AbstractThis paper will outline the simulation of a

photovoltaic emulator. A photovoltaic emulator is a DC-DC

converter which has similar electrical characteristics to a
photovoltaic panel. A photovoltaic emulator allows PV systems to
be analyzed in a controlled environment where using actual
photovoltaic panels would produce inconsistent results for the PV
system, due to variability in outside temperature and weather
conditions.

Index Terms-- photovoltaic, irradiance, emulator, buck
converter.

I. INTRODUCTION
ITH increasing interest in renewable energies large
amounts of money and effort have been put into
research and development for photovoltaic (PV) systems. The
larger interest in PV systems has increased demand for
appropriate equipment to test PV systems.
In this paper a circuit for a photovoltaic emulator will be
simulated. A photovoltaic emulator has similar electrical
characteristics to a PV panel. A photovoltaic emulator
essentially is a power supply with similar current and voltage
characteristics as a PV panel. They however provide a
controlled environment, which is not affected by external
factors such as temperature and weather. This allows
repeatable conditions to test PV equipment such as inverters
and provides a controlled environment to test an overall PV
system.
II. BACKGROUND
A. Need For PV Emulator
Having a controlled environment to test PV equipment is
difficult since consistent repeatable conditions are impossible
to reproduce. A PV panels electrical characteristics will
change based on a variety of factors including the amount of
irradiance received, temperature of the panel, and the material

D. S.L Dolan is with the Electrical Engineering Department, California
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA (e-mail:
dsdolan@calpoly.edu).
J. Durago and J. Crowfoot are with the Electrical Engineering Department,
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA.
Taufik is with the Electrical Engineering Department, California
Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407, USA (e-mail:
taufik@calpoly.edu).

used to make the PV panel. A PV emulator will simulate the
current and voltage characteristics of a photovoltaic panel
under these various conditions. Having consistent electrical
characteristics will allow easier analysis and optimization of
PV systems [2].


Fig. 1: Implemented PV Emulator Hardware Example [1]

A huge variety of solar panels exist. It would be
prohibitively expensive to purchase each type of panel and test
individually. A PV emulator would be able to simulate many
different types of solar panels, under various temperature and
weather conditions.
B. History
There are several PV emulators commercially available as
well as some PV emulators created by universities for
educational purposes. Some of these emulators are modular so
that they can be connected in series or in parallel to further
simulate a whole PV array system. Commercial emulators are
prohibitively expensive to serve as laboratory learning tools
for students and thus in house creation of the emulators allows
for a tailor made solution.
A large amount of PV emulators are used to test the
photovoltaic systems on space satellites. [3] Due to the
extreme conditions in outer space, designers would like to
quickly and accurately simulate how their PV system will
behave in space. Thus PV emulators are their best and most
practical option.

Simulation of A Photovoltaic Emulator

Dale Dolan, Member, IEEE, Joseph Durago, Joe Crowfoot, Taufik, Senior Member, IEEE
W
C. Other Topologies Used
Others that have made PV emulators have used several
different DC-DC converter topologies. To simulate a whole
array of PV Panels with a maximum output power of 4.4KW a
full-bridge architecture was implemented [4]. Others
emulators that were able to mimic the electrical characteristics
of PV panels used half-bridge, buck, and buck-boost
topologies [5][6]. There are several topologies that can be
used to implement a PV emulator, where topology selection is
mainly based on the desired maximum output power.


Fig, 2: Commercially Available PV Emulator [3]

III. PV PANEL CHARACTERISTICS
A PV panel can be modeled by the ideal diode equation
given below. The goal of the photovoltaic emulator is to have
an output which follows the ideal diode equation as close as
possible [7]:


(1)
Where
K is the Boltzman constant = 1.38x10
-23
J/K;
q is the electronic charge = 1.6x10
-19
C;
T: is the cell temperature;
Is: is the saturation current .

