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Mathematical modeling of photovoltaic module

with Simulink

Conference Paper February 2011

DOI: 10.1109/ICEES.2011.5725339 Source: IEEE Xplore

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 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011

Mathematical Modeling of
Photovoltaic Module with Simulink
N. Pandiarajan and Ranganath Muthu
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering
SSN College of Engineering
Kalavakkam -603110, TamilNadu, India
pandiarajann@ssn.edu.in
ranganathm@ssn.edu.in

Abstract This paper presents a unique step-by-step procedure
for the simulation of photovoltaic modules with Matlab/
Simulink. One-diode equivalent circuit is employed in order to
investigate I-V and P-V characteristics of a typical 36 W solar
module. The proposed model is designed with a user-friendly
icons and a dialog box like Simulink block libraries.
Keywords - Photovoltaic module, Matlab/Simulink.
Regardless of the intermittency of sunlight, solar energy is
widely available and is free. Recently, photovoltaic system is
recognized to be in the forefront in renewable electric power
generation. It can generate direct current electricity without
environmental impact and contamination when exposed to
solar radiation. Being a semiconductor device, the PV system is
static, quiet, free of moving parts, and has little operation and
maintenance costs.

I. NOMENCLATURE PV module represents the fundamental power conversion

Vpv is output voltage of a PV module (V)
Ipv is output current of a PV module (A)
Tr is the reference temperature = 298 K
T is the module operating temperature in Kelvin
unit of a PV generator system. The output characteristics of a
PV module depend on the solar insolation, the cell temperature
and the output voltage of the PV module. Since PV module has
nonlinear characteristics, it is necessary to model it for the
design and simulation of maximum power point tracking
(MPPT) for PV system applications.

Iph is the light generated current in a PV module (A)
Io is the PV module saturation current (A)
A = B is an ideality factor = 1.6
k is Boltzman constant = 1.3805 10 -23
J/K
q is Electron charge = 1.6 10-19 C
Rs is the series resistance of a PV module
ISCr is the PV module short-circuit current at 25 oC and
1000W/m2 = 2.55A
Ki is the short-circuit current temperature co-efficient at
ISCr = 0.0017A / oC
is the PV module illumination (W/m2) = 1000W/m2
Ego is the band gap for silicon = 1.1 eV
Ns is the number of cells connected in series
Np is the number of cells connected in parallel
II. INTRODUCTION
Among the renewable energy resources, the energy due to
the photovoltaic (PV) effect can be considered the most
essential and prerequisite sustainable resource because of the
ubiquity, abundance, and sustainability of solar radiant energy.
Mathematical modeling of PV module is being continuously
updated to enable researcher to have a better understanding of
its working. [1]- [6]
In this paper, a step-by-step procedure for simulating PV
module with subsystem blocks, with user-friendly icons and
dialog in the same way as Matlab/ Simulink block libraries is
developed. Section III presents the PV module equivalent
circuit and equations for Ipv, the output current from the PV
module. The reference model presented in section IV provides
data for Solkar make 36 W PV module for simulation. In
section V, the step-by-step modeling procedure of PV module
is presented with simulation results. Finally, brief conclusions
are drawn in Section VI.
III. MATHEMATICAL MODEL FOR A
PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE
A solar cell is basically a p-n junction fabricated in a thin
wafer of semiconductor. The electromagnetic radiation of
solar energy can be directly converted to electricity through
photovoltaic effect. Being exposed to the sunlight, photons
with energy greater then the band-gap energy of the
semiconductor creates some electron-hole pairs proportional to
the incident irradiation.
The equivalent circuit of a PV cell is as shown in Figure 1.

