An Embedded Microchip System Design for Programmable Solar Panel Simulator

A solar panel is a device that converts light into electricity. Solar electric energy is being used on a larger scale because of environmental concerns and to some extent falling prices of solar cells. Manufacturers of solar electric equipment need solar panels for testing their product such as characteristics of the solar cells and maximum power tracker circuit. A programmable solar simulator can replace all these solar panels that are being used for testing and development purpose of solar electric equipment. In this article, a system with an embedded microcontroller is discussed. It can either control the solar panel simulator individually, or communicate with a host that can do simulation by RS232, so it can be a portable and effective system to simulate the solar panel