Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

MPPT algorithm test on a photovoltaic emulating system constructed

by a DC power supply and an indoor solar panel
Z. Zhou ⇑, P.M. Holland, P. Igic
College of Engineering, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper a novel photovoltaic (PV) emulating scheme for testing maximum power point tracking
Received 5 March 2014 (MPPT) algorithms and PV inverters has been proposed. It is constructed by the parallel connection of
Accepted 1 June 2014 conventional solar panels with a DC power supply operating in current source mode. The advantages
Available online 22 June 2014
of the proposed scheme are cost-effectiveness, relatively easy implementation and indoor testing of
MPPT algorithms and power converters avoiding weather and time of day dependency on solar irradia-
Keywords: tion levels. Furthermore, the proposed PV emulator avoids the bandwidth problem associated with the dc
DC power supply
converter based PV emulating systems. Detailed circuit connection, parameters, electrical characteristics
Photovoltaic emulator
MPPT
and mathematical model of the PV emulator are presented and discussed. Proposed PV emulating system
DC/DC converter has been used to test a boost DC/DC converter controlled by Perturb & Observe (P&O) MPPT algorithm.
Test results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed PV emulation system and all achieved results
correspond well to the original designed values.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction In a solar power generation system the task of controlling the

Conversion of solar energy into electricity by means of photo-
voltaic (PV) systems varies randomly depending on the sun irradi-
ation level and associated temperature changes [1]. The maximum
power obtainable from the sun during a hot sunny day at noon is
estimated to be about 1000 W/m2 at areas oriented towards the
sun. A typical PV panel would have a maximum efficiency of about
10%, giving the average power output of about 22 W/m2 [2]. Today,
solar power generation has increased dramatically due to the con-
tinuous progress in the solar technology, reduced cost and increas-
ing need for sustainable energy. It is now one of the main
renewable energy sources in the world.
A PV panel usually consists of a series and parallel interconnec-
tion of a number of PV panel cells, which converts the solar radia-
tion to electrical energy. The electrical characteristics of a solar
panel under temperature and solar irradiance variation are mani-
fested in the output current and voltage. Effective control of the
PV source terminal voltage maintains a value such that the product
of PV voltage and current achieves a maximum value, known as the
maximum power point (MPP). This point is at the ‘knee’ of the PV
diode normal I–V curve with limits of VOC and ISC [3].
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: z.zhou@swansea.ac.uk (Z. Zhou).
maximum power output is usually carried out by employing power
electronics PV inverters. As shown in Fig. 1, the system consists of a
PV array, a PV inverter and a grid. The PV inverter has special func-
tions adapted for use with the photovoltaic array, practically the
ability of tracking the maximum power point of PV arrays and
the ability to convert the variable direct current (DC) output of
the PV array into a utility frequency alternating current (AC) that
can be fed into a commercial electrical grid or used by a local,
off-grid electrical network. It is a critical component for any photo-
voltaic systems. Nowadays, the PV inverter is one of the main
application areas of power electronics technology for renewable
energy power generation systems.
In an operating PV system, a PV inverter is needed to maintain
the power output at the maximum power point; this control func-
tion is achieved by employing a MPPT algorithm. A MPPT algo-
rithm is a control optimization part of any PV inverter and it is
usually implemented by using a microcontroller. It is a further link
between the PV source and the PV inverter ensuring the optimal
power output is achieved from the PV source. So it is essential to
develop effective MPPT algorithms for a PV inverter.
Significant research effort has enabled development of the var-
ious new PV inverter topologies and MPPT control algorithms aim-
ing to achieve higher efficiency and higher reliability at a lower
cost. Many activities are now carried out across research institu-
tions and industries. Therefore, permanent availability of a suitable

