The are two different types of diodes which may have an important role in the functioning of solar panels

(actually the diodes themselves may be identical, it is the way in which they are used which has two possibilities). First let's confirm what a diode is and what it does -

What is a Diode
A diode uses a semiconductor material, usually silicon, with two terminals attached. It's function in it's simplest form is to allow electricity to pass in one direction but not the other.

Blocking Diodes

The diagram to the right shows a simple setup with two panels charging a battery (for simplicity no controller is shown) with a blocking diode in series with the two panels, which are also wired in series. When the sun shines, as long as the voltage produced by the two panels is greater than that of the battery, charging will take place. However, in the dark, when no voltage is being produced by the panels, the voltage of the battery would cause a current to flow in the opposite direction through the panels, discharging the battery, if it was not for the blocking diode in the circuit. Blocking diodes will be of benefit in any system using solar panels to charge a battery. Blocking diodes are usually included in the construction of solar panels so further blocking diodes are not required.

By-Pass Diodes
Now let's consider what happens if one of the panels in the above diagram is shaded. Not only will that panel not be producing any significant power, but it will also have a high resistance, blocking the flow of power produced by the unshaded panel.

This is where by-pass diodes come into play as shown in the diagram to the right. Now, if one panel is shaded, the current produced by the unshaded panel can flow through a bypass diode to avoid the high resistance of the shaded panel. By-pass diodes will not be of use unless panels are connected in series to produce a higher voltage. They are most likely to be of benefit where an MPPT Controller or String Inverter involves panels connected in series to produce voltages well above that items minimum input voltage. Some solar panels are constructed with the cells divided into groups, each group having a built-in by-pass diode. Shading of part of a panel may be cuased by a tree branch, debris, or snow.

1. Solar cells are current sources

It is important to know that solar cells are current sources. At solar panels, the solar cells are series connected, the same way as batteries are used. Initially, this seems uncomplicated. But it isnt. Connecting solar cells in series has many pitfalls because they are current sources. To understand this, I have made an image that explains the difference

between current sources and voltage sources. Electric circuits with current sources are rare and therefore hard to understand. The behaviour of current sources is opposite to voltage sources. Voltage sources like to be left open and wired in series. Current sources, on the other hand, like to be short circuit and wired parallel. Because solar cells are wired in series this causes a lot of trouble, as we'll see.

Differences between voltage and current source

2. Series connected solar cells in a PV panel

Series wiring ideal current sources is not possible. But solar cells are junction diodes parallel to a current source and thus they are not ideal current sources. These junction diodes solve the problem: The lowest solar cell current is the output current of the PV panel and the surplus current of each solar cell flows back through its diode.

3. The need for bypass diodes

The shadow problems of PV modules are caused by the fact that the solar cells, which are unequal current sources, are series connected. If you want to understand this subject, please read the comprehensive website on PV modules from Christiana Honsberg and Stuart Bowden here: http://www.pveducation.org/ and http://pvcdrom.pveducation.org/MODULE/Bypass.htm. Summary, without using bypass diode, these are the problems caused by shadow:

One single shaded solar cell already kills the entire panels power production. The shaded cell can be damaged or catch fire because of over heating. This is the so called hot-spot damage.

The solar bike PV panel differs from panels on house roofs. On the solar bike, shadow will often occur, caused by the cyclist and trees etc. Here, bypass diodes, not only have to be used for hot-spot protection but also for reducing the power loss caused by the shadow.

PV panel shadow from the cyclist

4. Bypass diodes for hot-spot protection

The shaded solar cell power dissipation is dependant of the amount of shadow and the load. The maximum is when the cell is half shaded and the load is minimal:

Shaded solar cell dissipation as a function of shadow

Here is a simulation of a 15 solar cell PV panel where one solar cell is half shaded. The shaded solar cell dissipates 19W when the load is 0.5.

PV panel hot spot simulation

Commonly, for hot-spot protection, one bypass diode per group of maximum 15 solar cells is used. Suppose we have a solar panel of 60 solar cells. Such a panel can be divided four groups of 15 cells. If only one solar cell in a group is shaded, we loss the solar power from the whole group. When two groups have a shaded solar cell, the total loss is already 50%. At the solar bike, where shadow is not uncommon, smaller groups are needed to minimize the shadowing impact.

