Novel Hybrid PV Array Configurations for extracting maximum Power by reducing number of peaks and mitigating mismatching power loss under partial shading conditions.

Some of the PV modules in an array get partially shaded due to shadow of tall structures, passing clouds, dust or bird droppings. These Partial Shading Conditions (PSC's) tend to reduce the power output of the array and produce multiple peaks of power on the P-V characteristics. This further increases the mismatching power losses and reduces the efficiency of the array. The main objective of this paper is to introduce novel hybrid PV array configurations namely Alternate Total Cross Tied-Series Parallel(A-TCT-SP), Alternate Total Cross Tied-Bridge Linked(A-TCT-BL) and Alternate Total Cross Tied-Honey Comb(A-TCT-HC) and compare its performance with Conventional Series-Parallel(S-P), Bridge-Linked(B-L) and Honey-Comb(H-C) PV Configuration. These PV Configurations are first simulated in MATLAB/Simulink for five different PSC's namely uneven column, diagonal, central, long and wide and random. The parameters considered for analysis under PSC's are maximum power, number of peak points, fill factor, and mismatching power loss. The simulations are carried out on Canadian Solar CS5P-200M.