A new linearized behavioral model for solar cells

This document proposes a new mathematical model of a solar cell that can be implemented in various software platforms. The model is based on an hyperbolic tangent function and linear equations for short circuit current, open circuit voltage and saturation conductance. It incorporates the irradiation and temperature effects and fits to the physical solar cell behavior by measuring the currents and voltages at two temperature and three irradiation levels. A difference from other models is that it does not need to know implicit physical parameters and can be used in integrated circuit design software. The model is fitted to three commercial solar cells and results exhibit average relative errors less than two percent, corresponding to saturation region of solar cell current.