International Review on Modelling and Simulations (I.RE.MO.S.), Vol. 3, N.

5
October 2010
Manuscript received and revised September 2010, accepted October 2010 Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved
948
A New Approach for Modeling the Photovoltaic Cell
Using Orcad Comparing with the Model Done in Matlab


A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle


Abstract This paper represents two model of photovoltaic, the first uses the Matlab, it explains
the Photovoltaic Cell I-V Characterization and how we can get the Maximum peak power
tracking(MPPT), the other is done in Orcad(new version of Pspice), in Orcad we propose an
electronic circuit to be realize easily, a newer technique will be discussed in the last one, it is a
new geometric approach, it depends on the characteristic of the photovoltaic diode, this approach
give an approximation reasonable to this model, more than the classical one. Copyright 2010
Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar Cell, Photovoltaic, MPPT, Simulink, Orcad


Nomenclature
I-V Current-voltage characteristic
MPPT Maximum peak power tracking
ORCAD A proprietary software tool suite used
primarilyfor electronic design automation
WL,
WV
Boundaries of valence and conductive bands
I Overall current
D
I Diode dark current
L
i Lightinduced current
0
I Saturation current
K Boltzmanns constant
SC
I Short circuit current
oc
v Open circuit voltage
FF Fill factor
max
P Maximum power
out
V Output voltage of the solar cell
out
I Output current of the solar cell
ec
q Solar cell efficiency
in
P Input power
( ) I t
Incident solar radiation
c
A Area of solar cell
PV
i Output current(solar cell)
pv
v Output voltage(solar cell)
0
I Reverse saturation current
T
v Thermal voltage
PV
P Output power
i
R Resistance of diode number i
PWM Pulse width modulation
I. Introduction
Solar cells are in fact large area semiconductor diodes.
Due to photovoltaic effect energy of light (energy of
photons) converts into electrical current [1]. At p-n
junction, an electric field is built up which leads to the
separation of the charge carriers (electrons and holes). At
incidence of photon stream into semiconductor material
the electrons are released, if the energy of photons is
sufficient [2]. Contact to a solar cell is realized due to
metal contacts. If the circuit is closed, meaning an
electrical load is connected, then direct current flows.
The energy of photons comes in "packages" which are
called quants. The energy of each quantum depends on
the wavelength of the visible light or electromagnetic
waves. The electrons are released, however, the electric
current flows only if the energy of each quantum is
greater than WL - WV (boundaries of valence and
conductive bands). The relation between frequency and
incident photon energy is as follows:

W h v = (1)

where there is: h - Planck constant (6.62610
-34
Ws
2
), v -
frequency (Hz).
II. Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells
Among all kinds of solar cells we describe silicon
solar cells only, for they are the most widely used [3].
Their efficiency is limited due to several factors. The
energy of photons decreases at higher wavelengths. The
highest wavelength when the energy of photon is still big
enough to produce free electrons is 1.15 m (valid for
silicon only). Radiation with higher wavelength causes
only heating up of solar cell and does not produce any
electrical current. Each photon can cause only production

A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
949
of one electron-hole pair. So even at lower wavelengths
many photons do not produce any electron-hole pairs, yet
they effect on increasing solar cell temperature. The
highest efficiency of silicon solar cell is around 23 %, by
some other semi-conductor materials up to 30 %, which
is dependent on wavelength and semiconductor material.
Self loses are caused by metal contacts on the upper side
of a solar cell, solar cell resistance and due to solar
radiation reflectance on the upper side (glass) of a solar
cell. Crystalline solar cells are usually wafers, about 0.3
mm thick, sawn from Si ingot with diameter of 10 to 15
cm. They generate approximately 35 mA of current per
cm
2
area (together up to 2 A/cell) at voltage of 550 mV
at full illumination. Lab solar cells have the efficiency of
up to 20 %, and classically produced solar cells up to15
%.

