Simple and low cost PV simulator using diode characteristics for development of PV system

Abstract

This paper presents a simple and low cost PV simulator using diode characteristics for development of PV system. In order to reproduce characteristics of PV module, instead of huge digital data of I-V characteristics of PV module considering temperature dependence, a real diode is used in the proposed system. A low cost microcontroller that has a little amount of data memory is used to control the system. The principle of the proposed system is described in detail, and is implemented in a prototype system. Experiments were conducted to show that excellent performances were obtained.