FUTURE TECHNOLOGY HORIZONS FUTURE UNIVERSITY SUDAN

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION JOURNAL Volume 1, Issue 1, September 2017

Modeling, Simulation and Implementation of Space Solar

Photovoltaic Cells Topology Using MATLAB/SIMULINK
Arafa Aldaw Mohammed Abaker1, Dr. Amin Babiker Abd AlNabi Mustafa2
Faculty of Engineering, Al-Neelain University Khartoum, Sudan
Corresponding authorE-mail:arafa.aldaw.123@gmail.com

ABSTRACT —this paper presents the modeling, simulation PV arrays contain solar voltaic material, which converts the
solar energy into electrical energy. The basic device for
and implementation of space solar photovoltaic cells topology
photovoltaic system is a PV cell. The voltage and current
used in ISRASAT1 cube satellite. The methodology is to use available at the PV device terminals can be directly used to
feed loads. The output characteristics of PV module depend on
MATLAB/SIMULINK environment in order to observe the
the cell temperature, the solar irradiance and the output
functionality, performance, and ability of photovoltaic cells to voltage of PV module.
provide the power needed by the CubeSat electrical power ISRASAT1 is the one of a research projects within Institute of
Space Research and Aerospace (ISRA) in Sudan. so this
system. The current-voltage and power-voltage characteristics
project aims to design and implement a prototype of a real
are obtained for the solar PV module with variable Cube-Sat and it is working in LEO orbit at about 450 km
above the Earth, and the mission of it to take spatial images of
temperature and fixed radiation, as well as for variable
the surface of the Earth and it sends a continuous beacon that
radiation and fixed temperature, using mathematical model contains data about the Cube-Sat, while was transmitting
telemetry data sensed by the onboard sensors, such as
implemented by MATLAB/SIMULINK.
temperature, attitude information, after that stored images are
sent when it orbits above Khartoum city [1].
Keywords—Photovoltaic Cell, Radiation, Temperature,
Model, Cube Satellite, ISRASAT1 II. OPERATION PRINCIPLE OF PV CELL

I. INTRODUCTION A PV cell is a semiconductor device that generate current

when irradiated. This is due to electron-hole pair forming in
One of the main issues in the power division is the day-to-day the semiconductor material that absorbs photons with energy
increasing power demand, though the unavailability of enough exceeding the band-gap energy of the semiconductor material
resources to meet the power demands using the conventional and the PV cell consists of front and back contacts attached to
energy sources. Renewable sources similar to solar energy and the semiconductor material, the contacts can collect the charge
wind energy are the prime energy sources that are being carriers (negatively charged electrons and positively charged
utilized in this regard. Renewable energy sources have become holes) from the semiconductor P and N layers and supply the
more important contributors to the total energy consumed in load with the generated direct current (DC), as described in
the world. Fig. 1 [5] [4].
Solar energy is available and affordable, which made it
possible to access to and utilization of. In fact, the demand for
solar energy has increased by 20% to 25% over the past 20
years [8]. The main material used in the photovoltaic industry
is silicon. But there are many lines of research to find
materials to replace or supplement silicon to improve
conversion efficiency [2].
There are three major types of photovoltaic (PV) cell
technology. Those are mono-crystalline technology,
polycrystalline technology, and thin film technology. The
mono-crystalline and polycrystalline technologies are based
on microelectronic manufacturing technology [3].
The solar energy can be a separate generating unit or can be a
grid linked generating unit depending on the accessibility of a
grid nearby. Thus, it can be used to power rural areas where Figure 1The Process of generation electricity in a PV cell [4]
the availability of grids is very low. Another advantage of
using solar energy is the portable operation whenever
wherever necessary.

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 Science Technology & Innovation Journal (STIJ), Vol. 1(1), 2017, pp. 1-5

III. CHARACTERSTICS OF SOLAR CELL IV. PV MODULE

Solar cells naturally exhibit a nonlinear current-voltage, I-V, A solar cell is the building block of a solar panel. A
and power-voltage, P-V, characteristics which vary with the photovoltaic module is formed by connecting many solar cells
solar irradiation and cell temperature. The typical I-V and P-V in series and parallel. Considering only a single solar cell; it
characteristics of the solar cell are shown in the Figure 2 [6]. can be modeled by utilizing a current source, a diode, and two
resistors and this model is known as a single diode model of a
solar cell as well as two diode models are also available but
only single diode model is considered here in Figure 3[7].
The characteristic equation for a photovoltaic cell is given by

Ipv Np ∗ Iph Np ∗ Io
∗
∗ e ∗ ∗ ∗ 7

∗ ∗ 8
1000
∗
∗
Figure 2 Characteristics of solar cell [6] ∗ ∗ ∗ 9
The main parameters regarding solar cell are the open circuit
voltage Voc, short circuit current Isc, maximum power point Isc
Irs 10
(MPP), fill factor and the efficiency of solar cell. e ∗
∗
∗ ∗ 1

1. Short-circuit Current (Isc)

Isc is the current produced when the positive and negative
terminals of the cell are short-circuited and the voltage
between the terminals is zero, which corresponds to a load
resistance of zero.
Isc = I at V=0 (1)

2. Open-circuit voltage (Voc)

It is the voltage across the negative and positive terminals
under open circuit situation and the current is zero, which Figure 3Equivalent circuit model of PV cell [7]
coincide to the load resistance of infinity.
V. NOMENCLATURE
Voc = V at I=0 (2)
3. Maximum Power Vpv is the output voltage of Solar Cell.