5. Bypass diodes for minimized shadowing impact on PV panel power

The second reason for using bypass diodes is minimizing shadowing impact on the PV panel power. We will likely conclude that using one bypass diode per solar cell is the ultimate solution. But this is not true. If there is shadow at the solar panel, mostly more solar cells are shaded. In this case placing bypass diodes over groups of solar cells is better. We discuss three bypass diode configurations, which are simulated with Multisim. The simulated bypass diodes are near to the SBR20U40CT. The current at the maximum power point is 4.7A. For determining the loss we only treat the worst case of completely shaded cells. This is because it seldom occur that only one cell in a group is partly shaded. PV panel voltage reduction caused by shadow when bypass diodes are placed across groups of solar cells:

The voltage reduction is the number of cells in the group x voltage at maximum power (ca. 056V) + bypass diode forward voltage. The voltage reduction in case of more shaded groups is the sum of the voltage reduction per group.

5.1. Serial groups

In string 1, each solar cell has its own bypass diode. When a single solar cell is shaded, this configuration is optimal. When two adjacent solar cells are shaded, string 2 gives a higher output voltage, 0.82V instead of 0.53V. In practise we use larger groups of solar cells. Because of hot-spot protection the maximum amount of solar cells in a group is about 15.

Bypass diodes serial groups configuration

5.2. Staggered groups

Because the bypass diodes are placed on top of the PV panel and the wiring must be kept simple, there are few possibilities for placing the diodes. The staggered or interlaced group configuration is a handy solution for the most PV panels. Well see this at the solar bike PV panel. Like the serial groups, larger groups of solar cells will be used.

Bypass diodes staggered groups configuration

5.3. Multilevel groups

Multiple levels of solar cell groups can deal with various shadow patterns. This example has the lowest loss in case of a single shaded solar cell and also when for instance the first two solar cells are shaded.

Bypass diodes multilevel groups configuration

Elaborating the above methods, theoretically, the following scheme is the ultimate solution for four solar cell PV panel. Every shadow pattern has the minimal power loss. However, this configuration is not feasible. For more solar cells, this will give a tremendous amount of bypass diodes and wiring. Also the total diodes leakage current is unacceptable.

Maximal amount of bypass diodes

This design is patented, it is a typical example of a trivial patent, see my article about trivial patents here. US Patent 6225793; Solar power generation circuit including bypass diodes connected in parallel to groups of series connected solar cells.

6. PV panel example
Here is an example of a PV panel with 25 solar cells. Because we want to keep the wiring simple, this is a practical solution for the placement of the bypass diodes.

Solar bike PV panel

6.1. Examples of a PV panel with shadow

With 6 shaded solar cells the voltage loss = 6*0.55V + 0.29V:

PV panel shading simulation with 6 shaded solar cells

With 9 shaded solar cells the voltage loss = 9*0.55V + 2*0.29V:

PV panel shading simulation with 9 shaded solar cells

This example has a remarkable current distribution trough the solar cells and bypass diodes. IA = 3.09A, IB = 1.48A and IC = 1.61A. The voltage loss is higher than expected and cant be calculated as the other shadow examples (9*0.55V + 2*0.29V). As we can see the current trough the top en bottom string is 3.1A instead of 4.7A. These solar cells produce less power. However, without the bypass diode D1 the voltage loss is even worse:

PV panel shading simulation, some solar cells not in MPP

7. Reverse bias thermal runaway

7.1. Transitioning from shaded to unshaded condition

The forward biased bypass diode during shading can reach 150-200C. When the diode returns to its normal reverse-biased condition, the temperature of the diode will cool down. But this cooling down takes time. This is a critical point to understand. During this transition, the diode leakage will be very high due to the residual forward-biased selfheating (as high as 0.1A to 0.5A) and, in turn, can easily maintain self- heating due to high leakage current multiplied by the reverse bias voltage. At the solar bike there is frequent shadow. The accumulated effect of the shaded-to-unshaded transition periods will degrade the lifetime of the bypass diodes. See here for a comprehensive article about thermal runaway.