A Comparative Analysis of Voltage Equalizers for Partial Shading Compensation in PV Arrays

Abstract

Partial shading is a problem that affects solar systems not only in their efficiency, but also in its lifetime. As a solution, integrated converters enable mismatched modules to deliver their maximum power. Voltage Equalizers are a type of partial power processing integrated converters, which results in more efficiency. There are many types of voltage equalizers, divided in three different architectures and based in many topologies, i.e. buck-boost, flyback, switched capacitors and voltage multipliers. Thus, in this paper, a comparative analysis of these converters are made, considering reliability and working principle, which is explained through simulation results. At the conclusions are made, pointing which circuit may be the best choice for a voltage equalizer.

Keywords

• comparative analysis
• current diverters
• Partial Shading
• voltage equalizers