Bayesian estimation of equivalent circuit parameters of photovoltaic cells

Abstract

Abstract The equivalent circuit model of a photovoltaic cell is useful for understanding device loss mechanisms as well as the design and analysis of systems using photovoltaic cells. Although nonlinear least-squares methods are routinely applied for the extraction of equivalent circuit parameters using current–voltage characteristic curves, they only yield a point estimation sensitive to the initial value and do not provide an estimation error. In this study, a data-driven approach using Bayesian estimation is proposed to extract equivalent circuit parameters. Contrary to the conventional least-squares method, this method does not require tedious initial value adjustments and provides an estimation error.