Cyclic back shift method for maximizing PV array power under partial shading

Partial shading leads to reduction in power output and efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The physical arrangement of PV modules without changing electrical circuitry plays vital role in reducing the effects caused by partial shading. This paper presents a cyclic back shift (CBS) method to enhance the PV power under partial shading conditions (PSCs). In this method, relocation of modules is based on row positions of modules in a particular column. The proposed CBS method is cost-effective, simple and applicable for both square and non-square array. The proposed CBS method is implemented on \(9\times 9\) $9\times 9$ PV array and tested in both software (20.25 kW system) and hardware (0.81 kW system) environments under various shading patterns. The performance parameters such as fill factor (FF), mismatch loss (ML) and efficiency ( \(\eta \) $\eta$ ) are plotted. Further, a comparative analysis is carried between the proposed CBS method, total cross tied (TCT) and different existing reconfiguration schemes. From the experimental results, it is observed that the proposed CBS method is able to enhance the GMPP by minimum 11.83% under shading pattern-II and maximum of 18.78 under shading pattern-III compared to TCT configuration. Hence, the CBS method of module arrangement is an effective solution in reducing the partial shading effects.