Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 123

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Case Study - Monitoring the Photovoltaic Panels

PACURAR Ana Talida1, TOADER Dumitru1, PACURAR Cristian2
1
Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
Department of Physical Foundations of Engineering, Faculty of Electrical and Power Engineering,
V.Parvan 2, 300223, Timisoara, Romania, [email protected], [email protected]
2
Politehnica University of Timisoara, Romania
Department of Civil Engineering and Equipments, Civil Engineering,
Traian Lalescu 2, 300223, Timisoara, Romania, [email protected]

Abstract – The photovoltaic cell represents one of the are thick cells and thin cells. The classification by cell
most dynamic and attractive way to converts renewable type defines semiconductor material cells (Ge, Si, Cd
energy sources in electricity production. That means to Te, Ga As, Ga Al As, Ga In As P, INAS, In Sb or In P)
convert solar energy into electricity. In this paper is or organic cells made using organic pigments. As the
presented a analogy between two types of photovoltaic base structures are crystalline cells (here are:
panels installed, with educational role for students. monocrystalline, polycrystalline) and amorphous cells.
Also the objective of this paper is to estimate the In terms of evolution of manufacturing technology are
performance of photovoltaic panels and to provide the defined: first generation of photovoltaic cells (egg. Si),
best solution for industry. These two types of second generation (thin cells) and third generation
photovoltaic panels were monitored at the same time (organic cells). According to the type of junction there is
and taking into account the same weather conditions. single junction, multi-junction or tandem cells [3].
In introduction of this paper is a short description The four general types of silicon photovoltaic cells are:
regarding the silicon, because it is considered to be the single-crystal silicon; polycrystalline silicon (also
most frequently used material for photovoltaic cell known as multi-crystal silicon); ribbon silicon and
production at industrial level. In this context are amorphous silicon (abbreviated as "aSi", also known as
mentioned below photovoltaic cells: mono-crystalline, thin film silicon).
polycrystalline, ribbon silicon and amorphous silicon Monocrystalline silicon cells are included in the first
(thin film) cells. It is also presented for all these types generation of solar cells. From this family of silicon
of cells the structure, the function, the advantages and solar cells, these cells are robust and efficient. These
the disadvantages. cells are the most expensive because of high energy
consumption for producing silicon with a purity of
Keywords: photovoltaic panels, solar radiation, energy, 99.99%. The cells have a uniform color, usually blue or
monitoring black [3].
Polycrystalline silicon cells were developed by the
I. INTRODUCTION need to reduce the cost of photovoltaic cells.
The manufacturers of photovoltaic cells found the
In the recent years, to use the renewable energy solutions which decreased costs using cheaper materials,
experienced a fast increase. Today are several types of and the cells were made by processes with consuming
renewable energy, the most important of them are the low energy consumption.
following: biomass, wind, solar (e.g.photovoltaic and Ribbon silicon cells are made using a growing of ribbon
thermal ), geothermal energy, hydro and wave energy. from the molten silicon instead of an ingot. The ribbon
The one who directly converts solar energy into silicon cells have the same functionality as the single
electricity is photovoltaic energy. The main component and polycrystalline cells.
for solar energy production is represented by Amorphous silicon cells are made by depositing an
photovoltaic cells [1]. extremely thin film of silicon on a glass surface or a
The structure of photovoltaic cell is dependent by cheap substrate using deposition techniques on large
manufactured material. During last years have been areas of 1m2. This type of cells, that are part of the
tested a lot of materials. From them, only a few were second generation of cells, have an amorphous structure,
found to have the properties required to manufacture the can be with a junction or multi-junction Si and are with
photovoltaic cells. The silicon is considered to be the thin film. Amorphous silicon cells are produced in a
most frequently used material for photovoltaic cells variety of colors.
production at industrial level. Therefore, cells are connected together in series to
There are several classifications of photovoltaic increase the voltage. Several of these series strings of
cells. If we take into account the material thickness there cells may be connected together in parallel to increase
