2009 International Conference on Energy and Environment Technology

DESIGN OF SIMULATION MODEL OF PV

CELLS BASED ON VSR PWM RECTIFIER
CIRCUIT
Wu Bingbing, Yin Zhongdong, Xiao Xiangning
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
North China Electric Power University
Beijing，China
iceqiu@126.com

Abstract-This paper designs the simulation model of the PV cells. The results show that the model could simulate the
(photovoltaic) cells by using the mathematical model applying in output of the PV cells well so that it could meet the V-I
engineering firstly. Then the output of the PV cells is simulated characteristics of the loads and the PV cells at the same time
based on the PSCAD/EMTDC platform by using the when the environment changes.
single-phase VSR PWM rectifier circuit which uses the direct
current control as well with the triangular wave current II. THE OUTPUT CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PV CELLS
comparison as the control strategy. The results show that the
model could simulate the output of the PV cells well and could A. The output characteristic in standard test conditions.
also meet the V-I characteristics of the loads. This model will As shown in Fig. 1, we can see that the PV cells are seen as
have good practicability for the further design of MPPT a current source in the lower voltage region, that is, the output
algorithm applying in the photovoltaic grid-connected system current of PV cells almost equals to the short-circuit current
too. with little fluctuation when the equivalent impedance of the
load is low; while they could be seen as a voltage source in the
Keywords-PV cells; simulation; PWM rectifier circuit; higher voltage region, that is, the current will decline rapidly
PSCAD/EMTDC; direct current track; MPPT
when the voltage of PV cells closes to the open-circuit voltage
I. INTRODUCTION with the equivalent impedance of the load increasing, and the
fluctuation of the voltage is little. Meanwhile, the output of the
In the photovoltaic power generation system, the most power has a maximum value appeared at the point between the
important issue to be solved is to improve the overall current source and the voltage source.
efficiency of the system. And the most frequently used method
is the real-time adjustment of the operating point of the output
of the photovoltaic cells so that it could always work in the
vicinity of the maximum power point, that is the maximum
power point tracking process, so-called MPPT. And it is
important to make a similar accuracy simulation of the output
characteristics of photovoltaic arrays first so that it could be
used to validate the efficiency of the MPPT algorithm. To be
the main component of the photovoltaic power generation
system, PV (photovoltaic) cells are in constant development
and upgrading, as well with the corresponding control strategy
for the system. Therefore, the research on the mathematical
and simulation models of the PV cells has an important
significance.
This paper designs the simulation model of the PV cells by Figure 1. The V-I characteristic of the solar array
using the mathematical models applying in engineering based
on the PSCAD/EMTDC software platform firstly. Then it B. Effect factors for the output of PV cells array.
chooses the single-phase VSR PWM (Voltage-Source Rectifier
Pulse-Width Modulation) controlled rectifier circuit as the The output power of the PV cells is mainly impacted by the
main circuit. And the direct current control as well with the solar radiation and the temperature. Through the comparison
triangle wave comparison control strategy are used in we can see that the open circuit voltage of the PV cells will
achieving the approximately simulation of the output of the PV reduce while the short-circuit current will have a slight
increase as the temperature declining in the same light

Project Supported by National Mega-projects of Science and Technology

for the 11th Five-year Plan. (2008BAA14B05, 2007BAA12B03)

