Impact of ripple current on the average output power of solar cells

Author

Schofield, D.M.K. ; Foster, M.P. ; Stone, David A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. & Electr. Eng., Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

fYear

2012

fDate

27-29 March 2012

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

5

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the effects of power converter induced ripple on solar cells. The majority of analysis presented on maximum power point tracking (MPPT) schemes and switched mode power converters (SMPCs) assume smooth DC current is drawn from the cell. In this paper, results from simulation and experimental work are presented to elucidate these effects, showing a significant degradation in the maximum average power when ripple current is accounted for. The effects of power converter switching frequency are also given showing an improvement in the average power from the PV module at greater frequencies.

Keywords

maximum power point trackers; photovoltaic power systems; solar cells; switched mode power supplies; switching convertors; DC current; MPPT scheme; PV module; SMPC; maximum power point tracking; power converter switching frequency; ripple current impact; solar cell; switched mode power converter; MPPT; current ripple; photovoltaic; solar power; switched mode power converters;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

iet

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics, Machines and Drives (PEMD 2012), 6th IET International Conference on

Conference_Location

Bristol

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-84919-616-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1049/cp.2012.0333

Filename

6242185