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3, MAY 2001

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Generation Control Circuit for Photovoltaic Modules

Toshihisa Shimizu, Member, IEEE, Masaki Hirakata, Tomoya Kamezawa, and Hisao Watanabe
AbstractPhotovoltaic modules must generally be connected in series in order to produce the voltage required to efficiently drive an inverter. However, if even a very small part of photovoltaic module (PV module) is prevented from receiving light, the generation power of the PV module is decreased disproportionately. This greater than expected decrease occurs because PV modules which do not receive adequate light cannot operate on the normal operating point, but rather operate as loads. As a result, the total power from the PV modules is decreased if even only a small part of the PV modules are shaded. In the present paper, a novel circuit, referred to as the generation control circuit (GCC), which enables maximum power to be obtained from all of the PV modules even if some of the modules are prevented from receiving light. The proposed circuit enables the individual PV modules to operate effectively at the maximum power point tracking, irrespective of the series connected PV module system. In addition, the total generated power is shown experimentally to increase for the experimental set-up used in the present study. Index TermsAC interactive inverter, multistage chopper, photovoltaic module.
Fig. 1. Series and parallel connection of photovoltaic modules. (a) Series connection. (b) Parallel connection.

I. INTRODUCTION ECENTLY, awareness of the importance of protecting the global environment has been growing, leading to calls for progress in the effective use of energy in various fields. As a result, not only methods for saving energy, but also the development of the new energy sources has been investigated. PV cells are currently considered to be a new energy source, and a great deal of research has been conducted in this field over the last few decades. As a result, the major disadvantages previously associated with the application of PV power generation, such as initial cost, generation efficiency, and reliability, no longer present such a significant problem. PV generation is a flexible power generation method which is applicable in both small and large power generation plants, i.e., plants that generate anywhere from less than 3 kVA to over 100 kVA. In recent years, interest in small PV power generation systems designed to be installed and used in the house has grown. However, especially in urban areas, various problems limit the effectiveness and economic feasibility of PV power generation. When a typical urban home is equipped with a PV power generation system,

Manuscript received November 15, 1999; revised February 3, 2001. Recommended by Associate Editor K. Smedley. T. Shimizu is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo 192-0397, Japan (e-mail: shimizu@eei. metro-u.ac.jp). M. Hirakata is with the Fuji Electric Company, Ltd., Mie 513-0816, Japan (e-mail: hirakata-masaki@fujielectric.co.jp). T. Kamezawa is with the Hitachi Company, Ltd., Chiba 275-8611, Japan (e-mail: kame@gm.narashino.hitachi.co.jp). H. Watanabe is with the Toshiba Company, Ltd., Tokyo 183-0043, Japan (e-mail: hisao@wta.att.ne.jp). Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8993(01)04043-1.

the PV modules are normally installed on the roof. Thus, in addition to shadows created by clouds, those created by neighboring homes, trees, utility and/or telephone poles, and power line cables sometimes partially cover these PV modules. In conventional PV power systems, these shadows lower the overall generation power to a larger degree than was initially expected. Thus, the construction cost is increased, because the number of PV modules installed on the roof must be increased, and as a result, PV power generation will be less attractive. Therefore, the present authors developed a new circuit, called the generation control circuit (GCC), which maintains generation power even when some of the PV modules are shaded from light. In this method, GCC controls individually the operation point of each of the PV modules, including the shaded PV modules, so as to generate the maximum power for each of the modules. As a result, the decrease in the total generation power is minimized. In the present paper, the characteristics and problems associated with parallel-connected and series-connected PV modules are discussed. Next, the principle by which the generation control circuit operates is presented in relation to solving the above mentioned problems. Two types of practical circuit configurations for GCC are proposed and the control schemes of these configurations are described. In addition, the effectiveness of the proposed circuit is confirmed experimentally [1][4]. II. CONNECTION METHODS OF PV MODULES ASSOCIATED PROBLEMS A. Connection Methods In the PV power generation system, multiple PV modules are generally connected in series, as shown in Fig. 1(a), in order to
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Fig. 3. Generation characteristics for two parallel-connected PV modules. (a) I V characteristics. (b) P V characteristics.

