Extendable Voltage Equalizer Topology With Reduced Switch Count and MPPT With Partial Shading Detection Capability for Long Serially Connected PV Modules

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) plays a significant role in a photovoltaic (PV) system's optimal performance. Bypass diodes create multiple peaks on the power–voltage curve during partial shading conditions (PSCs), reducing the PVs overall power extraction capability. This article proposed a new hybridized architecture for switched inductor and switched capacitor circuit based voltage equalizer (VE) topology with reduced switch count to prevent the multiple peaks and increase the energy yield during PSCs. The proposed VE operates with a fixed duty cycle and frequency. The MPPT controller with PSC detection is also proposed to operate VE only when the PSC is detected to avoid unwanted switching and conduction losses. The proposed system's effectiveness for ten modules connected in series has been determined compared with other modular state-of-the-art VEs. The proposed topology can be extended with a smaller number of control switches. On average, the experimental results showed a 30.42% improvement in energy yield in comparison with the conventional systems. Furthermore, the proposed controller offers the MPPT efficiency of 99.28% with a tracking time of 0.10 s for uniform shaded conditions and 0.692 s for PSCs on average.