of shading on the performance of a series-
connected solar cell array. Shading reduced current flow, acting as a bottleneck and decreasing overall efficiency. The
introduction of a bypass diode in parallel with the shaded cell effectively created an alternative path for current, leading
to an increase in short circuit current (10.652 mA) compared to the case without the diode (8.176mA). The diode
mitigated shading effects, as evidenced by bumps in I-V and P-V curves when the diode was conducted. However,
the Fill Factor (FF) decreased from 0.723 without the diode to 0.564 with the diode. This reduction is attributed to the
diode partially bypassing shaded cells, limiting their contribution to power generation, and the increased short circuit
current. While the diode addressed shading issues, it resulted in a trade-off with the overall Fill Factor.

7. REFERENCES
[1] “4 Solar Modules and Solar Generators 4.1 Solar Modules.”
[2] A. Hm, S. Klaus, J. Olindo, I. René, A. Van Swaaij, and M. Zeman, “Solar energy The physics and engineering of
photovoltaic conversion, technologies and systems.”
[3] V. Quaschning, R. Hanitsch, and ; Washington, “INFLUENCE OF SHADING ON ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS
OF SOLAR CELLS.”
 RESULTS EXPERIMENTS 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

Experiment 4.3: Dependence of the I-V characteristics on the illumination intensity.

FIGURE 6. I-V and P-V curve for protocol 4.3

Experiment 4.4: Dependence of the illuminated I-V characteristics on temperature

FIGURE 7. I-V and P-V curve for protocol 4.4

Experiment 4.5: Illuminated I-V characteristics of different solar modules

FIGURE 8. I-V and P-V curve for protocol 4.5