Efficiency Enhancement of The PV System Through Reconfiguration Strategies Under Non-Uniform Irradiance Conditions

Solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays experience a significant surge in power losses due to Partially Shaded Conditions (PSCs). The presence of clouds, shadows from tall structures, trees, chimneys, and bird droppings can lead to these PSCs. When PV modules are shaded, they go into reverse bias, causing small hotspots to form and increase the system's overall temperature. To mitigate this issue, bypass diodes can be connected antiparallel to the PV modules, although this leads to multiple peaks in the I-V and P-V characteristics. Along with the challenges presented by hotspots, mismatch losses between different modules further, reduce the electricity output of a PV array. The research in focus is designed to evaluate, model, simulate, and analyze the effectiveness of several 4x4 PV array configurations operating under diverse PSCs. Topologies such as series-parallel, bridge-link, honeycomb, and total cross-tied (TCT) are investigated, along with different partial shading patterns like corners, centers, ends, L-shapes, frames, random, and diagonals. These investigations are grounded on the technical specifications of a 130-watt PV module.