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2014.06.007
0196-8904/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469 461

in each of the simulator built-in memory. The commercial PV emu-

PV
PV Inverter
Grid
Array With
MPPT
Fig. 1. Electrical connection of a typical PV array, PV inverter with MPPT control
and grid network.
PV source for testing MPPT algorithms and PV inverters is essential
in order to secure fast progress in these areas.
Generally there are two methods for evaluating PV inverters
and MPPT algorithms in a laboratory environment. The first one
is based on using an actual outdoor installed PV panel/array under
direct solar irradiance. Disadvantages of this method are the out-
door space requirement (especially at high power conditions),
weather condition dependency, exact repeatability of the test con-
ditions and high system cost. To overcome all these limitations, PV
emulators [4–12] have been proposed to replace direct irradiation
systems, making it easy to set the test conditions such as the num-
ber and connection of the PV modules, irradiance, temperature and
I–V characteristics. Several types of PV emulators have been pre-
sented over the past years and they are classified as: (1) Commer-
cial PV simulators such as Agilent Solar Simulator used in [5] which
allows simulation of a variety of I–V curves within the output lim-
its of the simulator. For example the 600 W module can provide a
maximum open circuit voltage of 130 V and a maximum short cir-
cuit current of 5.0 A, the I–V curve is determined by a user-defined
table of points that can have a minimum of 3 points, up to a max-
imum of 4000 points. Each point corresponds to a specific value of I
and V of the I–V characteristics. As many as 30 tables may be stored
lators are usually expensive as testing tool and not always afford-
able. (2) DC power supply based PV simulators based on a DC
power supply modified to act as a PV simulator. It is simple and
easy to construct in a conventional laboratory environment. For
example, Fig. 2 shows a DC power supply based PV emulator con-
structed by using a DC power supply and a series connected power
resistor at its output to give a curve that exhibits a peak for the
MPP tracker to latch on to [25].
Switching-mode DC/DC converters based PV simulators were
developed in which the PV output characteristics can be emulated
by storing a number of points of pre-defined I–V characteristics in
the form of lookup table in a digital memory [6–9] or online
calculated by using the I–V equations of the semiconductor physics
[10–12]. Fig. 3 shows a block diagram of a switching-mode DC/DC
converter based PV emulator [9]. It is constructed using a PWM
switching DC/DC buck converter acting as a current source. The
switching buck DC/DC converter is relatively simple, it has high
efficiency, low cost and small size. The lookup table stores the I–
V curves to be emulated and generates the reference value of the
output current, Iref. The irradiance and temperature effect on the
I–V curve can also be considered in the lookup table if required.
The microcontroller allows for recalculation of the I–V curve to
emulate the transient behavior of a PV source and each new I–V
curve can also be updated as required by using interpolation algo-
rithm along the stored curves, corresponding to different irradi-
ance and temperature levels. The current controller ensures the
tracking of the reference value for this current.
For the semiconductor physics equation based PV simulator
[10–12], the PV characteristic is processed in real-time by inserting
the coefficients of the semiconductor equations. This requires
knowledge of specific semiconductor characteristic and ways of
inputting the parameters into the processor.

(a) Circuit connection (b) P-V characteristics

Fig. 2. DC power supply based low cost PV emulator.

PV Emulator
Vpv
PWM PV
I-V I ref Output switching Inverter
Lookup table Current DC/DC
+ With
Controller converter
- MPPT

Vpv I out= I pv I out

Temperature
Irradiation

Fig. 3. Block diagram of a switching-mode DC/DC converter based PV emulator.

462 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469

Although the switching converter based PV simulator allows Ipv_panel Ipv_emul

simulation of a variety of I–V curves within the output limits of
its hardware, the cost of the entire digital implementation is still Iph 0 Cable
relatively high as high speed microprocessors and complicated
control program are required for a high band-width controller. Indoor External
In this paper a simple, novel PV panel emulator was constructed PV DC I CS Vpv_emul
by connecting an indoor PV panel and a dc power supply in paral- Panel power
lel. The DC power supply operates as a current source to emulate
supply
the photo-generated current that is usually generated by actual
solar irradiation for outdoor PV panels whilst the open circuit volt-
age of the PV emulation system and the voltage at the maximum
Fig. 5. Circuit connection of the emulated PV system.
output power point are determined by the connected PV panel.
This allows a variety of I–V curves at different solar irradiations
to be simulated inside laboratory regardless of actual solar irradi-
ation levels. panel terminals so the part of the current coming from the external
The following sections of the paper describe: the photovoltaic current source will be injected into the solar panel through the
panel model and characteristics, the constructed PV emulator con- internal series resistor as shown in Fig. 6.
figuration, its characteristics, hardware construction, the simula- In an indoor condition, the photocurrent Iph  0; therefore the I–
tion analysis of the proposed PV emulator, the P&O MPPT V characteristics of the emulated PV panel are expressed by:
algorithm and the boost DC/DC converter circuit connection. The  V 
pv emul Ipv panel Rs