The ideal diode equation serves to provide a guide for us to
create the control scheme for the buck converter that would
adequately model a PV panel. For a given load current, there
is a corresponding voltage

IV. DC-DC CONVERTER DESIGN
A. Input Stage
A common concern in building power supplies is
electromagnetic interference to and from the power supply
however an input filter is unnecessary because this is a piece
of testing equipment. Also it will not be used for commercial
or in vital applications therefore the PV emulator does not
need to be extra durable. Therefore no complex filtering will
be needed at the input.

Rp
Rs
D Iph

Fig. 3: Equivalent Circuit for a Solar Cell
The PV emulator will be used for off-line
applications. A full bridge rectifier shall be used to provide a
DC input for the buck converter. For simulation purposes a
108 Vrms DC source was used to model the input voltage
which was calculated from the formula below:


B. Power Stage
A buck converter topology was chosen as the power
stage of the PV emulator. The buck converter allows for a
wide range of output power. To emulate various PV panels the
output power range should be between 0W and 300W. This
wide output power range will reflect the various power that
different panels can produce as well as emulate different
irradiance values.
The buck converter will be designed to operate in
continuous conduction mode under all load conditions and the
ripple on the output voltage cannot exceed 3%.


1, Buck Converter Topology

The Buck Converter has a very basic function of stepping
down a variable input DC voltage, to create a constant DC
output voltage. This output voltage remains constant
regardless of load or input fluctuations. This section will
review the derivation of the Buck Converters transfer
function, as well as the derivation for rated values for all
components of the Buck converter described in this paper. The
basic buck converter circuit is shown in Figure 4.






Fig. 4: Circuit of Buck Converter












a. Buck Converter Transfer Function

When the Switch is ON, the Diode turns off, and ideally the
switch becomes a short, as shown in Fig. 5.

Using the Ideal Inductor Equation:

(2)

substituting V
L1
= V
1
V
R1
into (2)

yields (3)

(3)

Substituting dt = DT, where D = Duty Cycle and T =
Switching Period

yield (4)

(4)

Now with the switch OFF, the same process can be used to
derive (5) Using Fig. 6 as an equivalent circuit.

(5)

These two equations represent two halves of one period of
current through the inductor. One can sum them and set them
equal to zero to solve for V
R1
.


(4) +(5) yields (6)

= 0 (6)

Solving for V
R1
yields (7)

(7)


This equation shows that the output voltage will always be
less than the input voltage, since duty cycle must always be
less than 1.

b. Inductance Derivation

We can use equation (5) or (6) to design the size of the
inductor. For the purpose of this application, a frequency of
100 kHz will be used such that the transient speed of the
emulator is fast enough to reproduce expected transients.
Since our current values will need to be very low, we require
that the maximum change in inductor current be 0.01 A. We
will also assume the worst case duty cycle so that the
minimum inductor value will be calculated. Given these
values, the minimum inductor value was calculated to be
1mH, as shown below. Note that for simulation purposes a
much higher inductor value was used:


c. Output Capacitance Derivation

The output capacitance value can be calculated by using the
charge equation for a capacitor: Q = VC. Because there is a
volt second balance for a charging and discharging capacitor,
you can solve for the capacitance in terms of ripple voltage.

Q = C (8)

Where: ` (9)

Substituting (9) into (8) and solving for C:

(10)

Fig. 5: Buck Converter Circuit When Switch Is ON
Fig. 6: Buck Converter Circuit When Switch Is OFF
VR1 = Vout = DV1

Fig. 7: Circuit of PV Emulator
Capacitor Value was chosen to accommodate an output
voltage ripple that would satisfactorily replicate the output
voltage of a solar cell. This ripple value can be estimated to
be approximately 0.01V. Therefore a capacitor value of was
chosen to be 1 uF.

