Fault Resilient and Reconfigurable Power Management Using Photovoltaic Integrated with CMOS Switches

A Photovoltaic (PV) cell is a device which converts light incident upon it to electric current. The push for green energy due to global warming and diminution of fossil fuels opens up a huge market for PV cells. Hence, a lot of interest is being garnered for using PV cells for various applications. However, a PV module\u27s performance degrades due to many anomalies such as failure of individual PV cell within a module, the opening of interconnection, a short circuit in the connection, failure of bypass diode, failure in voltage regulator or partial shading. To some extent all of these issues can be addressed by introducing a transistor as a switch in a PV module. This kind of architecture also enables the PV module to switch between high voltage with low current or high current with low voltage. Moreover, such architecture is handy when PV modules are deployed at remote locations where manual intervention in the case of fault or power management becomes too expensive or impossible. With advancements in semiconductor processing, the MOSFET switches can now be integrated with a PV cell for improved reliability. In this research project, we introduced addressable switches for PV cell that enable the creation of real-time reconfigurable power buses or power island. Moreover, for PV module deployed at a remote location, we have installed an architecture that let the PV module self-detect faulty PV cells or partial shading condition. Such algorithms detect faulty PV cells or PV cells under partial shading within the module such that the performance of the PV module does not become degraded. The algorithms actively use an embedded computing device to predict the output power based on a number of PV cells connected in series and parallel; then the computed power is compared with the measured power for faulty condition detection. Typically, for achieving such kind of computing architecture a single-diode based PV module modeling technique is used. However, all of these modeling techniques have an exponential term due to the presence of a diode, the computing of output power and performance of PV module becomes power intensive and it is difficult to implement on an embedded system. Also, due to the presence of the exponential term, there is no closed form solution for IPV versus VPV (output current of PV cell versus output voltage of a PV cell). We have introduced a PV module modeling using an N-channel MOSFET transistor that doesn\u27t have an exponential term. Moreover, a quadratic equation based solution is obtained that can be solved for calculating the load current. Using the same technique PV module can be also be modeled for various configuration. Additionally, with MOSFET based PV cells modeling enables the modeling CMOS-with-PV which is also presented in this work

Modeling of Photovoltaic Module

A Photovoltaic (PV) cell is a device that converts sunlight or incident light into direct current (DC) based electricity. Among other forms of renewable energy, PV-based power sources are considered a cleaner form of energy generation. Due to lower prices and increased efficiency, they have become much more popular than any other renewable energy source. In a PV module, PV cells are connected in a series and parallel configuration, depending on the voltage and current rating, respectively. Hence, PV modules tend to have a fixed topology. However, in the case of partial shading, mismatching or failure of a single PV cell can lead to many anomalies in a PV module’s functioning. If proper attention is not given, it can lead to the forward biasing of healthy PV cells in the module, causing them to consume the electricity instead of producing it, hence reducing the PV module’s overall efficiency. Hence, to further the PV module research, it is essential to have an approximate way to model them. Doing so allows for understanding the design’s pros and cons before deploying the PV module-based power system in the field. In the last decade, many mathematical models for PV cell simulation and modeling techniques have been proposed. The most popular among all the techniques are diode based PV modeling. In this book chapter, the author will present a double diode based PV cell modeling. Later, the PV module modeling will be presented using these techniques that incorporate mismatch, partial shading, and open/short fault. The partial shading and mismatch are reduced by incorporating a bypass diode along with a group of four PV cells. The mathematical model for showing the effectiveness of bypass diode with PV cells in reducing partial shading effect will also be presented. Additionally, in recent times besides fixed topology of series–parallel, Total Cross-Tied (TCT), Bridge Link (BL), and Honey-Comb (H-C) have shown a better capability in dealing with partial shading and mismatch. The book chapter will also cover PV module modeling using TCT, BL, and H-C in detail

Agrivoltaics: A Climate-Smart Agriculture Approach for Indian Farmers

India is a leader when it comes to agriculture. A significant part of the country’s population depends on agriculture for livelihood. However, many of them face challenges due to using unreliable farming techniques. Sometimes the challenges increase to the extent that they commit suicide. Besides, India is highly populated, and its population is steadily increasing, requiring its government to grow its GDP and increase its energy supply proportionately. This paper reviews integrating solar farming with agriculture, known as Agrivoltaics, as a Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) option for Indian farmers. This study is further supported by the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis of agrivoltaics. Using the SWOT analysis, this article presents how agrivoltaics can make agriculture sustainable and reliable. This paper identifies rural electrification, water conservation, yield improvement, sustainable income generation, and reduction in the usage of pesticides as the strengths of agrivoltaics. Similarly, the paper presents weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to agrivoltaics in India. The research concludes with the findings that agrivoltaics have the potential of meeting multiple objectives such as meeting global commitments, offering employment, providing economic stability, increasing clean energy production capacity, conserving natural resources, and succeeding in several others. The paper also includes a discussion about the findings, suggestions, and implications of adopting agrivoltaics on a large scale in India