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the current as well. These interconnected cells and their the photovoltaic cell with no load current flowing
electrical connections are then sandwiched between a - Short circuit current - the current which would flow if
top layer of glass or clear plastic and a lower level of the photovoltaic cell output was shorted;
plastic or plastic and metal. An outer frame is attached - Maximum power point voltage - means the level of
to increase mechanical strength, and to provide a way to voltage on the I-V curve which produces the maximum
mount the unit. This package is called a "module" or power;
"panel" and the module is the basic building block of - Maximum power point current - is the level of current
photovoltaic systems [4]. on the I-V curve which produces the maximum power
The modules can be interconnected serial or/and in - Efficiency - is the measure of the amount of solar
parallel, this structure is named "array." A complete energy converted to electrical peak energy.
photovoltaic system has beside photovoltaic array, All these parameters for photovoltaic cells are
another components such as charge controllers, power measured under specified standard test conditions
devices and storage batteries. (STC). STC is generally taken as 1000 W/m2, 25°C and
1.5 AM (air mass).
In all projects, it is important know the electrical
characteristics of photovoltaic modules and, also, to
have a good compatibility with loads and storage
battery.
For these, the representative factors are: current,
voltage and resistance. In all documentations, "I" is the
abbreviation for current, expressed in amps and "V" is
used for voltage in volts, and "R" is used for resistance
in ohms [6].
Fig.1. Market shares of different photovoltaic technologies by Another important factor is short circuit current. In
the year 2014 this case, if it is no resistance in the circuit, a
photovoltaic panel produces its maximum current. It is
Figure 1 presents the percentage and the situation of about a short circuit between its positive and negative
these types of photovoltaic cells on the market in 2014. terminals. This maximum point of current is called the
short circuit current, noted with I(sc). Based by this, if
II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE the module is shorted, the voltage in the circuit is zero.
Conversely, the maximum voltage is produced when
Individual solar cells are hardly ever used on their there is a break in the circuit. This is called the open
own. A cell is essentially a low - voltage, high - current circuit voltage, abbreviated V(oc). Under this condition
device with a typical open - circuit voltage of around 0.5 the resistance is infinitely high and there is no current,
V, far lower than the operating voltage of most electrical since the circuit is incomplete.
loads and systems. So it is normal for a PV module to Figure 2 presents a typical Current-Voltage curve
contain many series - connected cells, raising the voltage and the power for photovoltaic cells.
to a more useful level.
For example, many manufacturers offer modules
with 36 crystalline silicon cells connected in series,
suitable for charging 12 V batteries. These modules have
an open - circuit voltage Voc of around 20 V and a
voltage at the maximum power point Vmp of about 17 V,
giving a good margin for battery charging, even in weak
sunlight [5].
Cells are connected together in series to increase the
voltage, and in parallel to increase the current. These
cells are connected in parallel or/and serial, this package
is called a "module" or "panel" and represents the basic
building block of photovoltaic systems [4]. Fig.2. Typical Current-Voltage curve and the power for
Photovoltaic cells are manufactured as modules and photovoltaic cells
are used in installations of systems. From electrical point
One important factor is the solar radiation. The
of view there are six important parameters which
available solar radiation (Ema) varies depending on the
determined a correct installation and the performance of
time of the year and weather conditions. For any solar
photovoltaic systems. In figure 2 is a graphical
radiation the maximum power, should strike the
explanation of these parameters indicated below:
photovoltaic panel at 90°. To achieve this varies is
- Maximum Power - represents the maximum power
important where on the earth surface, the orientation and
output of the photovoltaic module (see I-V curve from
inclination of panels. To calculate these factors it is
Figure 2)
normally to use specific software for the calculation of
- Open circuit voltage - represents the output voltage of
them or to use the correction coefficients related to the
 Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 125
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location. cases, I=0 and the equation reduce to:

