Positioning of PV panels for reduction in line losses and mismatch losses in PV array

Partial shading decreases the power output of PV arrays due to mismatch losses. These losses are dependent on the shading pattern and the relative positions of shaded modules in the array. Various static and dynamic reconfiguration techniques have earlier been proposed to mitigate these losses. In an earlier proposed static reconfiguration technique, the power generation is enhanced by altering the physical location of the PV panels using a random Sudoku configuration without modifying the TCT (Total-Cross-Tied) based electrical connections. However, this arrangement faces drawbacks due to ineffective dispersion of shade and significant increase in wiring required. In this work, an optimal Sudoku arrangement to overcome these drawbacks is formulated. Further analysis indicate that the global peak of the optimal Sudoku based PV array occurs as the right most peak in the curve for most shading conditions, thus evidently obviating the need for complex MPPT (Maximum-Power-Point-Tracking) algorithms. The proposed configuration is compared with various other existing reconfiguration schemes in terms of power output and the comparison is presented. In addition, a general formulation is proposed to expand this pattern to any generic array. A strategy is also proposed to make such an interconnection practicable for very large size PV arrays.