TY - JOUR
TI - An investigation into the effect of photovoltaic module electric properties on maximum power point trajectory with the aim of its alignment with electrolyzer U-I characteristic
AU - Firak Mihajlo
AU - Đukić Ankica
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2010
VL - 14
IS - 3
SP - 729
EP - 738
PT - Article
AB - In order to combine a photovoltaic module and an electrolyzer to produce  hydrogen from water, an intermediate DC/DC converter can be used to adapt  output power features of the module to input power features of the  electrolyzer. This can also be done without using electronics, which results  in saving as much as 700 USD/kW, as previous investigation has shown. A more  sophisticated investigation should be carried out with the aim of improving  high system efficiency, resulting in matching the photovoltaic module maximum  power point trajectory (the maximum power point path in the U-I plane as a  result of solar irradiance change) to the operating characteristic of the  electrolyzer. This paper presents an analysis of the influences of  photovoltaic module electric properties, such as series and parallel  resistance and non-ideality factor, on the maximum power point trajectory at  different levels of solar irradiance. The possibility of various inclinations  (right - vertical - left) in relation to an arbitrary chosen operating  characteristic of the electrolyzer is also demonstrated. Simulated results  are obtained by using Matlab/Simulink simulations of the well known one-diode  model. Simulations have been confirmed with experiments on a real  photovoltaic module where solar irradiance, solar cell temperature, electric  current, and voltage in the circuit with variable ohmic resistance have been  measured.