Effects of advantageous placing of PV cells and modules in generating units

Abstract

The effect of advantageous placing when assembling solar cells or modules to PV modules or generating arrays respectively is investigated. The idea is to take advantage of thermal inhomogenities within a PV generating unit to reduce a possible mismatch between nonidentical components when operated at MPP (maximum power point). The cases of series and parallel connecting photovoltaic generating components are studied. The authors simulated the output of a cell production (or module production respectively) and estimated the effect on generator efficiency. As result, they found a possible gain in the energy output of up to 3% for the set-up of a PV array (parallel connected case) while the effect occurring within a module is negligible (series connected case). A simple rule for advantageous module placing within a PV array is formulated.