Performance comparison of exponential, Lambert W function and Special Trans function based single diode solar cell models

•The three models are compared in terms of fitness and parameter extraction.•The fitness difference of the three models is verified by reported parameter values.•Special Trans function-based model exhibits the best fitness to various solar cells.•A novel MNMS algorithm is proposed to test the parameter extraction performance.•Results extracted from Special Trans function-based model are the most accurate. Accurate modeling plays an important role in solar cell simulation. In order to reveal the applicability and superiority of Special Trans function based single diode model (SBSDM), this paper presents a comprehensive comparison of SBSDM, Lambert W function based single diode model (LBSDM) and exponential-type single diode model (SDM). The performance difference of SBSDM, LBSDM and SDM is verified and compared in two aspects: (1) different fitness to the measured I–V data of solar cells and (2) different parameter extraction performance. To be objective and reproducible, the reported parameter values of standard datasets and measured datasets are employed to validate the fitness difference of the three models. The comparison results indicate that SBSDM always exhibits better fitness than LBSDM and SDM in representing the I–V characteristics of various solar cells and can provide a closer prediction to actual maximum power points. With the help of a ranking based branch selection strategy, a modified Nelder-Mead simplex (MNMS) algorithm is proposed to test the parameter extraction performance of SBSDM, LBSDM and SDM. The comparison results reveal that the time computational efficiency of SBSDM is inferior to SDM but superior to LBSDM. SBSDM always achieves superior accuracy and convergence speed than LBSDM and SDM, although lacking enough statistical robustness. Due to these superiorities, SBSDM is quite promising and envisaged to be the most valuable model for solar cell parameter extraction and PV system simulation.