Optimized Structure of A 3-level Photovoltaic Subarray To Prevent Damage Due To Failed Cells

A computer program is used to simulate the behaviour of a photovoltaic field in the presence of shadowed or failed cells. A series-parallel-series structure with shunt diodes, i.e. a module of a field, has been simulated for a wide range of parameter values. A plot of the field power loss against the parameter values allows the optimal set of parameter values to be chosen; they define the optimized structure of the field module in the sense that the minimum power loss is obtained for a given percentage of failed cells.