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 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011
Figure 1. PV cell modeled as diode circuit
The current source Iph represents the cell photocurrent. Rsh
and Rs are the intrinsic shunt and series resistances of the cell,
respectively. Usually the value of Rsh is very large and that of
Rs is very small, hence they may be neglected to simplify the
analysis.
PV cells are grouped in larger units called PV modules
which are further interconnected in a parallel-series
configuration to form PV arrays.
The photovoltaic panel can be modeled mathematically as
given in equations (1)- (4) [3] [5].
Module photo-current:
I ph = [ I SCr + K i (T 298)] * / 1000
Module reverse saturation current - Irs:
I rs = I SCr /[exp(qVOC / N S kAT ) 1]
The module saturation current I0 varies with the cell
temperature, which is given by
T 3 q * Eg 0 1 1
I 0 = I rs [ ] exp[ ] (3)
Tr Bk Tr T
The current output of PV module is
q * (VPV + I PV Rs )
I PV = N P * I ph N P * I 0 [exp 1]
N S AkT
Where Vpv = Voc, Np = 1 and Ns = 36
IV. REFERENCE MODEL
Solkar make 36 W PV module is taken as the reference
module for simulation and the name-plate details are given in
Table 1.
TABLE 1: ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS DATA OF
SOLKAR 36W PV MODULE
Rated Power
Voltage at Maximum power (Vmp)
Current at Maximum power ( Imp)
Open circuit voltage ( VOC)
Short circuit current ( ISCr)
Total number of cells in series (Ns)
Total number of cells in parallel (Np)
Note: The electrical specifications are under test conditions of irradiance of 1
o
kW/m2, spectrum of 1.5 air mass and cell temperature of 25 C.
V. STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE FOR SIMULINK
MODELING OF PV MODULE
A model of PV module with moderate complexity that
includes the temperature independence of the photocurrent
source, the saturation current of the diode, and a series
resistance is considered based on the Shockley diode equation.
Being illuminated with radiation of sunlight, PV cell
converts part of the photovoltaic potential directly into
electricity with both I-V and P-V output characteristics.
Using the equations given in section III, simulink modeling
is done in the following steps
A. Step 1
Subsystem 1 is shown in Figure 1. This model converts
the module operating temperature given in degrees Celsius to
Kelvin.
Figure 2. Subsystem 1.
(1)
Figure 3 gives the circuit under subsystem 1.
(2)
Figure 3. Circuit under subsystem 1
B. Step 2
(4) Subsystem 2 is shown in Figure 4. This model takes
following inputs.
Insolation/ Irradiation (G / 1000) 1 kW/ m2 = 1.
Module operating temperature TaK = 30 to 70oC
Module reference temperature TrK = 25oC.
Short circuit current (ISC) at reference temp. = 2.55A
37.08 W
16.56 V
2.25 A
21.24 V
2.55 A This model calculates the short circuit current ( ISC) at given
36 operating temperature. Figure 5 gives the circuit under
1
subsystem.
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 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011
temperature TaK as input and calculates module saturation
current. Figure 9 gives the circuit under subsystem 4.

Figure 5. Circuit under subsystem 2

C. Step 3
Subsystem 3 is shown in Figure 6. This model takes short
circuit current ISC at reference temp. = 2.55A and Module Figure 9. Circuit under subsystem 4
reference temperature TrK = 25oC as input.
E. Step 5
Subsystem 5 is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 6. Subsystem 3
Using equation 2, the reverse saturation current of the diode is
calculated in subsystem 3. Figure 7 gives the circuit under
subsystem 3.
Figure 10: Subsystem 5.
This model takes operating temperature in Kelvin TaK and
calculates the product NsAkT, the denominator of the
exponential function in equation (4). Figure 11 gives the
circuit under subsystem 5.

Figure 11. Circuit under subsystem 5

F. Step 6
Subsystem 6 is shown in Figure 12.

Figure 7. Circuit under subsystem 3

D. Step 4
Subsystem 4 is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 12. Subsystem 6.

This model executes the function given by the equation (4).

Figure 8. Subsystem 4.
The following function equation is used.
IPV = u(3)-u(4)*(exp((u(2)*(u(1)+u(6)))/(u(5)))-1)
This model takes reverse saturation current Irs, Module
reference temperature TrK = 250 C and Module operating Figure 13 gives the circuit under subsystem 6.

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 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011
Matlab code for plotting XY graph is given below.
plot (Vpv,Ipv)
plot (Vpv, Ppv)
The code for plotting scope signals is
plot(tout,Ipv)
H. Performance Estimation
With the developed model, the PV module characteristic is
estimated as follows.

