Performance enhancement of partially shaded PV array using novel shade dispersion effect on magic-square puzzle configuration

Partial shading conditions decrease the power output from PV arrays. In partial shading conditions the PV modules of the array receive the different solar irradiation, so the arrays exhibit multiple peaks in P-V and I-V characteristics hence mismatch loss occurs between the PV modules. This paper investigates the performance improvement in existing solar photovoltaic (PV) array by re-configurations of the array. The MATLAB/Simulink modeling of PV array configurations such as total cross-tied (TCT), proposed hybrid series parallel - total cross-tied (SP-TCT), bridge link-total cross-tied (BL-TCT), bridge link-honey comb (BL-HC), Magic Square (MS) and MS puzzle pattern based reconfiguration like Re-arranged total-cross tied (RTCT), Re-arranged series parallel-total-cross-tied (RSP-TCT), Re-arranged bridge link-total cross-tied (RBL-TCT) and Re-arranged bridge link-honey comb (RBL-HC) is done. The performance of all these configurations has been investigated using P-V characteristics, power loss due to shading, fill factor and shading dispersion effect on maximum power point (MPP) for various shading patterns namely pattern-1 (vertical shading), 2 (horizontal shading) and 3 (diagonal shading). Extensive analysis is carried out on a 4 x 4 PV array configurations for these shading patterns. The power at MPP of MS and RTCT configurations is 2279 W more, mismatch power loss is 300 W less, and fill factor (FF) is 9.91 more than TCT configuration. The performances of proposed configurations are found superior for some cases of shading patterns. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.