Development of PV simulator by integrating software and hardware for laboratory testing

This paper presents the development of PV (photovoltaic) simulator used for laboratory testing. The proposed simulator integrates both the software and the hardware devices. The aim of the proposed simulator is to develop an instrument that provides the output electrical power which is determined by the characteristic of PV under the varying solar irradiation. The Simulink software is employed to model the I-V characteristic of the PV. The output of Simulink is interfaced to a microcontroller for adjusting the current of an adjustable DC power supply. The experimental results show that the proposed simulator works appropriately, in the sense that power delivered by the adjustable power supply follows the maximum output power determined by the solar irradiation simulated in the Simulink. Further, the output of PV simulator could be connected to real electrical load for laboratory testing.