Modelling of Novel Architecture of PV Generator Based on a-Si: H/c-Si Materials and Using Solar Tracker for Partial Shading

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the shading effect on a novel architecture of photovoltaic generator (PVG) proposed in this paper. This architecture consists of three photovoltaic (PV) modules in series connected. Two of them consist of amorphous silicon cells in series connected. The third module consists of monocrystalline silicon cells in series connected. This architecture is conceived as a PV concentrator, where the two amorphous PV modules are located in the lower position, and the third one is located in the upper position precisely in the focus. The role of the upper module is to absorb the solar rays, which are reflected by the two other modules to gain the maximum of solar energy. This novel architecture is aimed at solving the problems existing with the architecture of tandem solar cells proposed in literature. Those problems are the mismatch between cells and the tunnel junction costs and fabrication. In this work, we use MATLAB/Simulink for modelling this architecture and studying its characteristics (I–V and P–V) in case of partial shading. Through this study, it was found that the maximum PV power is affected by the partial shading. To solve this problem, we have implemented in this work a solar tracker.