Modelling pavement photovoltaic arrays with cellular automata

This paper proposes a dynamic modelling of two-lane pavement photovoltaic (PV) arrays based on cellular automata theory, and the influence of random vehicle shadows on the output characteristics is explored and analysed. In the proposed model, a mathematical model of two-lane pavement PV array is established with considering the influence of bypass diodes and blocking diodes. In order to characterize the change of irradiation intensity caused by vehicle shadow, an asymmetric two-lane Nagel-Scheckenberg (ATNS) model is introduced in the driving process of vehicles. Moreover, the vehicle position at each time is obtained to further establish the randomly changing vehicle shadow matrix. The actual irradiance matrix can be obtained by combining vehicle shadow matrix with the irradiance matrix related to the external environment, and then a dynamic model of twolane pavement PV arrays is established. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, the influence of the slowing probability and shading degree on the proposed model is analysed, where three representative scenarios are set to study the randomness of vehicle shading and its effects. Finally, simulations and experiments are conducted and the results show that the slowing probability and shading degree are the key two factors on the output characteristics of two-lane pavement PV arrays, and the dynamic random vehicle shadows significantly affect the output characteristics, resulting in a changing multi-peak state of the power-voltage curve and the global maximum power point being in a floating fast-changing state.

Automated summary

This paper proposes a dynamic modelling of two-lane pavement photovoltaic arrays based on cellular automata theory, and explores the influence of random vehicle shadows on the output characteristics. A mathematical model of two-lane pavement PV arrays considering bypass diodes and blocking diodes is established. An asymmetric two-lane Nagel-Scheckenberg (ATNS) model is introduced to characterize the change of irradiation intensity caused by vehicle shadows. Simulations and experiments show that the slowing probability and shading degree significantly affect the output characteristics, and the dynamic random vehicle shadows result in a changing multi-peak state of the power-voltage curve.