Fig. 2. Shadow effect on the PV modules. (a) Construction of PV module and its internal connection. (b) Generation current on the partially shadowed PV modules.

obtain sufficient dc voltage for realizing high conversion efficiency in the AC interactive inverters. Furthermore, the conventional PV module is constructed of several PV cells connected in series, as shown in Fig. 2(a). Fig. 2(b) shows the measured generation current when some of the PV cells on a PV module are covered partially by a shadow. It is clear that even the slightest shadow falling on a PV module causes a significant drop in generation power. Consequently, the case in which the shaded PV modules in the PV generation system do not operate under uniform generation conditions should be examined. When the nonshaded PV modules and the shaded PV modules are connected in parallel, the generation voltage is fixed for each PV module and is uniform throughout the entire PV generation system, and the current generated from each PV module flows without restriction, as shown in Fig. 1(b). In other words, the output voltage of the PV system becomes the voltage of a single

module, and the output current becomes the sum of the currents in each module. In contrast, when each PV module is connected in series, the same current flows through each module and the output voltage becomes the sum of the voltages across each of the modules. However, the voltage of each module is decided according to the generation current, which depends on the generation conditions. Therefore, the optimal generation voltages are not always obtained for each PV module. In particular, when some of the PV modules do not have sufficient generation current, as shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b), the voltage of the PV modules is greatly decreased and the resultant generation power is also greatly decreased. The individual generation conditions for series-connected or parallel-connected PV modules are clarified in the following section through consideration of the operation point. B. Operation in Parallel-Connected PV Modules Fig. 3(a) shows the typical generation characteristics and curve for two parallel-connected PV modules that have different generation conditions. In this figure, PV and PV represent shaded and nonshaded modules, respectively. In parallel connection, the generation voltage is the same for each PV module. Thus, the operating point of each PV module is given by the point of intersection of the operation line, which is parallel to

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the -axis (for example, , and ), and the curve of each PV module. When the output current of the PV system is increased from zero to the maximum current, the operation point of each PV module moves as indicated in Fig. 3(b), for PV and for PV . This operation characteristic reveals that not only the nonshaded modules, but also the shaded module, can operate in the area where each PV module can generate power. Hence, the total output power characteristics of these PV modules, the curve, is obtained , is as shown in Fig. 3(b). Then, the total output power, given by (1) : generation power on PV , : generation where, power on PV . If each voltage is equivalent at the maximum power point, , obtained at the maximum power the output power, point, in this case point , becomes (2) and where, PV , respectively. are the maximum power on PV and

C. Operation in Series-Connected PV Modules Fig. 4(a) shows the typical curve for PV modules connected in series for the same conditions shown in Fig. 3(a). In series connection the generation current is the same for each PV module. Therefore, the operating point of each PV module is given by the point of intersection of the operation line, parallel , and ), and the to the -axis (for example, curve of each PV module. When the output current of the PV system is increased from zero to the maximum current, the operation point of each PV module moves as indicated in Fig. 4(a), for PV and for PV . On operation line , the shaded PV module, PV , generates its maximum power, but the nonshaded module, PV , does not generate its maximum power yet. When the operation line moves to , the operation points of each module PV and PV move to and , respectively, and the generation power , on PV increases. However, the operation point of PV , moves to the negative voltage region because the current generated from PV flows through the bypass diode connected in anti-parallel with PV , and the resultant generation power on PV becomes negative. This means that the shaded PV module cannot generate any power and causes a power loss. On operation line , the nonshaded PV module, PV , generates the , but the shaded module, PV , cause a maximum power, . Hence, the output power, , on this system power loss is decreased to (3) The total output power characteristic of this PV system, the curve, is obtained in the same manner and is shown in Fig. 4(b). Two peaks in power exist, but the output powers at

Fig. 4. Generation characteristics for two series-connected PV modules. (a) I V characteristics. (b) P V characteristics.

