A photovoltaic panel emulator using a buck-boost DC/DC converter and a low cost micro-controller

In order to facilitate the design and testing of photovoltaic (PV) power systems, a PV emulator which models the electrical characteristic of a PV panel or array is needed. Among different approaches to modeling PV characteristic, namely the I-V curve, curve-fitting is a popular approach. Even though a single high-order polynomial equation may accurately represent the I-V curve, the process of derivation and implementation is rather complex. This paper hence proposes the use of piecewise linear approach which is easier to derive and implement in a low-cost micro-controller. A two-switch buck-boost DC/DC converter is selected as the PV emulator and is analyzed. Experimental results on a hardware prototype of the proposed PV emulator are reported to show the effectiveness of the approach. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.