Photovoltaic Cell

Abstract-This paper focuses on a Matlab/SIMULINK model of a photovoltaic cell. This model is based on mathematical equations and is described through an equivalent circuit including a photocurrent source, a diode, a series resistor and a shunt resistor. The developed model allows the prediction of PV cell behaviour under different physical and environmental parameters. The model can also be used to extract the physical parameters for a given solar PV cell as a function of temperature and solar radiation. In addition, this study outlines the working principle of PV module as well as PV array. In order to validate the developed model, an experimental test bench was built and the obtained results exhibited a good agreement with the simulation ones. Keywords-Matlab, SIMULINK, PV, solar cell model, solar array model, solar radiation, maximum power point

1. Introduction The development of new energy sources is continuously enhanced because of the critical situation of the chemical industrial fuels such as oil, gas and others. Thus, the renewable energy sources have become a more important contributor to the total energy consumed in the world. In fact, the demand for solar energy has increased by 20% to 25% over the past 20 years [1]. The market for PV systems is growing worldwide. In fact, nowadays, solar PV provides around 4800 GW. Between 2004 and 2009, grid connected PV capacity reached 21 GW and was increasing at an annual average rate of 60% [2]. In order to get benefit from the application of PV systems, research activities are being conducted in an attempt to gain further improvement in their cost, efficiency and reliability. With no pollutant emission, Photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly to electricity. They are basically made up of a PN junction. Figure 1 shows the photocurrent generation principle of PV cells. In fact, when sunlight hits the cell, the photons are absorbed by the semiconductor atoms, freeing electrons from the negative layer. This...