Development of a photovoltaic array model for use in power-electronics simulation studies

To be able to develop a complete solar photovoltaic power electronic conversion system in simulation, it is necessary to define a circuit-based simulation model for a PV cell in order to allow the interaction between a proposed converter (with its associated control arrangement) and the PV array to be studied. To do this it is necessary to approach the modelling process from the perspective of power electronics; that is to define the desired overall model in terms of the manner in which the electrical behaviour of the cell changes with respect to the environmental parameters of temperature and irradiance. The authors cover the development of a general model which can be implemented on simulation platforms such as PSPICE or SABER and is designed to be of use to power electronics specialists. The model accepts irradiance and temperature as variable parameters and outputs the I/V characteristic for that particular cell for the above conditions.