Fig. 1. The structure of a silicon solar cell and working mechanism
III. Basic Parameters of Solar Cells
There are certain parameters to be mentioned in the I-
V characteristics of a solar cell [4].
III.1. Overall Current I
Overall current is determined by subtracting the light-
induced current from the diode dark current and can be
expressed as:
D L
i I i = : Overall current
D
I : Diode dark current
L
i : lightinduced current


( )
0
1
eV
KT
L
i I e I = (2)

where
0
I is the saturation current, which is also known
as the leakage or diffusion current; e is the charge on an
electron and hole and K is Boltzmanns constant. Both
L
I and
0
I depend on the structure of solar cells.
III.2. Short Circuit Current
SC
I
Short circuit current is the light-generated current or
photo current,
L
I . It is the current in the circuit when the
load is zero in the circuit. It can be achieved by
connecting the positive and negative terminals by copper
wire.
III.3. Open Circuit Voltage
oc
v
Open circuit voltage is obtained by setting 0 I = in
the expression for overall current i.e. 0 I = when
oc
V V = :

0
1
L
oc
I kT
V ln
e I
| |
= +
|
\
(3)

The open circuit voltage is the voltage for maximum
load in the circuit.
III.4. Fill Factor (FF)
The fill factor, also known as the curve factor (Fig. 2),
is a measure of sharpness of the knee in an I-V curve. It
indicates how well a junction was made in the cell and
how low the series resistance has been made. It can be
lowered by the presence of series resistance and tends to
be higher whenever the open circuit voltage is high. The
maximum value of the fill factor is one, which is not
possible. Its maximum value in Si is 0.88:


max max max
oc SC oc SC
P V I
FF
V I V I

= =

(4)


Fig. 2. Characteristic curve for determining the fill factor

A larger fill factor is desirable, and corresponds to an
I-V sweep that is more square-like.
Typical fill factors range from 0.5 to 0.82. Fill factor
is also often represented as a percentage.
III.5. Maximum Power
max
P
No power is generated under short or open circuit.
The power output is defined as:


out out out
P V I = (5)

The maximum power
max
P provided by the device is
achieved at a point on the characteristics, where the

A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
950
product IV is maximum. Thus:


max max max
P V I = (6)

The maximum possible output can also be given as


max oc SC
P V I FF = (7)

where FF is the fill factor given by eqn (4).
III.6. Solar Cell Efficiency
ec
q
The solar cell power conversion efficiency can be
given as:


( )
max max max
ec
in
max oc SC
ec
in c
IncidentSolarRadiation AreaOfSolarCell
P V I
P
P V I FF
P I t A
q
q

= =

= =

(8)

where
max
I and
max
V are the current and voltage for
maximum power, corresponding to solar intensity ( ) I t .
IV. Solar Cell Model Using Matlab
The simplest solar cell model consists of diode and
current source connected parallel [5]. Current source
current is directly proportional to the solar radiation.
Diode represents PN junction of a solar cell. Equation of
ideal solar cell, which represents the ideal solar cell
model, is:

0
0
1
1
D
T
PV SC D
eV
KT
L
V
V
D
i I i
i I e I
i I e I
=
| |
| =
|
\
| |
|
=
|
\
(9)

where is:
SC
I - photocurrent (A),
0
I - reverse saturation current (A) (approximately range
10
-8
/m
2
),
D
v - diode voltage (V),
T
v - thermal voltage (see equation below),
T
v = 25.7 mV at 25C,
m - diode ideality factor = 1...5 x
T
v (-) (m = 1 for ideal
diode).
The simple model of the solar cell is shown in the Fig.
3 [6, 7].

Rd
Vd
Idc1
{Idc}
D
1
PARAMETERS:
Idc = 3.1
PARAMETERS:
Rs = 10
Rp
Rs
{Rs}
R1
0


Fig. 3. Simple PV cell Simulink model

Vpv
PV
To Workspace Product
PV power
1e-9*(exp(u/26e-3)-1)
PN-Junction characteri sti c
1
Insol ati on to ISC current gain
1
Insol ati on
I-V characteristic
Id
Isc
Vpv
Vpv
Vpv
Ipv
Ipv
Ppv
Ppv

Fig. 4. Model of PV using Simulink

Output power
PV
P (i.e. the product of
PV
i and
PV
v )
as a function of
PV
v is immediately displayed in a X-Y
(Fig. 5).