Figure 3 describes an equivalent circuit which could ª nU*0VC º U
help us to understand the performance of photovoltaic 0 = I pv − I 0 « e T − 1» − OC (7)
panels. ¬« »¼ R sh
Rsh is high copared to the open circuit voltage and
the last term can be ignored, and rearranging the
equation results:
ª I pv º
U OC ≈ n * V T * ln « + 1» (8)
¬ Io ¼
With: Uoc - open circuit voltage, [V]
In the case when we set the output voltage to zero, in
the case of short circuit current, we have:
Fig.3. Photovoltaic module equivalent circuit
ª I nsc**VR S −1 º I * R
The basic equation of load current for this equivalent circuit is:
I sc = I pv − I 0 « e T » − sc S
(9)
I = I pv − I d − I sh (1)
«¬ »¼ R sh

With: Isc - short circuit current, [A]

With: I - current through load, [A];
Id - current through diode,[A]; Rsh is high copared to the open circuit voltage and the
Ipv - current generated by PV, [A]; last term can be ignored, and rearranging the equation
Ish - current through the shunt resistor, [A] results:
The voltage across the shunt branches is related in (10)
equation (2). I sc ≈ I pv
U sh = U + I * R s (2) To calculate the output of a photovoltaic panel, we
With: Ush – shunt voltage, [V]; take into account the solar radiation, the temperature and
U - voltage applied to the load, [V]; the performance.
Rs - equivalent circuit series resistance, [ȍ] The temperature is calculated with below equation:
The current through the shunt resistor is presented in (11)
η t = 1 − [γ * (T c − T stc )]
below equation:
With: Ș - efficiency of system;
U U + I * Rs
I sh = sh = (3) Ȗ - Power temperature coefficient
R sh R sh The performance of photovoltaic cells could be
With: Ish - current through the shunt resistor, [A] ; measure with the fill factor. This is the ratio of the
Rsh - equivalent circuit shunt resistance, [ȍ] maximum power to the product of the open circuit
The current through the diode is given by Shockley's voltage and short circuit voltage. The equation is:
equation is presented below in equation (4). Pmax U mpp * I mpp
ª U sh º FillFactor = = (12)
V oc * I sc V oc * I sc
I d = I 0 « e n *VT − 1» (4)
« »
¬ ¼ With: Impp - current at maximum power, [A];
k *T Umpp - voltage at maximum power, [V]
VT = (5)
q The higher fill factor is better. In industry,
With: I0 - reverse saturation current, [V]; photovoltaic cells have this factor greater than 0.7.
k - Boltzmann's constant, k=(1.3806488×10−23), This paper describes the situation of two types of
-1
[J.K ]; photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of a building
n - linearity factor (1 for ideal diode); situated in Timisoara, Romania. These photovoltaic
q - elementary charge, n=(1.602176565×10−19), panels have in structure monocrystalline Si cells and
[C]; polycrystalline Si cells. First photovoltaic panel was
T – p-n junction absolute temperature, [K]; named “Photovoltaic Panel A” and has a nominal power
VT - thermal voltage, [V] of 250W. “Photovoltaic Panel A” contains 60 cells
If we combine the above equations, we have the interconnected serial and the matrix panel is 6x10 cells.
photovoltaic cell (panel) characteristic equation The cells are monocrystalline and size of a cell is
presented in equation (6). 156mm x 156mm. Second photovoltaic panel was
named “Photovoltaic Panel B” and had the same value
ª U n+*IV* R S −1 º U + I * R of nominal power (250W). The second photovoltaic
I = I pv − I 0 «e T
»− S
(6) panel contains 60 cells serial and matrix panel is 6 x10.
«¬ »¼ R sh
The cells are polycrystalline and size of a cell is 156 x
It is easy to use the equation to determine the short 156 mm. Figure 4 presents the photovoltaic panels
circuit current and the open circuit voltage. In both which powering a street lighting pole.
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irradiation on a surface inclined with 45 deg. face

toward South.
Figure 6 present the dependence of these panels by
total solar irradiatio.

Fig.4. Monocrystalline and polycrystalline photovoltaic panels Fig.6. Power of photovoltaic panels by total solar irradiation

The scope of this paper is to monitor the

performance of these photovoltaic panels, measuring the
power provided by them. These panels were mounted in
the same location and were installed on a surface with a
tilted degree of 45 degree faced toward South. We have
chosen this position because on this position
photovoltaic cells collect maximum power.
Fig.7. Power collected comparatively by photovoltaic panels
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Figure 7 display, comparatively, the total power
The scope of this paper is to monitor the collected by these two photovoltaic panels in December
performance for two photovoltaic panels mounted on the 2013.
same site, with the same characteristics, but with
different types of photovoltaic cells. In this study is IV. CONCLUSIONS
presented the situation for two photovoltaic panels
“Photovoltaic Panel A” and “Photovoltaic Panel B” This study presents a comparison between two types
mounted on a building situated in Timisoara. The of photovoltaic panels (monocrystalline and
measurements were realized in December 2013. A polycrystalline). The monocrystalline photovoltaic panel
comparison between these photovoltaic cells was made has better functionality and collective power is higher
in dependence with temperature and solar irradiation. than the polycrystalline photovoltaic panel. When is
Monitoring the solar radiation has an important role in choose a photovoltaic system an important role is the
analyzing both the efficiency of the cells and evaluating photovoltaic panel that will be used. Monocrystal
the optimal locations for the systems. production is more difficult and therefore it is more
Performance monitoring means to measure the expensive.
power provided by these systems at the same the
temperature and the same total solar irradiation on a REFERENCES
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