Pierre Petit

Simulation and Hardware Development of a New Electronic Simulator of Photovoltaic Generators

Abstract Photovoltaic simulators are practical and useful tools for the evaluation of photovoltaic energy production system components, avoiding time-consuming and expensive field-testing process. This article presents an original electronic bench simulating a photovoltaic generator system including photovoltaic modules, DC-DC converters, and loads. This new electronic simulator allows the development and optimization of different topologies of generators or different converters. It can replace the load and inverter working under random external parameters. It can be used for works about photovoltaic grid injection as well as stand-alone photovoltaic systems. This simulator constitutes a specific tool for a laboratory to test photovoltaic modules under various temperature and illumination conditions, making transparent many other issues and thus allowing a complete set of simulation parameters not easily and repeatedly available in practice for the development of new photovoltaic generators. For validating the efficiency of the simulator, a detailed analytical study, using the OrCAD® PSpice® software environment of a distributed generator based on a high-voltage DC bus topology, is presented and compared to in situ experimental results achieved with the operational prototype finally developed.