978-0-7695-3819-8/09 $26.00 © 2009 IEEE 127

DOI 10.1109/ICEET.2009.268
intensity [1]; And the short-circuit current will reduce while forward direction resistance of diode under normal
the open circuit voltage will only reduce a little as the intensity circumstances, and defined as follows:
of light reduce in the same temperature [1]. The shape of the
• In open-circuit state, I = 0，V = Voc.
curve of the V-I characteristics of the PV cells will change
little when the environment changes. • At the maximum power point, V = Vm，I = Im.
III. RESEARCH IN THE SIMULATION MODEL (
U
)
C 2U oc
A. The mathematics models of the PV cells. I = I sc (1 − C1 (e − 1)) (6)
V
1) The mathematical expression based on the physical Im (− m )
C 2Voc
mechanism. C1 = (1 − )e (7)
We could obtain the current relations about the terminal I sc
PV cells from the perspective of the circuit, as shown in the Vm I
expressions from (1)-(5) [1]. C 2= ( − 1)[ln(1 − m )]−1 (8)
Voc I sc
I = I ph − I d − I r (1)
When the external environment changed, the expressions
S which are used to correct the parameters are shown in (9)-(14).
I ph = I sc ( ) + CT (T − Tref ) (2) Then according to the data based on the standard test
1000 conditions, the amendatory parameters in the new environment
q (U + IRs )
can be obtained by using the expressions from (6) to (8).
I d = I 0 [e nkT
− 1] (3)
qE g 1 1 ΔT = T − Tref (9)
T 3 [ nk ( Tref − T )]
I 0 = I do ( ) e (4) S
Tref ΔS = −1 (10)
S ref
U + Rs I
Ir = (5) ' S
Rsh I sc = I sc (1 + aΔT ) (11)
S ref
Where I is the load current; U is the terminal voltage of PV '
cells; Iph is the light generated current; S is the illumination Voc = Voc (1 + cΔT ln(1 + bΔS )) (12)
intensity; Tref is the absolute temperature; T is the temperature ' S
of PV cells; k is boltzmann constant; Rs is the series resistor; Im = Im (1 + aΔT ) (13)
Rsh is the shunt resistance; n is the emission coefficient of S ref
diode; Ido is the countercurrent of diode; Isc is the short-circuit '
current; CT is the temperature coefficient. Vm = Vm (1 + cΔT ln(1 + bΔS )) (14)

However, there are also some shortcomings of the model Where a, b, c are the correction coefficients which could
as follows [1]: be obtained from fitting curves by using a large number of
experimental data. We could obtain a typical value of [2]:
a) It is difficult for normal users to unscramble a=0.0025/℃; b=0.5; c=0.00288/℃. Tref and Sref, the values of
because the parameters are corresponding to the internal
which are 25℃ and 1000W/m2, are the temperature and the
parameters of PV array.
illumination intensity under the standard conditions.
b) It is difficult to solve parameters because the
corresponding relationship between conventional B. Simulation model.
parameters of PV array products and parameters of the 1) Main circuit of the simulation.
model is not clear. Due to the modularization of the PV cells, it chooses the
2) The mathematical expression applying in engineering. single-phase voltage rectifier circuit simulation as the main
Because of the complexity of the physical nature model circuit. The equivalent circuit model is shown in Fig. 2.
of PV array, reference [2] puts forward a simplified
mathematical model applying in engineering. The
mathematical expressions applying in engineering
emphasizes the combination of the accuracy and usefulness,
as shown in (6)-(8). It mainly does some simplifications to
a number of parameters:
a) Neglect （V + IRs）/ Rsh item, this is because it is
much smaller than the photocurrent under normal
circumstances.
b) Set IL = Isc, this is because Rs is far less than the Figure 2. The equivalent circuit model of the single-phase PWM voltage
rectifier circuit

