Solar module emulator based on a low-cost microcontroller

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present an experimental analysis of a solar module emulator based on a low-cost microcontroller. An Arduino low-cost microcontroller is used to mimic several solar module technologies with high accuracy. The estimation and extraction of the single- diode photovoltaic model parameters is performed by a developed software. Two control strategies are applied to the photovoltaic emulation, one based on the digital proportional integral controller and the second one based on fuzzy logic controller. The emulator is able to follow the module I-V curves for fast and simultaneous real-time change of solar radiation, cell temperature and load, based on an online resolution of the single-diode mathematical model of the photovoltaic module. Finally, the experimental and modeled I-V curves of four different photovoltaic module technologies are compared and assessed the efficiency of the proposed fuzzy logic control strategy compared to the proportional integral control strategy.