Fig. 5.
PV
P as a function of the
PV
v

Output current
PV
i as a function of
PV
v is
immediately displayed in another X-Y Plot window.
The Fig. 6 shows this characteristic as a function of
PV
v . Output power
PV
P , current
PV
i , voltage
PV
v , and
simulation time are stored in a "structure" variable PV,
which is made available (using the "To Workspace"
block) for further processing in the MATLAB Command
Window [8].
As a result of the last model done using Simulink we
could get the power and the current for the solar cell as a
function of the its voltage.

A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
951


Fig. 6.
PV
i =f(
pv
v )

But the question here could we find another model
using another utilities more accurate and elastic to
transfer towards the electronic circuit easily.
This paper uses the Orcad such as a new software to
modulate the photovoltaic and using Orcad we shall
propose a new approach depends on the characteristic of
the photovoltaic diode.
V. Solar Cell Model Using Orcad
The characteristic of the photo diode is performance
by the producer of the photovoltaic array.
The Fig. 7 shows the characteristic of the photo diode
given with the array of photovoltaic.

A
p
p
r
o
x
i
m
a
t
i
o
n

b
y

s
e
g
m
e
n
t
s
I
d
Vd
E1
E2 E3 E4
m1
m2
m3
m4
Diode I-V curve


Fig. 7. ( )
d d
I f V =

If we stare at the last figure we conclude that an
geometric approximation represented by four segments
will be satisfied to our need, so the new model will be
shown in the Fig. 8.
The values of the resistance are calculated using the
equation (10)[9]:


1
0
1
0
i
i i
i i
R
m m
m
V E

=
=
(10)

The new approach is modulated using the Orcad 15.7
which is considered as a new version of the Pspice with a
high ability to produce an electronic board from the
circuit simulated.
The Fig. 8 shows this new model with four branches
parallel.

R1
5.88
V1
9
Idc
{Idc}
D
1
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
PARAMETERS:
Rs = 10
PARAMETERS:
Idc = 3.1
Rp
50
Rs
{Rs}
R5
0.02
0
R2
12.5
V2
13.5
D
2
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
R3
0.86
V3
15
D
3
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
R4
0.38
V4
18
D
4
D
1
N
4
0
0
1

Fig. 8. Real Model of the photovoltaic

The characteristic of the photovoltaic is represented
by the two graph, first graph is the current(
pv
I ) as a
function of the voltage of the Photovoltaic(
pv
V ) and the
second is the power( P ) as a function of the same
variable(
pv
V ).
The I-V curve of an illuminated PV cell has the shape
shown in Fig. 9 as the voltage across the measuring load
is swept from zero to
0
V , and many performance
parameters for the cell can be determined from this data,
as described in the sections below.



Fig. 9. ( )
PV PV
I f V =

The power produced by the cell in Watts can be easily
calculated along the I-V sweep by the equation P=IV. At
the Io and VO points, the power will be zero and the
maximum value for power will occur between the two.
The voltage and current at this maximum power point are
denoted as
mp
V and
mp
I respectively.

A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
952


Fig. 10. ( )
PV
P f V =

The above arc shape(Fig. 10) is obtain by making use
of different resistance, starting from lower resistance say
1 and increasing in 5 units up to 5 or 10 K . The
below figure depict show to take voltage and current
measurement for varying resistance.
VI. Maximum Power Point Tracking
Power output of a Solar PV module changes with
change in direction of sun, changes in solar insolation
level and with varying temperature [10].
Hence maximization of power improves the utilization
of the solar PV module. A maximum power point tracker
(MPPT) is used for extracting the maximum power from
the solar PV module and transferring that power to the
load. A dc/dc converter(step up/step down) serves the
purpose of transferring maximum power from the solar
PV module to the load.
We choose the Hill Climbing method, which consists
of observing the current and voltage at the output of the
generator(PV). Multiply these data we shall get the
power, then we use two montages integrators to save this
power and to make a delay between two values of the
power the actual value and the new value. Both montage
have different time constants.
By comparing these two signals, we could know the
derivation of the power, and thus if it increases or it
decreases. Then, using a toggle JK, a third integrator and
a triangular signal we will create the PWM control to be
sent to the driver of the transistor(here we used Pchannel
Mosfet).
The Fig. 11 shows the diagram of this technique.



