A reconfiguration technique using a switched-capacitor (SC)-based voltage equalizer differential power processing (DPP) concept is proposed in this paper for photovoltaic (PV) systems at a cell/subpanel/panel-level. The proposed active diffusion charge redistribution (ADCR) architecture increases the energy yield during mismatch and adds a voltage boosting capability to the PV system under no mismatch by connected the available PV cells/panels in series. The technique performs a reconfiguration by measuring the PV cell/panel voltages and their irradiances. The power balancing is achieved by charge redistribution through SC under mismatch conditions, e.g., partial shading. Moreover, PV cells/panels remain in series under no mismatch. Overall, this paper analyzes, simulates, and evaluates the effectiveness of the proposed DPP architecture through a simulation-based model prepared in PSIM. Additionally, the effectiveness is also demonstrated by comparing it with existing conventional DPP and traditional bypass diode architecture.
Reconfigurable Distributed Power Electronics Technique for Solar PV Systems