Stand Alone Photovoltaic System Modelling

MSc in New and Renewable Energy Author: Ariel Villaln M. Supervisor: K. Fragaki

Introduction
Stand-alone PV systems are non-grid connected photovoltaic systems. They are normally used in remote or isolated places where the electric supply from the powergrid is unavailable or not available at a reasonable cost. The scope of this project is to develop a model of a simple stand-alone PV system and to compare the results obtained with previous work, in order to validate the results obtained, taking into account possible inaccuracies. For doing this, the model was developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK, containing the PV module, two batteries in parallel, the charge controller, and a constant DC resistor load.

The MATLAB/SIMULINK model

The stand-alone PV system was developed in MATLAB/SIMULINK to represent its different components: The components were represented as subsystems and with blocks with embedded MATLAB functions in the diagram modelled in SIMULINK (figure 6).

Figure 7. Battery voltage: simulated data. December 2002

experimental

and

Simulation results

The System
The simulations are set to run for data from Southampton in the United Kingdom, during the month of December of 2002, and for the day December 3th of 2002. The PV module The batteries The charge controller The constant load The accumulator of the stand-alone system consists in tow parallel lead-acid batteries. Table 1. Values from Sharp NT9075 PV module datasheet
Electrical characteristics Short-circuit current Open-circuit voltage Maximum power SHARP NT9075 3.5 A 21.8 V 51.5 W

Figure 8. State of charge: simulated data. December 2002 Figure 3. PV current: experimental and simulated data. December 3 2002

experimental and

The model developed underestimates the values of the battery voltage (figure 7), but can be seen that the trend for the peaks goes with the peaks shown for the curve of the real battery voltage values. The discrepancies in figure 8 are due to: battery model considered does not work very well for SOC values over 0.7-0.8, because overcharge is not considered; the model considers that the cell of the battery has a higher internal resistance compared to the resistance that the real battery has .

Figure 4. Battery voltage: experimental simulated data. December 3 2002

and

CONCLUSIONS
The model did not show the effect of the charge controller as the values of the battery voltage did not reach the threshold values for disconnecting the battery with the PV module. The model developed has problems about some magnitudes, overestimating values of currents and underestimating values of voltages. The discrepancies are due to the realistic ambient conditions are not all considered in the model, so are their specific parameters of the PV generators; the difference between the measured temperature of the cell, as it is more likely to have it as an approximation; there might be uncertainties in the measurements of the experimental data. The model of the battery showed uncertainties for the values of the voltage in the battery, though there was a good fit between experimental and simulated values for the state of charge. The discrepancies in the modelling of the battery are found for the hours with sunlight. Reasons wielded for this are the discrepancies that might be considering the internal resistance of the battery, and the possible effect of temperature on the voltage value of the overcharge state.

Table 2. Truth table for the switch in charge regulation to disconnect or reconnect the PV module with the batteries
Condition V 14.4 V 14.4 12.9 < V < 14.4 12.9 < V < 14.4 A' 0 1 0 1 A 0 0 0 1

Figure 5. State of charge of the batteries: experimental and simulated data. December 3 2002

The big risings in the voltage that can be seen in the figure 4, may be due to the current at this point is V 12.9 0 1 positive, meaning that the batteries are in charge mode, V 12.9 1 1 and dropping again when the batteries are in discharge Where: closed switch = 1 (true); open mode, to finally achieve an almost constant value of switch = 0 (false); A is the previous state of voltage. switch A; V is the battery voltage. The decreasing of the SOC of the battery in the figure 5 is because there is no current flowing from the PV generator to the batteries, so the latter ones are in discharge mode as they are delivering current to the constant load connected to the stand-alone PV system.

References
Figure 1. Schematic representation of the stand-alone PV system
Lorenzo, E., Arajo, G., Cuevas, A., Egido, M.A., Miano, J.C., Zilles, R. Solar Electricity: Engineering of Photovoltaic Systems. [trans.] Philip Davies. First English Edition. Sevilla : Institute of Solar Energy Polytechnic University of Madrid, 1994. p. 316. ISBN: 84-86505-55-0. Castaer, L., Silvestre, S. Modelling Photovoltaic Systems Using PSpice. s.l. : John Wiley and Sons Ltd., 2002. p. 358. Oi, A. Design and Simulation of Photovoltaic Water Pumping System. San Luis Obispo : s.n., 2005. p. 113. California Polytechnic State University. Modelado y anlisis de sistemas fotovoltaicos. Guasch, D. Barcelona : Universitat Politcnica de Catalunya, 2003, p. 224. Tesis Doctoral. Hansen, A.D., Srensen, P., Hansen, L.H., Bindner, H. Models for a Stand-Alone PV System. Ris National Laboratory. Roskilde : s.n., 2000. p. 78. Dynamic battery model for photovoltaic applications. Guasch, D. Silvestre, S. 3, s.l. : John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 30 January 2003, Progress in photovoltaics: research and applications, Vol. 11, pp. 193-206. A general battery model for PV system simulation. Copetti, J.B., Lorenzo, E., Chenlo, F. s.l. : Wiley, 1993, Progress in Photovoltaics: research and applications, Vol. 1, pp. 283-292.

Figure 2. Irradiance and temperature, December 2002

ambient Figure 6. Stand-alone PV system structure in SIMULINK