d. Diode and Switch Ratings

Diode and Switch Ratings can be found by finding peak
inverse voltage, and average current for both components. For
the diode, the peak inverse voltage occurs when the switch is
ON. This value will equal the input voltage, which in this
case is 108V. The diode will only conduct current when the
switch is off. Therefore the current through the diode will
equal the maximum output current times the time the diode is
conducting. The time the diode conducts is opposite of when
the switch is on, so the output current is multiplied by (1-D).
Because the duty cycle changes on feedback, we will use the
worst case scenario for duty cycle. This yields a current rating
of 5.58 A .
The switch only conducts during the duty cycle of the
switch, therefore the switch current rating equals output
current times duty cycle, however since duty cycle varies with
feedback, we will assume worst case scenario for duty cycle.
This results in a current rating of 5.58A.
C. Control
A closed loop system is used to control the pulse-
width-modulation (PWM) for the switch. A look-up table is
used to provide the various data points on the I-V curve such
that the simulation will match the anticipated hardware
implementation. When a change in load occurs the controller
senses the change in current. The reference voltage for the
PWM control will change accordingly which adjusts the
overall output voltage of the PV emulator. The control system
currently has only proportional control. A proportional-
integral controller (PI) would provide a faster response with
less steady state error however design of a PI controller is out
of scope of this paper but will be added to the simulation at a
later date [8].


Fig. 8: Theoretical and Simulated PV I-V Curve

V. SIMULATION RESULTS
Initially our first test was a single load. As seen from
Fig. 9 the settling time was 8.13 ms for a 9.49 resistor. In
steady state the reference voltage and output voltage are equal
to one another.
Fig. 10 shows an increasing step change in load. We
are stepping down the current by increasing the load and
therefore we can see how this effects the response time of the
emulator. As the output current is stepped down closer to zero,
specifically in the final step in Fig. 10, and the first step in Fig.
11, we see there is worse settling time and percent overshoot.
This is because the circuit was designed for a a 0.01 A ripple,
and at these very low loads, the inductor current goes into
discontinuous mode. This mode of operation creates a bad
transient response for any change in output. As can be seen in
Fig. 11, the output voltage never settles for the first plateau.
This is a characteristic of many PV emulators as they are good
at emulating behavior in between short circuit current and
open circuits voltage states, yet cannot adequately model them
by themselves. Fig. 6 Depicts the I-V curve of the
experimental and theoretical values for the PV emulator. The
emulator does a good job recreating the curve in steady state.
The only errors exist at points very close to open circuit
voltage and short circuit current. This is because of the factors
mentioned in the previous paragraph. Fig. 8 highlights how
well this topology functions in steady state. Whereas Fig. 10
and 11 highlight some problems with transient response.
These errors in transients are mostly due to the control scheme
used. It is expected that these errors will be minimized once
the PI controller is implemented.
VI. NOTES ON HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
When the PV emulator will be manufactured some
design issues need to be addressed. At the control stage a
proportional-integral control shall be used. This will allow for
a faster transient response for the PV emulator [9][10].When
designing the PI controller the gain of the proportional and
integral values need to be set to appropriate values so as to
provide an adequate transient response as well as ensure that
the system will not become unstable. Design of the PI
controller is out of the scope of this paper, however stability
issues will have to be addressed when creating the PV
emulator. The control stage will most likely be provided by a
DSP board to provide PWM control of the switch as well as
the logic needed to create the I-V curve of a solar panel. A
program such as LabView or Matlab/Simulink will be used in
order to have a graphical user interface (GUI) to control some
parameters of the PV panel and outside conditions. These
parameters will include the short circuit current, open circuit
voltage, rated current, rated voltage, and ambient temperature.
Together these parameters will be put into an algorithm which
will create an appropriate I-V curve to emulate.

VII. CONCLUSION
This paper gives an overview of simulating a PV
emulator using a buck converter. This will emulate a single
solar panel for the purpose of studying control schemes and
power electronic interfaces for single panels. The idea of
using a DC-DC converter to emulate a PV panel can be
extended so that high output powers can be achieved. This will
allow a whole array of PV panels to be emulated.

