Design of a converter for photovoltaic panels testing

A solar panel or module, under different irradiation and temperature conditions, is characterized by its I-V characteristic curve. The evaluation of these curves allows to completely characterize the panel from the performance point of view. As well known, the performance of the photovoltaic (PV) system in terms of generated power depends not only on the photovoltaic panel quality but also on the employed maximum power point tracker algorithms (MPPT). In technical literature many MPPT algorithms have been proposed but a clear method to compare their performances is missing. For this reason a good system for the evaluation of PV technology allowing to test different PV panels with different tracking algorithms in the same environmental conditions could be very useful. In this paper the design and implementation of a system oriented to the characterization of PV systems and to the comparison of MPPT algorithms will be proposed. It allows to measure the characteristic curves of a panel and easily to implement MPPT algorithms in different irradiation and temperature conditions. Experimental tests have been carried out to validate the performance of the system.