Photovoltaic Cell String Layout

João Paulo N. Torres^1, , Carlos Alberto Fernandes¹ and João C. Leite¹

¹Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

Cite this paper:
João Paulo N. Torres, Carlos Alberto Fernandes and João C. Leite. Photovoltaic Cell String Layout. Sustainable Energy. 2017; 5(1):16-25. doi: 10.12691/rse-5-1-3

Abstract

The aim of this work is to evaluate possible ways of minimizing the effect of both the longitudinal and transversal shading properties inherent to concentrating collectors that are fixed to building structures. Solarus AB PVT cell strings contain 38 solar cells connected in series. Solar cells in the concentrated side of the collector are shaded due to the presence of the aluminium frame of the PVT collector. The effects of shading and of non-uniform illumination are minimized by including bypass diodes. Each string has 4 groups of bridged cells, each one associated to a bypass diode. In this work, different combinations of string cells in the collector receiver have been simulated in a LTPSPICE environment. At the end, a comparative analysis is presented.

Keywords:
solar cells longitudinal and transversal shading concentrating collectors bypass diodes

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