Partial Shading Effect Minimization in a PV Array using Shading Behaviour based Adaptive Reconfiguration Algorithm

During the partial shading in a PV array, the modules of the same array receive a different level of irradiance, this phenomenon is known as the partial shading. Partial shading deeply effects the maximum available power of PVs, moreover, this results in the multiple maximums on the power versus voltage curves. The partial shading on PV array can be dispersed by physically relocating or rearranging the arrays of the modules. In this paper, the partial shading pattern incident on the PV array is investigated to develop the physical reconfiguration algorithm for PV modules. In this algorithm, the irradiance value of each module is compared to locate the partially shaded modules, further these modules are arranged in one column to increase the power output. The shading behaviour based adaptive reconfiguration algorithm (SBARA) is applied on a $3 \times 3$ array configuration and is tested for three different case scenarios. Three different partial shading patterns are simulated on the array using the MATLAB software, SBARA is called in each case to reconfigure the modules, the results are obtained by analyzing the power vs voltage curve of PV array.