Experimental investigation of interconnection topologies for vehicle-integrated PV array

Awan, Kamran S. (author), Elgendy, Mohammed A. (author), Miklič, Žiga (author), Ali, Arslan (author), Jankovec, Marko (author)

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are increasingly popular because of decreasing prices and increasing efficiencies, enabling applications such as vehicle integrated photovoltaics (VIPVs) and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs). The performance of VIPVs is strongly affected by dynamic partial shading conditions due to vehicle movement in urban environments surrounded by buildings and trees. It is therefore important to develop technical solutions to optimize the performance of VIPVs by finding optimal electrical connections among cells to mitigate the shading effects and increase the power output. Building on previously published simulation analyses of Series-Parallel (SP), Total-Cross-Tied (TCT), Bridge Link (BL) and Honeycomb (HC) interconnection topologies, this paper presents a mathematical model and experimental comparative analysis using a PV array of 30 solar cells. The experiments are conducted using a flasher Spire Sun Simulator 5100 SLP emulating uniform solar irradiance under STC in addition to seven different partial shading scenarios. Experimental results show that the TCT interconnection outperforms the other interconnection schemes, delivering up to 21%, 8%, and 14% higher power output than SP, BL, and HC, respectively, under different shading scenarios. These results agree well with the simulation outcomes.

• Language: English
• Keywords: dynamic partial shading conditions, interconnection topologies, photovoltaic power optimization, vehicle-integrated photovoltaic systems
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FE - Faculty of Electrical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 213416-213428
• Numbering: Vol. 13
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-177844
• UDC: 621.38
• ISSN on article: 2169-3536
• DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3644180
• COBISS.SI-ID: 262753795
• Publication date in RUL: 09.01.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: IEEE access
• Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• ISSN: 2169-3536
• COBISS.SI-ID: 519839513

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: dinamični pogoji delnega senčenja, topologije povezav, optimizacija fotovoltaične energije, v vozila integrirani fotovoltaični sistemi

Projects

• Funder: UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
• Project number: EP/T517914/1

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P2-0415
• Name: Fotovoltaika in elektronika