%0 Journal Article
%T A New Strategy for Accurately Predicting Electrical Characteristics of PV Modules Using a Nonlinear Five-Point Model
%A Sakaros Bogning Dongue
%A Donatien Njomo
%A Lessly Ebengai
%J Journal of Energy
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/321694
%X This paper presents the modelling of electrical response of illuminated photovoltaic crystalline modules. As an alternative method to the linear five-parameter model, our strategy uses advantages of a nonlinear analytical five-point model to take into account the effects of nonlinear variations of current with respect to solar irradiance and of voltage with respect to cells temperature. We succeeded in this work to predict with great accuracy the characteristics of monocrystalline shell SP75 and polycrystalline GESOLAR GE-P70 photovoltaic modules. The good comparison of our calculated results to experimental data provided by the modules manufacturers makes it possible to appreciate the contribution of taking into account the nonlinear effect of operating conditions data on characteristics of photovoltaic modules. 1. Introduction The performance of photovoltaic modules is highly dependent on both the availability of solar radiation in the locality and the temperature of photovoltaic cells [1]. A real knowledge and mastery of photovoltaic modules are important as are the design and technology choice for a project operating photovoltaic electricity. Important research has been carried out throughout the world in view of mastering electrical performance of photovoltaic modules [2, 3]. Numerical models are developed for this purpose [4, 5], mainly to reduce the costs of experimental studies. Unfortunately, these studies are very useful, particularly to obtain accurate results [6, 7]. It is obvious that the application of the best model will combine in a better way simplicity and accuracy [8, 9]. This work consists in doing comparative study between a five-parameter three-point model hereafter referred to as five-parameter model characterized by both the linear variation of the current with respect to the irradiance and the linear variation of the voltage with respect to the temperature of the cells and an adjusted five-parameter five-point model hereafter referred to as five-point model which takes into account the nonlinear effects of both the variation of the current with respect to the irradiance and the variation of the voltage with temperature. 2. Single-Diode Equivalent Circuit of a PV Module A photovoltaic module under illumination can be represented either by two-diode [10] or by one-diode equivalent circuit. In normal operating conditions, the one-diode model is the most common [11], and the photovoltaic module is equivalent to the following electrical circuit (see Figure 1). Figure 1: Equivalent electrical circuit for the one-diode model. The
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jen/2013/321694/