Effects of bypass diode configurations on solar photovoltaic modules suffering from shading phenomenon

The temperature, radiation and other ambient environmental conditions are influencing the operation of solar cells. The shadowing phenomenon on solar cells causes the decrease of their output power. This paper analyses the effects of bypass diode configurations on photovoltaic systems operation under completely shadowed conditions. The authors analyze and propose several bypass diode configurations to limit the effects of this phenomenon and thus enhance the operational performance of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The case study deals with PSpice simulation of I-V and P-V characteristics of a real PV module type. The analysis of simulation results for I-V and P-V curves highlight the advantages and disadvantages of each type of bypass diode configuration, as well as its capability to be used in practice.