(i) I-V and P-V characteristics under varying

irradiation with constant temperature are obtained
Figure 13. Circuit under subsystem 6
as shown in Figures 16(a) to 16(d).
G. Step 7 1. In Figure 16(a), the input irradiation is shown.
All above six models are interconnected as given in Figure Between 0 and 1 s, the irradiation is 200W/m2,
14. between 1 and 2 s it is 600 W/m, while from 2 s
onwards it is 1000W/m2.

Figure 16(a). Input Time varying irradiation

2. In Figure 16(b), the input temperature is shown
which is constant at 250C.

Figure 14. Interconnection of all six subsystems

The final model is shown in Figure 15. The workspace is

added to measure Ipv, Vpv, Ppv in this model. The time tout is
stored in workspace with scope model can be used to plot Figure 16(b). Input - Constant temperature 250C
graph. 3. The I-V output characteristics of PV module
with varying irradiation at constant temperature
are shown in Figure 16(c).

Figure 15. Simulink model of PV module Figure 16(c). Output I-V characteristics with varying
irradiation
The final model takes irradiation, operating temperature in 4. The P-V output characteristics of PV module
Celsius and module voltage as input and gives the output with varying irradiation at constant temperature
current Ipv and output voltage Vpv. are shown in Figure 16(d).

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 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011
Figure 16(d). Output P-V characteristics with varying
irradiation

The above graphs are user friendly.

When the irradiation increases,
 The current output increases
 The voltage output also increases. This
results in net increase in power output with
increase in irradiation at constant
temperature.
(ii) I-V and P-V Characteristics under constant
irradiation with varying temperature are obtained in
Figures 17(a) to 17(d).
1. In Figure 17(a) the time varying temperature
signal is shown. Between 0 and 1 second, the
temperature of 250C is applied and it is
increased to 50 and 750C.
Figure 17(a). Input Time varying temperature
2. The I-V output characteristics of PV module
with varying temperature at constant irradiation
of 1000W/m2 are shown in Figure 17(b).
Figure 17(b). Output I-V characteristics with varying
temperature
3. The P-V output characteristics of PV module
with varying temperature at constant irradiation
are shown in Figure 17(c).
318
Figure 17(c). Output P-V characteristics with varying
temperature
4. The output power vs. time of PV module is
shown in Figure 17(d). The power output
reduces with increase in temperature at
constant irradiation.
Figure 17(d). Output power vs. time

When the operating temperature increases,
 The current output increases marginally
 But the voltage output decreases drastically
 Results in net reduction in power output
with rise in temperature
The results are verified and found matching with the
manufacturers data sheet output curves.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
The step-by-step procedure for modeling the PV module is
presented. This mathematical modeling procedure serves as an
aid to induce more people into photovoltaic research and gain a
closer understanding of I-V and P-V characteristics of PV
module.
REFERENCES
[1] M.Veerachary,Power Tracking for Nonlinear PV Sources with Coupled
Inductor SEPIC Converter, IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and
Electronic Systems, vol. 41, No. 3, July 2005.
[2] I. H. Altas and A.M. Sharaf, A Photovoltaic Array Simulation Model
for Matlab-Simulink GUI Environment, IEEE, Clean Electrical Power,
International Conference on Clean Electrical Power (ICCEP '07), June
14-16, 2007, Ischia, Italy.
[3] S.Chowdhury, S.P.Chowdhury, G.A.Taylor, and Y.H.Song,
Mathematical Modeling and Performance Evaluation of a Stand-Alone
Polycrystalline PV Plant with MPPT Facility, IEEE Power and Energy
Society General Meeting - Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy
in the 21st Century, July 20-24, 2008, Pittsburg, USA.
 International Conference on Electrical Energy Systems (ICEES 2011), 3-5 Jan 2011
[4] Jee-Hoon Jung, and S. Ahmed, Model Construction of Single [6] www.mathworks.com
Crystalline Photovoltaic Panels for Real-time Simulation, IEEE Energy
Conversion Congress & Expo, September 12-16, 2010, Atlanta, USA.
[5] S. Nema, R.K.Nema, and G.Agnihotri, Matlab / simulink based study
of photovoltaic cells / modules / array and their experimental
verification, International Journal of Energy and Environment, pp.487-
500, Volume 1, Issue 3, 2010.

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