Power Enhancement of Portable Solar Arrays using an Optimum Configuration
Author: Albena Iotova
Objective: The technical goal of this project is to build an optimum configuration of solar cell
links that results in an enhanced power generation capability without additional components that increase the cost.
Figure 1. Comparison between two solar cell assembly configurations. The data was generated using the VTB software.
Two different solar cell configurations are simulated using the Virtual Test Bed (VTB) software.
Figure 1 illustrates the hypothetical power generated by each solar cell configuration. It shows
that Configuration II (in red) generates more power than Configuration I (in blue) under the same
conditions. Configuration II has a novel design, while Configuration I consists of solar cells wired in series.
The behavior of the two configurations is determined empirically
in order to confirm or disprove the VTB simulation. This process includes the following steps.
1. Hardware assembly.
Figure 2. Individual solar cells.
Figure 3. Solar cells positioned on a plastic platform.
Two wires are soldered to each solar cell: one to the positive and one to the negative side
of the cell as shown in Figure 2. The cells are attached to a plastic platform negative side up and
their wires are connected on the other side of the platform into a configuration.
2. Configuration testing.
Figure 4. Operation curve of Configuration I.
Figure 5. Operation curve of Configuration II.
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the typical operation curves of the two configurations.
3. Data analysis.
When tested under varying shading conditions, the measurements show that both
Configuration I and Configuration II undergo energy generation decline throughout
the presence of the shadings. However, while Configuration II decreases slightly,
the power generated by Configuration I drops to zero at certain parts. As a result,
the average power generated by Configuration II is larger than the average power
generated by Configuration I.