Fig. 11. Proposed MPPT controller block diagram

The control MPPT finally presenting a good
compromise yields static and dynamic but also
robustness are based on continual assessment power and
a comparison with the state at the previous instant.
However, for most orders MPPT, to achieve
convergence in good conditions, whatever the algorithm,
it is necessary that the power curves issued by the
generator are constant or slowly varying. If this
assumption is not respected (abrupt changes in operating
conditions) the system can diverge.
The principle of MPPT controllers is often based on
the "elbow" of the P-V characteristics. It's more or less a
trial and error, as shown in following figure.
It is located in an area of the curve (X1) and if you
look at the value of the next item is higher or not. If so,
we move to the next point (X2), until the next term (Xn)
will be lower than the previous (Xn-1). At this time, we
take an interval value between every point lower, and
repeat from (Xn-1) to obtain MPP (X).
The Fig. 12 is shown this technique of MPPT.



Fig. 12. Principle operation of MPPT

The controller type of MPPT consists of two distinct
parts:
1. Control part whose purpose is to determine the
operating point, where the solar cell can transfer the
power towards the batteries.
2. The power part which transfers energy between the
solar panels and batteries.
These two parts are shown in Fig. 13.



Fig. 13. The block diagram of this type of control


A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
953
Now it is easy to get the electronic schematic from the
Orcad's library, it is shown in the Fig. 14.

V3
15Vdc
R11
220k
D
3
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
C2 220n
R4
0.38
C3 220n
V4
18Vdc
0
D
4
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
0
0
Rp
50
PARAMETERS:
Rs = 50
R5
20m
R16
5k
R17
22k
0
U6C
LM324
+
10
-
9
V+
4
V
-
1
1
OUT
8
15
VCC
15
R27
100
C5
100
U15
JKFF
J
1
CLK
2
K
3
Q
4
Q
5
U
1
6
AD633/AD
X1
1
X2
2
Y1
3
Y2
4
Z
6
W
7
V
+
8
V
-
5
-VCC
VCC
0
V
V
-VCC
VCC
-VCC
U18A
TL082
+
3
-
2
V+
8
V
-
4
OUT
1
U19B
TL082
+
5
-
6
V+
8
V
-
4
OUT
7
0
0
R37
2.2k
R38
10k
R39
8.2k
C8
6n
VCC
L2
1mH
1 2
Rs
{Rs}
V11 12
15
R20
1k
R21
1k
R19
0.1
VCC
-VCC
R33
1k
VCC
R34
1k
0
U13A
LM239
+
7
-
6
V+
3
V
-
1
2
OUT
1
D15
MUR150
M1 IRFP9140
U12A
LM139
+
7
-
6
V
+
3
V-
12
OUT
1
-VCC
0
0
U7B
LM324
+
5
-
6
V+
4
V
-
1
1
OUT
7
D17
MUR150
VCC
-VCC
VCC
-VCC
VCC
VCC
-VCC
0
C6
3.5u
D13
D1N4001
R28
100k
R29
1k
0
C4
3.3u
0
5 R22
1k
Jcc
R12
1k
R1
5.88
V1
9Vdc
Idc
{Idc}
D
1
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
PARAMETERS:
Idc = 25
R2
12.5
V2
13.5Vdc
D
2
D
1
N
4
0
0
1
R3
0.86
R10
22k


Fig. 14. Proposed controller circuit diagram
VII. Simulation Results
The simulation of this method using Orcad shows that
the control pulses PWM changes according to the
voltage of the generator, the PWM and the output
voltage are shown in the Fig. 15.

Time
280us 290us 300us 310us 320us 330us 340us 350us 360us 370us 380us 390us 400us
V(R27:1) V(U15:Q) V(R39:2)
V
V
V
V
V
V
V