these peak points are much smaller than that of the parallel connected condition shown in Fig. 3(b). Although only two-PV module connection is described in the present paper, the mechanism by which power reduction occurs for multiple PV modules that are connected in series is similar to that for two-PV module connection. III. GENERATION CONTROL CIRCUIT (GCC) A. Operation Principles of the Generation Control Circuit (GCC) Fig. 5(a) and (b) show the operation principles of the proPV modules are posed generation control circuit, in which connected in series. The GCC has multiple voltage sources, to , and the sum of these voltage, to , is equivalent to , on the system. Also, voltage sources the output voltage, through are connected in parallel to PV modules PV through PV , respectively. For the circuit shown in Fig. 5(a), not only the output power of this system but also the power for GCC are always supplied from the output terminal on the series connected PV module. However, for the circuit shown in to , on GCC generFig. 5(b), the voltage source, from ates the positive or negative output power in two ways because and in Fig. 5(a), do not exist. input terminals, such as Therefore, while some of these voltage sources generate positive output power, the other sources generate negative output power, and hence the sum of all of these powers should be zero.

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Fig. 6. Circuit configuration of GCC based on a dc/dc converter.

Hence, the output current, , and the output power, , on this system are calculated as equations (8) and (9), respectively (8) (9) Equation (9) demonstrates that each PV module generates its own power on the desired generation voltage, even though the respective generation currents dont coincide with each other. Furthermore, the power obtained from the output terminal on the system is the sum of the power generated by these PV modules. in (6), In the system shown in Fig. 5(b), the input power, must be zero because there is no input terminal for the current , as shown in Fig. 5(a). Hence, the output current equals . However, there is no restriction of the current direction on to PV the current to . Therefore, the power flows from when the difference between and , , is positive when is negative, and the sum and from PV to of all these powers is zero. Then (5) is revised to (10) and the output current (5) and (6) where, is the input current of GCC. Assuming that the loss on GCC is negligible, the input power of GCC is equal to the sum of the output power (7) Hence, the resultant output power, be obtained by (9). (11) , on the system can also is calculated as

Fig. 5. Operating principle of the generation control circuit. (a) Type A. (b) Type B.

In the system shown in Fig. 5(a), largest current, i.e.,

is assumed to be the

(4) and is supplied by voltage The difference between , enabling PV to maintain generation voltage . source , and the input power, , Thus, the total output power, on GCC are calculated as

B. Practical Circuit Configuration of Generation Control Circuit Figs. 6 and 8 show the practical circuit configurations of the proposed GCC, which realizes the principles shown in Fig. 5(a) and (b), respectively. Fig. 6 shows the circuit configuration of a

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Fig. 9.

Gate signal of the multistage chopper for the GCC.

Fig. 7.

Operation waveforms of the dc/dc converter for the GCC.

PV module, thereby, is decided depending both on the curve and on the generation voltage, (12) where, terval : OFF time of switch , and : Switching In-

(13)

(14) Thus equals the OFF-duty ratio (15) By substituting (15) into (11), the output current is calculated as (16) Therefore, the output power, , is expressed as (17)
Fig. 8. Circuit configuration of GCC based on a multistage chopper.

Thus, individual control of each of the generation voltages, and precise generation control is realized. IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS OF GENERATION CHARACTERISTICS

dc/dc converter having multiple dc voltage output. Each output when the voltage of the dc/dc converter is controlled to number of output voltage sources is . Since the output voltages cannot be controlled individually, precise generation voltage control on each PV module cannot be realized. However, severe power reduction is prevented on the shaded PV modules. The most advantageous feature of this topology is the simple and easy control of the dc/dc converter circuit as shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8 shows the circuit configuration of a multistage chopper circuit, and Fig. 9 shows the gate signals for the switches, . The averaged voltage, , in Fig. 8 on steady-state condition is obtained from the state space averaging method. , is defined When the OFF-duty ratio, , on each switch, as Eqs. (12) and (13), the generation control voltage, , for each PV module, PV , is decided in proportion to the switching OFF-duty ratio, , as in (14). The generation current on each

In this chapter, some of the typical generation characteristics obtained from the experimental set-up are explained. The two-stage chopper circuit shown in Fig. 10 is used in order to simplify the explanation. Switching frequency of the chopper circuit is selected to 20 kHz. is expressed as As mentioned in (16), output current (18) Since, and (20) and are (19)

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Fig. 10.

