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Partial shading is an unavoidable factor that reduces the performance of solar PV systems. The PV system receives uneven irradiation due to partial shading which causes the mismatch loss. The partial shading distracts the irradiation from the PV modules that makes the healthy modules as idle or low performing modules. The mismatch loss can be mitigated by uniformly distributing the partial shading over the PV array. In this work, L-shaped propagated array configuration method with a new dynamic reconfiguration algorithm have proposed for enhancing the energy conversion under the partial shading conditions. A new kind of array configuration is implemented in a $4\times 4$ PV array for the better shade dispersion. Further, a dynamic reconfiguration algorithm is employed to disperse the effect of partial shading. The combination of new array configuration and reconfiguration method is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink® and implemented in hardware. The outputs are measured under all possible shading patterns and validated with the outputs of convention methods for observing the enhanced energy conversion rate of the proposed system.

Partial shading causes mismatch losses in the solar PV system. In the PV array, the power output from the healthy PV modules is gone in vain due to the mismatch losses. The PV array construction with the high resistivity to the mismatch loss generation is the progressing research work in the research field. In this work, a new kind of array configuration scheme is framed for the PV system for overcoming the effect of partial shading. The proposed array configuration has a high resistivity to the mismatch loss generation over the other conventional array configuration methods. The array configuration is framed in a pattern that is similar to the spiral step pattern. Each row of the PV array is constructed with the PV modules from each row of the conventional Total Cross Tied configuration with the optimized distance. This row construction allows the system to uniformly disperses the partial shading over the PV array. The simulation analysis is carried out by applying various shading patterns in MATLAB/SimulinkⓇ. The performance of the proposed array configuration is also analyzed in the experimental setup and the results were presented.

Photovoltaic system encounters with some limiting factors such as partial shading that reduces the power output. Partial shading is not predictable; not measurable; and unavoidable. A single partial shaded PV cell limits the power output of the unshaded PV cells connected with it in series. In this paper, a hybrid reconfiguration algorithm has been proposed. The 4 × 4 PV array has connected in Total Cross Tied configuration. The proposed algorithm performs reconfiguration in two steps. In the first step, the algorithm splits the 4 × 4 PV array into two sets of 2 × 4 PV arrays and it establishes the interconnection between the two sets by through the 2 × 2 switching matrix circuit in the second step. The interconnection will be executed based on the power generation of each row in the 2 × 4 PV arrays i.e., the maximum power generating row in the set 1 has connected with the minimum power generating a row in set 2. By this reconfiguration, the rows in the PV array can be made as even current generating rows. The proposed method suppresses the effect of partial shading in the power output also it reduces the required numbers of switches and the dimension of the switching matrix circuit.

The output power produced by solar Photovoltaic (PV) array is reduced drastically by partial shading effect. Various array formation and reconfiguration techniques were introduced by many researchers to mitigate partial shading effects in PV array. This paper proposes new PV Array Topologies (PVATs) to improve the performance during partial shading conditions (PSCs). Totally, eight shading patterns are considered in the analysis for seven types of array configurations. Based on the existing array configurations, six novel PVATs are proposed to address the partial shading effect. A 4 × 4, 4 kW solar PV array which consists of sixteen panel of each 250 W rating is considered in this paper. The proposed PVATs are simulated in MATLAB/Simulink® to assess the performance. The results obtained from the simulation are compared with the conventional PVATs and suitable topologies which give best performance during various PSCs are identified. The result comparison shows that the modified total cross-tied (TCT) configuration performs well to extract more power in most of the PSCs. For the Short and Wide PSC, the proposed TCT improves the output power of PVAT by 105% compared to the existing TCT topology. The proposed method is also validated experimentally using 2 × 2 TCT PV array topology and the output waveforms are presented in this paper. This research would be helpful for the PV power plant installers to identify a suitable array configuration.