Development of a smart photovoltaic cells system

•Partial shading and solar cell mismatching affect the conventional PV systems.•A system of Smart PV cells is proposed in this paper.•Each Smart PV cell comprises a solar cell and an integrated circuit (IC).•The IC of each Smart PV cell performs energy management and communication.•The Smart PV system can comprise various solar cell types with different tilts. The energy management process in conventional PV systems is performed either in arrays of PV panels or in individual groups of solar cells, resulting in a significant reduction of their energy production due to partial shading, solar cell mismatching etc. In contrast to the existing conventional technology of PV systems, the development of a Smart PV cells system is proposed in this paper, each comprising a conventional solar cell that is connected to an integrated circuit (IC) that has also been developed within the framework of this paper. The IC of the proposed Smart PV cells performs the maximization and management of the energy produced by the solar cells and the communication with a remote operator through the power lines, in order to control and monitor the Smart PV cell operation and enable the detection and localization of solar cell malfunctions. The proposed IC can be combined with any manufacturing technology of solar cells (e.g., multi-crystalline, thin-film etc.). A fully-functional prototype PV system of the proposed Smart PV cells has been designed and constructed. Experimental results are presented in this paper demonstrating the operation and energy production improvement achieved by the proposed Smart PV cell systems.