A Novel Photovoltaic Current Collector Optimizer to Extract Maximum Power during Partial Shading or Mismatch Conditions

Partial shading and mismatch between photovoltaic (PV) panels have significant negative effects on the power generated from PV array and total efficiency of the PV system. Both conditions cause a non-uniform aging of PV modules and may lead to hot spot phenomenon that destroys the PV panels. Under both conditions, the characteristics of the entire PV array are deformed and exhibit multiple peaks, including global and local maximum power points (MPPs) that need an intelligent MPP tracking algorithm to track the global MPP. This paper proposes a new photovoltaic current collector optimizer (CCO) to improve the power captured from PV array in case of partial shading or mismatch conditions. The PV modules are stacked by CCOs and then interfaced to the utility grid through an inverter, which introduces a new topology of centralized inverter technology. Simulation results show a remarkable increase in output generated power for the proposed centralized topology compared to conventional ones.