Electrically optimized module concepts to compensate fast periodic shading situations by means of passive elements

Besides common installation of PV systems, more technical complex applications such as vehicleintegrated PV modules or Energy Parks (combined solar and wind farms) gain significant market attraction. Oneof challenges for such applications is fast periodic shadings by obstacles or wind blades. This paper investigatesan approach to integrate passive elements in parallel to each individual cell of the module and compares theperformance of a standard PV module with a module with integrated capacitors as passive elements and a PVmodule with bypass diodes for every single cell under fast periodic shading conditions. For this purpose, in thefirst step, the module is simulated under different moving shading conditions. In the next step a PV module withopen terminals for every solar cell is fabricated and measured outdoor as reference module with no attachedelements and with bypass diodes or capacitors for cells under partial shading conditions. The results show thatmodules with additional capacitors or diodes in module level can benefit higher energy yield compared tostandard PV modules. The energy performance of a capacitor integrated module is mainly dependent by theshading transient, due to the time dependent compensating currents of the capacitors. This paper proves theconcept of functionality of capacitor for compensation of power loss under shading conditions but the feasibilityof integration is a challenge. However, the results show a better performance of the module with bypass diodescompared to the capacitor integrated module with 44 mF capacity.