Fig. 15. Control pulses for the DC-DC converter
VIII. Conclusion
This paper explained to us the classical module of the
photovoltaic, the first is done in Matlab, and the second
using Orcad, the two modules are shown the same
characteristic of the I-V but the second module is more
nearest to the solar cell itself, because it is depends on
the characteristic of the photo diode, it is shown the real
model of the solar cell, by using it we could determine
the exact value of the
max
P , our objective is to conserve
the power about its maximum values, we estimate the
value of the power by tracking the maximum value of
this power, where the old technique is not accurate so it
could not give us high efficiency such as this new
method.
Then we discussed the flow chart of the maximum
point power tracking (MPPT) technique, The role of the
MPPT is to place the operating point of the assembly at
the top of this bell, and how could be realized the
prototype using an electronic components.
The efficiency of the photovoltaic is very important
especially nowadays where all the world is seeking for
the renewal energy.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Laboratory of MIPS in
Mulhouse, and grateful for all authors.
References
[1] S. D. Gopal Nath Tiwari, Fundamentals of Photovoltaic Modules
and their Applications, (Royal Society of Chemistry p. 326 pages
2010).
[2] S. H. Antonio Luque, Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and
Engineering ( vol. Vol. 7, No. 6, p. 1168 pages, 25 avril 2003).
[3] V. M. ANGAMI, photovoltaic for beginners,( p. 87 2009).
[4] J. V. Roger A. Messenger, Photovoltaic Systems Engineering, ( p.
480 July 28, 2003).
[5] S.S.LuisCastaner, Modelling Photovoltaic Systems Using PSpice
( p. 376 January 7, 2003).
[6] A. Assi, , MATLAB - based modeling tool for designing,
predicting and analyzing grid tied photovoltaic systems, in
Advances in Computational Tools for Engineering Applications,
2009. ACTEA '09. International Conference on, 2009, pp. 508-
513.
[7] Y. Yusof, et al., Modeling and simulation of maximum power
point tracker for photovoltaic system, in Power and Energy
Conference, 2004. PECon 2004. Proceedings. National, 2004, pp.
88-93.
[8] H. Patel and V. Agarwal, MATLAB-Based Modeling to Study the
Effects of Partial Shading on PV Array Characteristics, Energy
Conversion, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 23, pp. 302-310, 2008.
[9] S. Chowdhury, et al., Mathematical modelling and performance
evaluation of a stand-alone polycrystalline PV plant with MPPT
facility, in Power and Energy Society General Meeting -
Conversion and Delivery of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century,
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Authors information
Ayman Blorfan was received the B.Sc in 1997
and M.Sc degrees in 2007 from the of
Polytechnic School of Nantes in France, In 2009
He joined to the laboratory of MIPS and ERGE
to work in the research in domain of power
electronics and automatic.



Damien Flieller was born in Epernay, France,
on October 15, 1966. He received the M.Sc.
degree in electrical engineering from the Ecole
Normale Suprieure (Cachan), France, in 1988
and the Ph.D.degree in Electrical Engineering
from the University of Paris, France, in 1995 till
1995. He has been an Associate Professor in
the Department of Electrical Engineering,
(Institut National des Sciences Appliques INSA), Strasbourg,
France. He is now director of the ERGE laboratory, INSA. His
research interest are in the eld of modeling and control of
synchronous motors, power system, active lter, and induction heating
DC-AC converters.



A. Blorfan, D. Flieller, P. Wira, G. Sturtzer, J. Merckle
Copyright 2010 Praise Worthy Prize S.r.l. - All rights reserved International Review on Modelling and Simulations, Vol. 3, N. 5
954
Patrice Wira has the BS.c in Mathematics in
1996, then the M.Sc in automatic and industrial
informatics in July 1997. In sept.2001 he has
become a Teacher assistant of Higher Education,
then he has getten the PhD from the university of
the High Alsace jan. 2002. In Sept.2002 he
became a lecturer (61 section). He has the
Habilitation to supervise the research in Nov.
2009 (Habiliation Diriger des Recherches ). His research concerns
the study of modularity in ANNs And the automatic control using
Artificial Neural Network.

Jean Merckle received the M.Sc. and
Ph.D.degrees in electrical from University
Nancy I, Nancy, France, in 1982 and 1988,
respectively.
In 1988, he joined the MIPS Laboratory,
University of Haute Alsace, Mulhouse, France,
where he participated in several adaptive signal
processing projects. From 1991 to 1993, he was
with the departement of Electrical and Computer Engineering,
University of California and San Diego, contributing to a 3-D
optoelectronic neural architecture with efficient learning. He is
currently a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His
research interests include adaptive neural computation with application
to power electronic systems control and digital hardware
impementation.