VOL. 7, NO. 5, MAY 2012 ISSN 1819-6608
ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
©2006-2012 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN). All rights reserved.
www.arpnjournals.com
616
MODELING AND SIMULATION BASED APPROACH OF
PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEM IN SIMULINK MODEL
M. Abdulkadir, A. S. Samosir and A. H. M. Yatim
Department of Energy Conversion, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai,
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
E-Mail: musa.abdulkadir@fkegraduate.utm.my
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the modeling and simulation of photovoltaic model using MATLAB/Simulink software
package. The proposed model is design with a user-friendly icon using Simpower of Simulink block libraries. Taking the
effect of irradiance and temperature into consideration, the output current and power characteristic of PV model are
simulated using the proposed model. Detailed modeling procedure for the circuit model with numerical values is presented.
The simulator is verified by applying the model to 36 W PV modules. The proposed model was found to be better and
accurate for any irradiance and temperature variations. The proposed model can be very useful for PV Engineers and
expert who require a simple, fast and accurate PV simulator to design their systems.
Keywords: modeling, photovoltaic module, Simulink model.
INTRODUTION
Photovoltaic energy is a source of interesting
energy. It is renewable, inexhaustible and nonpolluting,
and that it is more and more intensively used as energy
sources in various applications. Photovoltaic systems have
been the worldwide fast growing energy source because of
the increase in energy demand and the fact that fossil
energy sources are finite, and that they are expensive.
Furthermore, the impacts that the energy technology has
on the environment which make the photovoltaic become
a mature technology in used (Jung H. J. and Ahmed S.,
2010). The increase in a number of Photovoltaic system
installed all over the world brought the need for proper
supervision and control algorithms as well as modeling
and simulation tool for researcher and practitioners
involved in its application is very necessary.
The modeling and simulation of photovoltaic
(PV) have made a great transition and form an important
part of power generation in this present age. The modeling
of PV module generally involves the approximation of the
non-linear I-V curve. Many researchers used circuit based
approach to characterize the PV module of which the
simplest model is the current source in parallel to a diode
(Da Silva R. M. et al., 2010; Altas H. I. et al., 2007; Nena
S. et al., 2010 and Gradella Marcelo et al., 2007). In a PV
system, peak power point changes continuously due to
environmental variations, sometime substantial drop in
power especially during partial shading conditions.
Several computational methods are proposed by several
researchers (Ishaque K, Zainal Salam, 2011, Dell R. V. et
al., 2010, Da Silva R. M. et al., 2010; Jung J. H. and
Ahmed S., 2010 and Walker G., 2001; Dell Aquila R. V.,
2010; Ebrahim M., 2007). Simple circuit-based
photovoltaic model has proposed in (Da Silva R. M. et al.,
2010; Jung J. H. and Ahmed S., 2010; Walker G., 2001;
Yushaizad Yusof, et al., 2004 and Jung Jee-Hoon, Ahmed
S., 2010). Indirect methods have also been proposed by
some researchers where the, I-V curve is adjusted through
artificial intelligence techniques (Veerachary M., 2005;
Chowdhury S., Chowdhury S.P., 2008; Zegaoui A., 2011;
Ramaprabha R. and Mathur B. L., 2011). Although some
of these methods are impractical, complicated and require
high computational effort, and some of these modeling
was limited to simulation of photovoltaic module
characteristics. Thus, because of the numerous challenges,
an accurate and comprehensive design of PV system using
the detailed circuit model in MATLAB Simulink model
was proposed.
In section II, the circuit model of the PV module
system is shown. Section III, the mathematical equations
of the PV module (cells) and the Simulink model for these
equations of the PV module is presented. In section IV, the
numerical results for different temperature and irradiance
conditions is presented. Section V presents the discussion
and conclusion of the modeling process. Detailed of the
circuit model of the PV cell is discussed in the next
section.
THE CIRCUIT MODELS OF THE PV MODULES
Photovoltaic cell models have long been a source
for the description of photovoltaic cell behaviors for
researchers and professionals. The most common model
used to predict energy production in photovoltaic cell
modeling is the single diode circuit model (Ishaque K,
Zainal Salam, 2011; Dell R. V. et al., 2010; Da Silva R.
M. et al., 2010; Jung J. H. and Ahmed S., 2010 and
Walker G., 2001) shown in Figure-1.
The ideal photovoltaic module consists of a
single diode connected in parallel with a light generated
current source (
) as shown in Figure-1. The equation
for the output current is given by:
Where