Two-stage chopper circuit for the GCC.

power

and

flowing into

and

are (21)

and (22) From (14), (21), and (22), it is clear that (23) This result means that the chopper circuit allows bidirectional energy flow between each PV module and the direction of energy flow is dependent upon the generation current of PV modules. Fig. 11(a) and (b) show the experimental results of the generation characteristics (the and curves) on the nonshaded and the shaded PV modules. In order to simulate a partially shaded PV module, part of the PV module is shaded artificially. The output voltage, the output current, and the output , and , respectively, on the shaded power are defined as , and , respectively, on the PV module, PV , and as nonshaded PV modules, PV . , on PV is obIn Fig. 11(b), the maximum power, , and the maximum power, , on PV is tained at . In this case, is slightly lower than obtained at , and is lower than . Since is 3.94 is 16.1 W, the potential power, , W and is 20.04 W. Fig. 12 shows the generation characteristics ( curves) when these two PV modules are connected in series. Curves (a) and (b) show the generated power for inactive and active condition of generation control circuits as shown in Fig. 10, respectively. In this case, GCC is operated at the condition of and . The maximum power is limited W on curve (a), but the maximum to W on curve (b). Thus, power increases to assisted by the generation control circuit, these two PV modules can operate along the vertical operation line OP shown in Fig. 11(b), and as a result the resultant generation power is still increases. However, the generation power because the operation voltage smaller than of each PV module does not coincide with the optimum value, and , in each PV module. As mentioned previously, the generation voltage across each PV module is determined using (14). So the voltage ratio can be controlled using OFF-duty factor control. Fig. 13(a) shows , is changed the operation lines when the OFF-duty ratio, on PV2. while maintaining a constant operation voltage

Fig. 11. Experimental results of generation characteristics on a partially shaded PV module and a nonshaded PV module. (a) I V characteristics. (b) P V characteristics.

Fig. 12. Experimental results of generation characteristics on the two seriesconnected PV module. (a) GCC is inactive. (b) GCC is active.

Fig. 13(b) shows the generation power for the previous gener, ation lines. The maximum power is obtained at where the operation line crosses each of the maximum generaand , and the resultant generation tion voltages, power is almost equal to the potential power of each of the PV

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Fig. 14.

Control system for GCC (multistage chopper).

Fig. 15.

Experimental result of the OFF-duty ratio control.

Fig. 13. OFF-duty ratio control and output power. (a) Variation of the OFFduty ratio control and the resultant operation points. (b) Output power versus the OFF-duty ratio.

modules. Thus, the OFF-duty control is effective in generating the maximum power on each of the PV modules. Fig. 14 shows the control system in which a multistage chopper circuit is used for generation control. The output , is controlled by the buck-chopper circuit so as to current, generate the maximum power at the given OFF-duty ratio of GCC. On the OFF-duty factor control, only the output voltage and the output current are measured, and each OFF-duty is adjusted by a microcomputer. The control steps for this multistage chopper are shown as follows. Step 1) Initialize each OFF-duty as . Step 2) Set Step 3) Keep the ratio of except constant, and adjust . so as to generate the maximum power. Step 4) Control (change the target ) Step 5) then . Step 6) If Step 7) Repeat steps 36. Fig. 15 shows the experimental result of OFF-duty control. The generation power increases when the GCC control starts