128
 Where Vs is the sinusoidal AC voltage source, and the
full-controlled switch type IGBT is used in the circuit. It is
assumed that the capacity of the capacitor at the dc side is
large enough, so that the voltage of the dc side could almost be
a certain value during the PWM control progress. When the
bipolar modulation is used, the voltage at the VSR AC side
will be switched between Vdc and -Vdc, so that it could achieve
the PWM control in the voltage at the AC side. In this process,
there are only two switch modes g1 and g2 as shown in Figure
3. However, g1 and g2 can not be opened or closed at the same
time.
2) Design of control strategy.
a) Design plans.
As shown in Fig. 3, repeat comparing the output voltage of
the circuit to that of the PV cells in the same size of current,
narrow the gap, so that the final work point will stay at the
point which meets the V-I characteristic of PV cells and
resistance at the same time. The process is as follows: Curves
1 and 2 respectively figure the V-I characteristic of the
resistances R1 and R2, and R1 is larger than R2. Curve 3
shows the characteristic of PV cells. It is supposed that the
original output point is the a1, corresponding voltage is Ua1.
Then it collects the current in the point a1, so it could get the
output voltage of the PV cells in the curve 1, which shows as
a2, Ua2, and Ua2 is the reference value of voltage comparison.
Adjust the error between the output voltage of the circuit and
the reference voltage, then the point a1will rise to a3; collect
the current at this moment again to do the conversion, so the
output voltage of the PV cells will be obtained, corresponding
point on the curve 1 is a4. Adjust the error between Ua3 and
Ua4, and then the point a3 will move up again while a4 will
Figure 4. The program of the control strategy
Where F(v) is the transcendental function module of
conversion which could convert the current value to the
voltage value for PV cells. It is based on the mathematic
models applying in engineering mentioned above, and it also
contains the correct process coming down to the environment
changes.
IV. VERIFICATION FOR THE RESULTS
It selected relevant parameters of the amorphous silicon
components ND-187U1F produced by Sharp company to do
the experiments of verifying the simulation model. The
relevant parameters are as follow [4]: open-circuit voltage
Voc(V): 32.7; voltage in the best work point Vpm(V):25.8;
short-circuit current Isc (A):7.99; current in the best work point
Ipm (A):7.25; work temperature( ): -40~90; number of the
cells: 54 in series.
129
decline, so the work point will be stable at b, which meets the
V-I characteristic of PV cells and resistance at the same time.
When the work point of the circuit stays at b and the
resistance changes, for example, from R1 dropped to R2, the
control will continue to play the role of adjustment. The work
point of the circuit will move from b to b2 under the same
process as mentioned above, and then the final work point will
stay at c.
Figure 3. The control process of regulating work point
b) Design of the control strategy.
According to the design plan mentioned above, this paper
uses the VSR direct current control as well with the triangle
wave current comparison as the control strategy. Double
closed loop control is used in the whole control system, which
is the voltage control in the external ring and the current
control in the inner loop. The program of the control strategy is
shown in Fig. 4.
A. Validated under the standard test conditions.
Firstly, the light intensity S sets for 1000W/m2 and the
temperature sets for 25 (standard test conditions).When the
resistance value equals to 1ohm, we can see that the output
current almost equals to the short-circuit current while the
voltage is small; When the resistance value equals to 5ohm, as
shown in Fig. 5a, we can see that the output current remains
basically unchanged while the voltage increases; when the
resistance value equals to 50ohm, we can see that the output
current declines rapidly while the output voltage increases
slowly with its value approximate equals to the open circuit
voltage; when the resistance value equals to 100ohm, as shown
in Fig. 5b, we can see that the output current almost equals to 0
while the output voltage remains basically unchanged with its
value equals to the open circuit voltage. The comparison result
is shown in Fig. 6.
 (a)
(b)
Figure 5. The output current and voltage with variable resistance
Figure 6. The verification for the simulation result
B. Validated under the variable environment.
Firstly, maintain the temperature for 25 . When the light
intensity changes from 1000W/m2 to 800W/m2 and then down
to 600W/m2, as shown in Fig. 7a, we can see that the output
voltage remains basically unchanged, while the current value
reduces with ladder; When the light intensity maintains the
same, for example sets to 800W/m2, adjusting the temperature
for 0 , 25 , 50 , 75 , 100 , as shown in Fig. 7b, we can
see that the output voltage increases when the temperature
decreases, while the current only changes slightly.
(a)
130
(b)
Figure 7. The output characteristics of the simulation model in variable
environment
V. CONCLUSION
This paper discussed the mathematical expressions of the
PV cells in two ways based on the analysis of the output
characteristics of the PV cells. Then it chooses the
mathematical expressions applying in engineering to be the
simulation model by considering the practical requirements as
well as the accuracy. And then it built the simulation model
using the single-phase VSR PWM circuit based on the
PSCAD/EMTDC software platform. Then it adopted the
triangle wave current comparison as well with the direct
current control as the control strategy. We can see that the
model could simulate the output characteristics of the PV cells
well under the variable external environment from the
simulation results. Though there is still some shortcomings in
the accuracy of the simulation, the model is simple and could
easily been understood where the parameters could be solved
easily and the model could reflect the output characteristics of
the PV cells basically. And this has a certain value to the
further study on the photovoltaic grid-connected generation
system.
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