test results are then described in detail and are followed by an Ipv emul ¼ Ics  I0 e Ns V t
 1  Ish
appropriate result discussion.
Ipv panel  Ish þ I0
V pv emul ¼ Ipv Rs þ nV t ln ð2Þ
I0
2. Model and characteristics of the PV emulating system V pv emul  Ipv panel Rs
Ish ¼
Rsh
The equivalent circuit of a conventional solar panel is shown in
Fig. 4, which is represented by a current source in parallel with a where Ipv_emul and Vpv_emul are the output current and voltage of the
diode. PV emulator. Ics is the current from the external current source
The general I–V characteristic is expressed by (1): which emulates the photo-generated current. Ipv_panel is the current
 V þI R  injected to the indoor PV panel. For a given external current source
pv pv s V pv þ Ipv Rs current Ics, the current injected into the solar panel is Ipv_panel = Ics
Ipv ¼ Iph  I0 e Ns V t  1  ð1Þ
Rsh  Ipv_emul. The difference between Ipv described by Eq. (1) and
Ipv_emul described by Eq. (2) will depend on the internal series resis-
where Vt represents the junction thermal voltage, Iph represents the tance of the PV panel Rs. Fig. 7(a) shows the differences of I–V and
photo-generated current, I0 represents the dark saturation current, P–V characteristics between Eqs. (1) and (2) for the value of series
Rs represents the panel series resistance, and Rsh represents the resistances of Rs = 0.0008 X, Fig. 7(b) shows the differences of I–V
panel parallel resistance. Ns is the number of cells connected in and P–V characteristics for the series resistance of Rs = 0.8 X. In both
series. simulations the photo-generated current Iph is set to zero, the cur-
The dark saturation current, I0, is very small compared to the rent source current Ics is set to 3.09 A. The PV model employed is
exponential term so the output current is dominated by the the default model provided by the PSIM simulation software [27].
current source current, Iph, and the exponential term. The photo- It can be seen that the I–V and P–V curves for the emulated PV panel
generated current, Iph, is directly proportional to the solar irradi- that both are slightly shifted to the right because of the effect of the
ance falling on the solar panel. In a darkness or indoor conditions voltage drop over the series resistance. The larger the series resis-
no current or very small current is generated. For an indoor envi- tance Rs the more the curves will be shifted to the right. The differ-
ronment, in order to provide enough photo-generated current for ences are very small in the case of small series resistance
testing MPPT algorithms and PV inverters, a DC power supply oper- (Rs = 0.0008 X). One can also see that the maximum shift occurs
ating in its constant current source mode is employed, which is when the emulating output current Ipv_emul is zero in which case
simply connected to the terminal of a conventional PV panel as the current injected to the indoor PV panel is equal to the external
shown in Fig. 5. current source current Ics, and the voltage drop crossing the series
The equivalent circuit of the emulated PV panel is shown in resistance is DVmax = (Ics  Ipv_emul) Rs = IcsRs.
Fig. 6, where Ics represents the current provided by the external The proposed technique is also suitable for the emulating sys-
DC power supply (current source). For a conventional commercial tem containing multiple PV panels. In the case of multiple panels
PV panel the external current source can only be connected to the connected in series as shown in Fig. 8, the I–V characteristics of
the PV emulating system can be derived as described in what
follows.
If all panels have the same leakage current though the parallel
Ipv resistance Ish and the same dark saturation current I0, the PV emu-
lating system output voltage Vpv_emul can be expressed as:
! !
Rs X
k X
M X
M
V pv emul ¼ V PV panel m ¼ Ipv panel Rsk þ Vt N sk
Iph D R sh V pv m¼1 k¼1 k¼1
Ipv panel  Ish þ I0
 ln ð3Þ
I0
From Eq. (3), the current of the PV emulating system is
Fig. 4. Equivalent circuit of a photovoltaic panel. expressed as:
 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469 463

I pv_panel I pv_emul
Indoor PV Panel
Vpv' Rs

Iph 0 D Rsh I cs Vpv_emul

Fig. 6. Equivalent circuit of the emulated PV system with a single solar panel.