The maximum power output is defined as Ipv is the output current of Solar Cell.
Tak is Solar PV Cell operating temperature in Kelvin.
Pmax Vmax ∗ Imax 3
Trk is Solar PV Cell reference temperature in Kelvin.
4. Fill Factor
Iph light generated photo current.
The fill factor, which is also known as the curve factor, is a Io is the diode current of solar PV cell.
measure of the sharpness of the knee in an I-V curve also It
Irs is the cell reverse saturation current.
indicates how well a junction was made in the cell and how
low the series resistance has been made, It can be lowered by A is an ideality factor.
the presence of series resistance and tends to be higher
K is Boltzman constant=1.3805x10-23J/K.
whenever the open circuit voltage is high and the maximum
values of fill factor is one, which is not possible [6]. q Is Electron charge=1.6x10-19 C.
Ki is the Temperature co-efficient of short circuit current
4
∗ =0.00017A/oC.
A larger fill factor is desirable and corresponds to an I-V S is Operating solar irradiance = 1000W/m2.
sweep that is more square-like and no power is generated by
Voc is Solar Cell open-circuit voltage.
short or open circuit [4].
Ns is a number of the cell connected in series.
5. Efficiency
Np is a number of the cell connected in parallel.
∗ 5 Rs is the series resistance of PV cell.
∗

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 Science Technology & Innovation Journal (STIJ), Vol. 1(1), 2017, pp. 1-5

Eg is the band gab of GaAs.

In this paper, the solar panel has been analyzed to be used in
space environment using Azur space model. The parameters of
Azur space model are shown in Table 1.
Table 1Parameters of Azur space model.

NO. Name Parameters/ Values

1 Open circuit Voltage (Voc) 2669 m v

2 Short circuit current (I sc) 525 m A Figure 5 Simulation model for calculation of Io

3 Voltage at maximum power 2379 mV

(V mpp)
4 Current at maximum power 505 m A
(V mpp)
5 Temperature coefficient (T -6.0 m V/◦C
Cv)
6 Temperature coefficient (T 0.32 m A/◦C
Ci)
Figure 6 Simulation model for calculation of Iph
7 Characteristic Constant (b) 0.0333

Table 2 Solar radiation during the year 2016 in the space

environment[9].

Months Days Radiation

1 1 106.3
2 1 104.8
3 1 103.2
4 1 101.7
5 1 100.2

Table 3Temperatures at the height of 460 km above the earths

surface (The space environment) [10]
Figure 7 Simulation model for calculation of Ipv
Altitude(KM) Low Solar Mean Solar Extremely
Activity Activity Solar Activity
460 699.1623 K 1,011.4014 K 1,621.2577 K

VI. IMPLEMENTATION AND SIMULATION OF MODEL

A PV array model based on the mathematical model of the

solar cell is developed using MATLAB/Simulink blocks. The
necessary input parameters such Ns=2, Np=5, A=1.3
Eg=1.424ev and another parameters are taken from the
manufacturer’s datasheet for the Azur space model. The
Simulink model of solar PV cell has shown in figures Fig.
4,5,6,7,8.

Figure 8 Simulation of PV model

VII. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISSCUSTION

Simulation result of I-V characteristic curve of solar PV cell
with Fixed Radiation (100W/km) and Fixed Temperature
(420◦c), obtained from MATLAB/Simulink shown in Figure
9.

Figure 4 Simulation model for calculation of Irs

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 Science Technology & Innovation Journal (STIJ), Vol. 1(1), 2017, pp. 1-5

Figure 9Current-voltage Curve Figure 11 Current-voltage Curve with variable Radiation and
Fixed Temperature.
Simulation result of (P-V) characteristic curve of solar PV cell
with Fixed Radiation (100W/km) and Fixed Temperature Simulation result of P-V characteristic curve of solar PV cell
(420◦c), obtained from MATLAB/Simulink shown in Figure with variable Radiation and Fixed Temperature, obtained from
10. MATLAB/Simulink shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12 Power-voltage Curve with variable Radiation and

Figure 10 Power-voltage Curve Fixed Temperature

Simulation result of I-V characteristic curve of solar PV cell Simulation result of I-V characteristic curve of solar PV cell
with variable Radiation and Fixed Temperature, obtained from with variable Temperature and Fixed Radiation, obtained from
MATLAB/Simulink shown in Figure 11. MATLAB/Simulink shown in Figure 13.

Copyright © 2017, F T H
 Science Technology & Innovation Journal (STIJ), Vol. 1(1), 2017, pp. 1-5

Subsystem V, V I, mA P, W
OBC 5 214 1.07
ADCS 5 245 1.22
COM 3.3 568 1.87
Payload 5 100 0.5
Total power - - 4.66

IX. CONCLUSION

In this paper, a PV array has been modeled and simulated in

MATLAB/SIMULINK environment. The space environment
model has been used to analyze the solar panel (Azur space)
and the effect of the radiation and temperature on it. As a
result, the Azur space solar panel has been found to be suitable
for the space environment.

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The Power budget of ISRASAT1 is 4.66w repents the Total
power, 18.3V repents the Total voltage and 1.029m A repents
the Total current. According to the mission requirement the
power is distributed to ISRASAT subsystems.

Table 4 Cube-Sat Power Consumption Specifications [4]

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