Explicit Two-Piece Quadratic Current-Voltage Characteristic Model for Solar Cells

A novel explicit model for the current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of solar cells is proposed, consisting of two quadratic equation segments associated with inverse orthogonal coordinate systems and joined at the maximum powerpoint. Salient features of the proposed model are its high accuracy and simple parameter computation solely from the cell notable points. Comparison carried out against the most relevant explicit I-V models suggests the proposed method has greater flexibility in fitting a wide range of I-V characteristic fill factors with high accuracy. It is also shown that the model enables explicit and precise computation of the solar cell operating point in terms of load and ambient conditions, which is a major advantage when carrying out simulations.