I pv_actual I pv_emul Rs =0.0008 where M represents the number of panels connected in series.
3.5 Experimental set-up was built by connecting a 175 W commer-
3 cial PV panel (STP175S-24/Ac from SUNTEC [26]) with a 360 W DC
2.5 power supply (ISO-TECH-ISO1603D) in parallel as shown in Fig. 9.
2 The photo-generated current from the indoor installed PV panel is
1.5
almost zero (in the order of mA). The DC power supply operates in
1
the constant current mode. The parameters of the solar panel are
0.5
presented in Table 1. The characteristics of the PV panel can be
0
(a) 120 seen in Fig. 11.
P P_emul
The measured I–V and P–V curves of the emulated PV source are
100 presented in Fig. 10 where the I–V and P–V curves with external
80 currents of 1 A, 2 A and 3 A are shown, respectively. The open cir-
60 cuit voltage is about 43 V in the case of 2 A external current sup-
40
plied and 40 V in the case of 1 A external current supplied. The
voltage at maximum output power point is around 35 V.
20
Comparison of the I–V and P–V curves of the emulated PV panel
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 and the actual PV panel for current around 3 A current source is
Vpv shown in Fig. 10. The characteristics of the actual PV panel can
be found from [26].
I pv_actual I pv_emul Rs =0.8 It can be seen that although there is small error between the
3.5
measured I–V curve from the emulated PV panel and that provided
3
from the datasheet of the actual PV panel, the emulated I–V and P–
2.5
V curves are very similar in nature to those generated by the actual
2
PV panel. The error occurs after the MPP when the emulator output
1.5
starts dropping. As the current source current remains the same
1
based on Ipv_panel = Ics  Ipv_emul the current injected into the PV
0.5
panel increases with the drop of the PV emulator output current.
0
(b) P P_emul
The voltage difference between the emulator I–V curve and the
120 actual I–V curve is the product of the series resistance and the cur-
100 rent injected into the solar panel from the external current source.
80 i.e. DV ¼ Rs  Ipv panel . At the point of open circuit voltage of the
60 emulated PV system, all the current from the external current
40 source will be injected into the PV panel; this will generate the
maximum voltage error DVmax.
20
Based on the difference of the open circuit voltages between the
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 emulated PV panel and the actual PV panel, the series resistance of
Vpv the PV panel is estimated by:

Fig. 7. Comparisons of I–V and P–V curves between a conventional PV panel and the V pv emul open  V pv actual open
proposed PV panel emulator. Rs ¼
Ics

0 PM 1 where Vpv_emul_open is the open circuit voltage of the emulated PV

V pv emul Ipv panel 
P
R
k¼1 sk panel, Vpv_actual_open is the open circuit voltage of the actual PV
B M C
Ipv ¼ Ics  I0 B
Vt  N
 1C panel. From Fig. 11, Ics = 3.09 A, Vpv_emul_open is 45.4 V and
emul @e k¼1 sk
A  Ish ð4Þ
Vpv_actual_open is around 43 V. Therefore the series resistance for
the actual PV panel is estimated to be 0.77 X.
where Rsm and Nsm are the series resistance and the number of cells The ‘real’ maximum power point (MPP) values at different val-
connected in series for the m-th PV panel. Since all PV panels are ues of Ics are measured. Fig. 12 shows the measured current source
connected in series, the same current Ipv_panel flows through all of current vs. the power at MPP curve (Ics vs. Pmpp) and current source
them. If all PV panels are identical, Eq. (4) can be written as: current vs. the voltage at MPP (Ics vs. Vmpp) curve and the sampling
 V  point of the PV emulator having single indoor PV panel.
pv emul Ipv panel MRs
Ipv emul ¼ Ics  I0 e V t MNs
 1  Ish ð5Þ A linear interpolation method can be used to determine the
MPP values (power and voltage) for the Ics values between two
464 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469

