A simplified nonlinear power source for simulating PV panels

Author

Lopes, Luiz A C ; Lienhardt, Anne-Marie

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Concordia Univ., Montreal, Que., Canada

Volume

4

fYear

2003

fDate

15-19 June 2003

Firstpage

1729

Abstract

Power electronic converters play a major role in the efficiency and reliability of photovoltaic (PV) systems. The development of power conditioning equipment for operation at the maximum power point and for utility interfacing usually requires solar array simulators (SAS) that are relatively expensive. This paper presents a simple nonlinear power source based on a PWM switched resistor that can be used for preliminary evaluations of power conditioning equipment for PV systems. It presents V×I characteristics similar to those of PV panels and also allows the variation of the solar irradiation level. The operating principles are discussed, design equations are derived and experimental results are presented for a 75 Wp PV panel simulator.

Keywords

photovoltaic power systems; power convertors; pulse width modulation; simulation; solar cell arrays; PWM switched resistor; V×I characteristics; design equations; nonlinear power source; photovoltaic systems; power conditioning equipment; power electronic converters; simulating PV panels; solar array simulators; solar irradiation level; utility interfacing; Circuits; Costs; Photovoltaic systems; Power electronics; Power supplies; Power system reliability; Pulse width modulation; Resistors; Solar power generation; Voltage control;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Power Electronics Specialist Conference, 2003. PESC '03. 2003 IEEE 34th Annual

ISSN

0275-9306

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7754-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PESC.2003.1217717

Filename

1217717