VIII. REFERENCES

[1] Cirrincione, M.; Di Piazza, M.C.; Marsala, G.; Pucci, M.; Vitale, G
Real Time Simulation of Renewable Sources; Industrial Electronics,
2008. ISIE 2008. IEEE International Symposium
[2] Athena Energy Corporation, 1000W PV Emulator Brochure
[3] Agilent Technologies, E4360 Modular Solar Array Simulators
[4] Martin-Segura, G. ; Lopez-Mestre, J. ; Teixido-Casas, M. ; Sudria-
Andreu, A., Development of a Photovoltaic Array Emulator System
Based on a Full-Bridge Structure Electrical Power Quality and
Utilisation, 2007. EPQU 2007. 9th International Conference
[5] Ollila, J., A medium power PV array simulator with a robust control
stategy Control Applications, 1995., Proceedings of the 4th IEEE
Conference
[6] Tsai, H.; Tu, C.; Su, Y, Development of Generalized Photovoltaic
Model Using MATLAB/SIMULINK World Congress on Engineering
and Computer Science 2008
[7] National Instruments, Photovoltaic Cell I-V Characterization Theory
and LabVIEW Analysis Code,. Available:
http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/7230 [Accessed May 30, 2010]
[8] Duran, E.; Sidrach-de-Cardona, M.; Galan, J.; Andujar, J.M.,
Measurement Method for PV Modules based on DC-DC Converters
with Microcontroller Power Electronics and Applications, 2009. EPE
'09. 13th European Conference
[9] Zhaoxia Leng; Jian Liu; Qingfeng Liu; Huamin
Wang; A Digital Optimal Control Method for DC-DC
Converters Based on Simple ModelPower Electronics and Intelligent
Transportation System, 2008. PEITS '08. Workshop
[10] Kurokawa, F.; Mizoguchi, T.; Sukita, S.; Osuga, H.,
A new digital control for forward type multiple-output dc-
dc converterTelecommunications Energy Conference, 2009. INTELEC
2009. 31st International


IX. BIOGRAPHIES


Dale S.L. Dolan (M2001) is an Assistant Professor
of Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly with
experience in renewable energy projects, education,
power electronics and advanced motor drives. He
received his BSc in Zoology in 1995 and BEd in
1997 from the University of Western Ontario. He
received the BASc in Electrical Engineering in 2003,
MASc. in Electrical Engineering in 2005 and PhD in
Electrical Engineering in 2009 all from the
University of Toronto. He is the chair on the board
of directors of Windy Hills Caledon Renewable Energy, past chair of the
OSEA (Ontario Sustainable Energy Association) Board and was an executive
chair of the 7th World Wind Energy Conference 2008 (WWEC 2008). He is
currently a member of the management committee for the Ontario Green
Energy Act Alliance in the midst of implementation of the most progressive
renewable energy policy in North America. His research interests involve
sustainable/renewable energy generation, wind power generation, smart grid
technology, power systems, electromagnetics, power electronic applications
for distributed generation, grid connection impacts of renewable generation,
energy policy promoting widespread implementation of sustainable power
generation, sustainable energy project economics and sustainability of
technologies.


Taufik (M1999, SM2007) was born and raised in Jakarta,
Indonesia. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering with
minor in Computer Science from Northern Arizona Univ. in
1993, MS in Electrical Engineering from
Univ. of Illinois Chicago in 1995, and
Doctor of Engineering in Electrical
Engineering from Cleveland State
University in 1999. He then joined the
Electrical Engineering department at Cal
Poly State University in 1999 where he
is currently a Professor. He is a Senior
Member of IEEE and has done
consulting work for several companies
including Capstone Microturbine, Rockwell Automation
(Allen-Bradley), Picker International, Rantec, San Diego Gas
& Electric, APD

Time
0s 5ms 10ms 15ms 20ms 25ms 30ms
V(Vfb)
0V
40V
80V

Fig. 9: Response to a single load

Time
0s 50ms 100ms 150ms 200ms 250ms
V(Vfb)
0V
40V
80V

Fig. 10: Stepped increase in load resistance

Time
0s 50ms 100ms 150ms 200ms 250ms
V(U10:2)
0V
50V
100V

Fig. 11: Stepped decrease in load resistance