Indoor PV Panel-1 Rs1

Ipv_panel_
Ipv_emul
Iph1≈0 D Rsh_1 Ish Vpv_panel_1

Ics Vpv_emul

Indoor PV Panel-m Rsm

Ipv_panel
Iphm≈0 D Rshm Ish Vpv_panel_m

Fig. 8. Equivalent circuit of the PV emulating system containing multiple solar panels.

The proposed PV emulating system is constructed by using an

actual PV panel and DC power supply, where the DC power supply
Solar panel provides only the current emulating the photo-generated current
of the connected PV panel. The electrical characteristics, both P–V
Constructed and I–V curve characteristics, of the emulated PV system are deter-
PV Emulator system mined by the actual PV panel features as can be seen from the
mathematical model and experimental test of the emulated PV
system. Therefore the proposed PV emulator does suffer from the
well-known bandwidth interaction problem with the connected
power converter under test/development as discussed in [9]. It is
PV converter under
actually an advantage over the dc converter-based PV emulators.
test The response speed of the DC power supply is fast enough to emu-
late the changes of photo-generated current.

Electronic 3. Test of MPPT algorithm and boost DC/DC converter with the
DC power supply
Load
proposed PV emulating system
Fig. 9. Experimental set up of the PV emulating system incorporating single solar
panel. 3.1. Perturb and observe MPPT algorithm

In order to validate the proposed solar emulating system for

Table 1
The parameters of the solar panel STP175S-24/Ac.
Rated maximum power
Current at the maximum power point
Voltage at the maximum power point
Short circuit current
Open circuit voltage
Normal operating cell temperature
adjacent measured points. It can be seen that the maximum output
power value is proportional to the external current source current.
The open-circuit voltage is also affected by different values of Ics
and it saturates at higher values of Ics. This variation shows that
MPPT algorithms are essential for PV inverters to guaranty that a
PV array always operates at its MPP for any solar irradiance condi-
tions. It is worth to mention that apart from the Ics, the tempera-
ture also affects the performance of the PV array as discussed in
[9]. Due to small variations of the temperature in the indoor condi-
tions (i.e. laboratory) the effect of the temperature change on the
MPP values was not considered in this work.
experimental test of MPPT algorithms, a boost DC/DC converter
controlled by a MPPT algorithm was developed. The boost DC/DC
converter circuit and the block diagram of the MPPT with reference
175 W
voltage control are shown in Fig. 13. A constant voltage was con-
4.95 A
35.2 V trolled by the electronics load operating in a constant voltage
5.2 A mode.
44.2 V The boost converter performs energy capture from the con-
50 °C
nected PV source and transfers it to the resistive load. It can be
seen from Fig. 10 to Fig. 12 that for a given operating condition
the maximum output power from the solar panel can be obtained
only when it operates at a MPP voltage. However the MPP voltage
varies with different operating conditions such as changes in solar
irradiance and/or the temperature as shown in Fig. 12. In order to
operate PV array at the corresponding MPP voltage at any operat-
ing condition, a PV inverter must be controlled by a MPPT algo-
rithm. There is a number of different MPPT algorithms [13–23]
such as the constant voltage (CV) method, the increment conduc-
tance (IC) method [15] and perturb and observe (P&O) method
[16–19], for example. Among these algorithms, P&O MPPT has
been a popular control method for PV applications due to its sim-
plicity and generic nature.
 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469 465

3.5 120
I-V for Ics=3.09A P-V Curve
for Ics=3.09A
3 100

Emulated PV Panel Current (A)

Emulated PV Panel Power (W)

2.5
I-V for Ics=2A
80
2
60
I-V for Ics=1A P-V Curve
1.5
for Ics=2A
40
1
P-V Curve 20
0.5 for Ics=1A

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Emulated PV Panel Voltage (V)

Fig. 10. Measured I–V and P–V curves of the emulated PV panel with different the external current source currents.