at t1. At t2, the generation power decreased because the artificially created shadows are increased on the PV1 modules, but the power decrease is minimized. When the artificially created shadows are removed at t3, the generation power increases again. This result demonstrates that the proposed OFF-duty control performs stable operation. Fig. 16(a) and (b) show the experimental result of the field test. Two systems, as shown in Fig. 16(a), were used in this field test in order to compare the generation power. 12 PV modules are connected in series in each system and the output power rating is 600 W. Generated power in each PV system are supplied to the utility line through the conventional ac interactive inverters. In one system, roughly 4.5% of the surface of the PV module was covered by the artificial shadow, as shown in Fig. 16(a). In the other system, no shadow covered the surface of the PV module. Fig. 16(b) shows the relationship between the test results of the operation time and the generation power on each system. Maximum generation power on the nonshaded system reaches almost 480 W. On the shaded system, the generation control circuit was shut down at 9:15 AM and then reactivated at 12:20 AM. The generated power decreased considerably, to 300 W, when the generation control circuit was inactive. When the generation control circuit was reactivated, the generated power increased to 360 W. These results verify the ability of the generation control circuit to prevent large drops in generated power due to shadows on PV modules.

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REFERENCES
[1] M. Hirakata, T. Shimizu, and G. Kimura, Generation control circuit for PV system, in Proc. ICEE96, vol. 2, Aug. 1996, pp. 992996. [2] N. H. Kutkut, D. M. Divan, and D. W. Novotony, Charge equalization for series connected battery strings, IEEE Trans. Ind. Applicat., vol. 31, pp. 562568, May/June 1995. [3] H. Fujimoto, T. Kagotani, and H. Kidoguchi, Photovoltaic inverter with a novel cycloconverter for interconnection to a utility line, in IEEE Proc. IAS95, 1995, pp. 24612467. [4] B. S. Borowy and Z. M. Salameh, Methodology for optimally sizing the combination of a battery bank and PV array in a wind/PV hybrid system, IEEE Trans. Energy Conversion, vol. 11, pp. 367373, June 1996.

Toshihisa Shimizu (M80) was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1955. He received the B.E., M.E., and Dr.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1978, 1980, and 1991, respectively. In 1998, he was a Visiting Professor at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, for four months. He joined Fuji Electric Corporate Research and Development, Ltd. in 1980. Since 1994, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, as an Associate Professor. His research interests include power converters, high frequency inverters, photovoltaic power generations, UPSs, EMI problems, etc. Dr. Shimizu has received the Transactions Paper Award from the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan in 1999. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ) and the Japan Society of Power Electronics.

Fig. 16. Experimental result of the field test. (a) Block diagram of the experimental setup. (b) Output power versus operation time.

V. CONCLUSIONS The generation control circuit for PV modules is proposed, and two practical circuit configurations, the dc/dc converter type and the multistage chopper type, are presented. Despite the fact that several of the PV modules are connected in series, the generation control circuit enables each of the individual PV modules to operate effectively at maximum power even when some of the PV modules are covered by shadows. The dc/dc converter type GCC yields simple and stable circuit operation, except for the precise generation control on each PV module. The multichopper type GCC yields stable circuit operation and precise generation control on each PV module. The OFF-duty control method on the chopper type GCC is presented in order to optimize the generation voltage on each of the PV modules. Experimental and field tests demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed GCC. The number of stages on the multistage chopper or the number of the secondary voltage circuits on the dc/dc converter should be determined by the number of PV modules that are connected in series. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank G. Kimura for his help in construction of a field experimentation model.

Masaki Hirakata was born in Gunma, Japan, in 1972. He received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Science University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1995 and the M.E. degree in electrical engineering from the Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1997. Since 1997, he has been with Fuji Electric Company, Ltd., Tokyo, His research interests include power converters, and ac drive systems. Mr. Hirakata is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ).

Tomoya Kamezawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1973. He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, in 1996 and 1998, respectively. Since 1998, he has been with Hitachi Corporation, Chiba, Japan. His research interests include power converters and photovoltaic generation systems.

Hisao Watanabe was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1973. He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, in 1997 and 1999, respectively. Since 1999, he has been with Toshiba Corporation, Tokyo. He has worked on the Development and Design Section, Fuchu Works. His research interests include power electronics for elevator and escalator system. Mr. Watanabe is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ).