Low-cost photovoltaic emulator for instructional laboratories

This paper discusses a simple and cheap PV emulator based on a linear power supply that does not require a source of light to conduct laboratory experiments. The emulator has been designed to underpin students' understanding the properties of PV cell V-I characteristics and the ways to maximise the output power learned from lectures, tutorial and self-studies. The emulator has been built using “on the shelf” components and tested under rated power conditions. It demonstrated a good emulation of V-I characteristics within the rated range of the sun irradiation and the temperature

Aplicación de MOSFETs de carburo de silicio (SiC) en inversores fotovoltaicos conectados a red

Postprint (published version

Low cost photovoltaic array emulator design for the test of PV grid-connected inverters

This paper presents a low cost photovoltaic array emulator design based on a DC-DC Boost converter. This design arises from the need to study in the laboratory new PV inverters based on SiC devices in order to improve their performances. The lack of space for installation of real photovoltaic panels and the high costs of the commercial emulators require of alternative systems which allow the reproduction of the characteristic curves of the panels as well as their dependence on changing environmental conditions. The emulator design is applied to a full-bridge single phase grid-connected inverter. Simulation results are provided to confirm the proper operation of the PV emulator. © 2014 IEEE