Measured I-V and

P-V curves of the
emulated PV panel
at Ics=3.09A.

I - V curves

I-V and P-V curves

of the actual PV
panel at Iph=3.09A
P- V curves from datasheet
[26]

Fig. 11. Characteristic comparison of the emulated PV panel (Ics = 3.09 A) and the actual PV panel (Iph = 3.09 A).

Fig. 12. Measured Ics  Pmpp and Ics  Vmpp curves for the emulating PV system with single solar panel.

The basic principle of the operation of the P&O MPPT algorithm
is based on the factor that the derivative of PV array output power
as a function of its voltage is zero at the P–V curve’s MPP. As shown
in Fig. 14(a), at the operating point (VA, PA) on the P–V curve, if the
operating voltage of the PV panel at point A increases by DV caus-
ing the output power to increase by DP, one can conclude that the
perturbation is moving toward to the MPP. Further, if the PV array
voltage is perturbed by a positive DV (from VB to VC) causing the
output power to decrease, it means that the perturbation is moving
away from the MPP, and the reverse perturbation direction is
needed in the next perturbation cycle (the PV array output voltage
should be decreased by DV) to secure MPP operation. During nor-
mal MPPT at the steady state, the operating point should be contin-
uously varying between A, B, and C. This means that with the P&O
MPPT algorithm the PV array voltage will continuously oscillate
around the MPP voltage point by periodically increasing or
466 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469

Inductor L Diode
Vpv

Indoor Ics Cout Vout

PV
Cin Electronics
Load
Panel

Ipv
Vpv Driver PWM

Vref PV voltage
MPPT
+ Controller
Vpv -

Fig. 13. The DC/DC boost converter circuit and the bock diagram of MPPT with reference voltage control.

decreasing the PV array output voltage by a pre-set perturbation PV panel open circuit voltage. In practice, P&O is implemented in
step DV as shown in Fig. 14(b). The advantages of this method discrete time with various update frequencies usually between 1
are its simple structure, less requirement of parameter measure- and 20 Hz (the period of the MPPR cycle, Tmppt, are between 1 and
ment (only voltage and current measurement circuits are required) 50 ms) [24].
and easy implementation in a microprocessor based control circuit. The flowchart of the implemented P&O MPPT algorithm is
One disadvantage of the P&O MPPT algorithm is that PV output shown in Fig. 15.
voltage needs to be is perturbed every MPPT cycle, and the PV
array’s output voltage will oscillate periodically around the MPP
3.2. The boost DC/DC converter construction and parameters
and therefore will result in some power loss in the output power,
especially in the cases of constant and slowly varying atmospheric
The boost DC/DC converter was constructed by using an induc-
conditions as discussed in [19].
tor, a power switch device, power diode, and input/output capaci-
It is worth to note that the perturbation voltage step size will
tors as shown in Fig. 13, where a 1.5 kW electronics load was
affect the rate of convergence of the MPPT tracking and the method
employed as the load and the voltage was maintained at 60 V.
may underperform under rapidly changing solar irradiation condi-
The boost DC/DC converter is designed to work in Continuous Con-
tions [22]. For these reasons the perturbation voltage step size must
duction Mode (CCM) and the terminal voltage of the emulating PV
be chosen carefully. Detailed theoretical and experimental compar-
system Vpv is controlled by Vpv = Vo (1  D), where D is the duty
ison of the P&O implementation techniques on system performance
cycle of the switching device. By regulating the duty cycle the
characteristics, and the influence of algorithm parameters on sys-
required PV terminal voltage can be achieved. The switching
tem behavior as well as the various advantages and drawbacks of
frequency of the switching device for boost DC/DC converter is
each P&O techniques have been discussed in [19] and will not be
set to 25 kHz and control software was developed in assembly lan-
repeated here for the sake of conciseness. A trial-and-error proce-
guage base on a DSP-ADMC401 advanced signal processor. The
dure was applied for choosing the fixed perturbation voltage step
prototype of the 1.5 kW DC/DC boost converter is shown in Fig. 16.
size in this work, and it has been set at approximately 1% of the
Parameters of the elements used in the boost DC/DC converter
are given in Table 2.

(a) Ppv_out A
B MPP
3.3. Test results
C

In steady state, the output voltage of the DC/DC converter was

clamped at constant dc value of 60 V by the connected electronics
resistive load. The MPPT perturbation voltage step and the pertur-
ΔV bation time step are DV = 0.4 V (1% of the operating voltage) and
ΔV the MPPT perturbation frequency is set as 200 Hz (the perturbation
period DTmppt = 5 ms).
Vpv_out
Before the start-up of the boost DC/DC converter (no switching
VA VB VC action applied to the switching device) the DC link output capaci-
tor Co was charged through the inductor and diode by the emulated
(b) Vpv_out VC
PV source. The charging current was naturally limited by the con-
nected current source, so no extra power resistor is required in the
ΔV
VB ΔV charging circuit. Fig. 17 shows the charging voltage, charging cur-
VA rent and instantaneous charging power of the DC link output
Tmppt
capacitor.
It can be seen that charging process approaches steady state
after 50 ms of connecting the emulated PV source to the boost
DC/DC converter. The DC link voltage is around 40 V which corre-
t sponds to the open circuit voltage of the PV panel employed; this is
consistent with the measured results shown in Fig. 10, where 1 A
Fig. 14. Operation of the P&O MPPT algorithm. current supplied from the current source).
 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469 467

Start

Measurement of Vpv (k) and Ipv (k)

P(k)= Vpv (k) · Ipv (k)

ΔP(k)= ΔP(k) - ΔP(k-1)
ΔV(k)= Vpv (k) - Vpv (k-1)

N Y
ΔP(k)>0

Y N Y N
ΔV(k)>0 ΔV(k)<0

ΔVpv (k+1) = Vpv (k) -ΔV (k) ΔVpv (k+1) = Vpv (k) +ΔV (k) ΔVpv (k+1) = Vpv (k) -ΔV (k) ΔVpv (k+1) = Vpv (k) +ΔV (k)

Fig. 15. The flowchart of the implemented perturb and observe MPPT algorithm.

50mS

Vpv (10V/div)

Ipv (1A/div)

Ppv = Vpv ×Ipv

Fig. 16. Boost converter test circuit.

Table 2
Parameters of the boost DC/DC converter.

Rated power 800 W

Inductor 100 lH
Input capacitor 220 lH
Output capacitor 880 lH Fig. 17. Charging voltage, current and power during initial charging process of the
Switching frequency 25 kHz DC link capacitor.

Fig. 18 shows the steady state PV terminal voltage of the emu-
lated PV system that is controlled by the DC/DC boost converter
with a P&O MPPT algorithm. The upper curve shows the dc link
voltage which a constant voltage of 60 V clamped by the electron-
ics load that operates in constant voltage mode. The lower curve
shows the emulated PV system terminal voltage that is controlled
by the boost DC/DC converter with the P&O MPPT algorithm. It can
be seen that the emulated PV system terminal voltage is continu-
ously oscillating around the voltage (34.9 V) at MPP (a voltage at
which the emulated PV system operates at its maximum power
output point for the given current source (emulated photo-gener-
ated current) as can be seen from Figs. 10 and 11. It can be seen
that the emulated PV system terminal voltage is continuously per-
turbed at a frequency of 100 Hz (MPPT perturbation period
DT = 5 ms) and the perturbed voltage is oscillating around the
MPPT voltage with a voltage around 0.4 V; this is the exactly the
expected result for the pre-set perturbation MPPT frequency
(200 Hz) and the perturbation voltage step size (0.4 V) above. This
also confirms that the P&O MPPT, boost DC/DC converter hardware
circuit and the control algorithm all operates as expected and the
proposed emulated PV source can be effectively used for testing
MPPT algorithms and PV converters.
Test of the MPPT algorithm of the DC/DC boost converter with
variable emulated solar irradiance is also carried out by simply
varying external current source output manually (emulating the
photo-generated current of the PV panel). The results are shown
in Fig. 19 where from the top to bottom are the output voltage of
the PV emulating system, the output power captured from the
PV emulating system (the maximum output power tracked) and
the current output from the external current source.
From Fig. 19 it can seen that at low current source current the
MPP voltage is slightly lower that the MPP voltage at high current
468 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469

and the output power is approximately in proportional to the cur-

rent source current. It can be seen that the changes of MPP voltage
and output power from the PV emulating system are consistent
with the measured electrical characteristics of the emulating PV
Output voltage of the boost dc/dc converter (60V) system (shown in Fig. 12). One can see that the maximum output
power is well tracked by the developed DC/DC boost converter with
the implemented P&O MPPT algorithm and the proposed PV emu-
lating system is very convenient for testing MPPT algorithms and
ΔV PV converters under various solar irradiance. The photo-generated
current is very easy to be emulated by regulating the current source
ΔV output current manually. Fig. 20 shows the transients of the
The terminal voltage Vpv of emulated PV system controlled by emulated PV panel output voltage, maximum output power and
the boost dc/dc converter (2V/div), the mean value (MPP the current source current during the converter shutdown process
voltage) is about 34.9V it can be seen that with the current source current reduces to zero,
the PV voltage changes to its open circuit voltage of 41 V.

4. Conclusions

Fig. 18. Measured terminal voltage from the emulated PV panel with the P&O MPPT
algorithm.
In this paper novel PV emulating system for testing MPPT algo-
rithms and PV converters has been presented and discussed. The
PV emulating system was constructed by connecting a commercial
solar panel that placed inside of a laboratory with a DC power sup-
ply operating in current source mode. It can simulate various I–V
The MPP voltage of the emulated PV panel curves within the allowed range of employed equipment and make
repeat tests possible regardless of the actual atmospheric condi-
10V/div tions. It is a simple, easy and low cost solution for most research
laboratories. The mathematical models of the emulated PV system
Maximum power extracted from the emulated PV system (60W/div)
with single PV panel and multiple PV panel in series connection
were analyzed and presented. The electrical characteristics of the
60W/div emulated PV system with different emulated photo-generated cur-
rent were measured and analyzed and they are very similar to the
electrical characteristics from the actual PV panel. A boost DC/DC
Current source current
converter with P&O-MPPT algorithm were implemented and
2A/div
described in the paper. The determination of ‘real’ MPP voltage
5S and output power from different current source current Ics are
described.
Detailed P&O-MPPT algorithm and the DC/DC boost converter
under test were described and the test of the P&O-MPPT algorithm
was carried out on the proposed PV emulating system. Results of
the P&O-MPPT algorithm test with a perturbation frequency of
Fig. 19. Test results with variable current source currents (emulating the variable 200 Hz (time step of 5 ms) and a perturbation voltage step of
photo-generated current). 0.4 V show that the changes of terminal voltage of the PV emulat-
ing system, the output power with different current source cur-
rents (emulated photo-generated PV panel current) are
consistent with the electrical characteristics of the emulated PV
system under the control of the P&O MPPT algorithm. The PV ter-
The emulated PV panel terminal voltage, Vpv, (10V/div)
minal voltage and its oscillations around the MPPT voltage (shown
in Fig. 18) both were controlled at the expected values under the
P&O MPPT control. With the P&O MPPT algorithm based DC/DC
boost converter, the variation of the terminal voltage of the emu-
Maximum power extracted from the emulated PV panel (60W/div) lated PV system, the output power (maximum output power) both
were controlled as expected under different current source current.
All the test results confirmed that the P&O MPPT, boost DC/DC con-
verter hardware circuit and the control algorithm all operates as
Current source current (2A/div)
expected and the proposed emulated PV source can be effectively
used for testing MPPT algorithms and PV converters.
Paper presents a cost-effective solution for testing various MPPT
algorithms and power converters for PV applications.

Acknowledgements

This work is sponsored by the European Regional Development

Fig. 20. Transients of the PV terminal voltage, maximum output power and the Fund (ERDF) through Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO),
current source current. Welsh Government.
 Z. Zhou et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 85 (2014) 460–469 469

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