Sample Problems and Solutions-2

Prob.1 Draw the I-V and PV characteristics of photovoltaic solar silicon cellat STC.
Consider the following parameters Boltzmann k = 1.38× 10-23 JK-1, electron charge q = 1.6×
10-19 C, ideality factor α = 1.4, Photocurrent, Iph = 4.0 A, reverse saturation current Io = 8.5×
10-8 A, at the STC, energy gap of silicon Eg = 1.1eV. Use the following I-V relationship.
  qV  
I = I ph − I o exp   − 1 . Consider dependence of reverse saturation current on temperature
  α KT  
3
T   qEg   1 1 
as follows Io = Io,n  n  exp   − 
T   α K   Tn T 
Redraw the characteristics on same graph if the temperature increases to 45°C with
irradiation remain constant. Assume any missing data for standard silicon PV cell. Identify
peak power point on the PV curve.

Soln.
Prob. 2 A solar PV module is characterized under STC and produces 75 Wp, with Vm and
Im of 17.5 V and 4.28 A, respectively. The open circuit voltage is 20.0 V and short circuit
current is 5.0 A. It is desired to use perturb & observe (P&O) method of MPPT to track the
maximum power using a buck DC-DC converter. Describe the algorithm by choosing duty
ratio step of 0.02 with the initial duty ratio of 0.1 for the resistive load of R = 2 Ω.

Soln.
Prob. 3 Approximately draw the I-V and PV characteristics of two series connected PV
modules with bypass diodes connected across each PV modules. The two modules are under
partial shading condition with one at G1= 1000 W/m2 and G2= 800 W/m2. Other parameters
at STC are Vmpp= 17.20 V, Impp= 2.2A, Voc= 21.80 V, Isc= 2.4A. The forward voltage drop
across bypass diodes is considered 0 V. Briefly describe the importance of GMPPT method.

Soln.