A Hybrid Control Strategy for Photovoltaic Simulator

Yuan. Li1, 2, Taewon Lee2, Fang. Z. Peng2, and Dichen Liu1

1. Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University, Hubei 430072, China

2. Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Abstract-This paper presents a hybrid control strategy for
photovoltaic (PV) simulator, which emulates the output
characteristics of PV arrays under different irradiation,
temperature, and loads. The mathematic modeling of the I-V
curve of PV arrays is investigated in this paper, and accordingly
the voltage control or current control method is worked out for
different segments of PV output characteristics. The proposed
hybrid control strategy divides the I-V characteristics of PV
arrays into three segments, by measuring the output voltage and
current of the PV simulator, the control unit which is based on
TMS320LF2407 DSP calculates and controls the voltage or
current respectively. A 2-kW prototype has been built and tested
with a variable resistive load and a constant power load as well.
Experiment results show that the PV simulator could shift
smoothly on its I-V characteristics, which fits well for further
experiments of inverters and the maximum power point tracking
in the PV system.

I.

which is suitable for further experiments of inverters and

maximum power point tracking in the PV system.
II. MAIN CIRCUIT AND DSP CONTROLLER
A.

Main Circuit of PV Simulator

The construction of proposed PV simulator is shown in
Fig.1; which is a step-down dc-dc converter [9], including four
parts: a dc power supply from a rectifier; a dc-dc buck circuit;
loads and a DSP controller. The DSP controller measures both
the output voltage and current of the dc-dc converter and have
they controlled according to the I-V output characteristics of
PV arrays.
B. General Purpose DSP Controller
The hybrid control strategy of PV simulator is implemented
by a general-purpose DSP controller. The control board
mainly consists of a TMS320LF2407 DSP and its peripheral,
interface circuits, which conducts sampling, AD conversion,
calculation, communication and control. The controller is
powered by an independent power supply; it sends PWM
control signal to the switch by fiber optic LED and thus
electrically isolated from the dc-dc buck circuit. A set of
lookup tables of I-V curves, calculated by various parameters
of irradiation and temperature, are previously set into the DSP
flash memory. There is a pot resistor mounted on one AD
conversion channel. By manually adjusting the resistance, the
DSP controller selects a proper lookup table and executes
control process, simulating PV arrays working under different
irradiation and temperature.

INTRODUCTION

Renewable energy sources have been a hot topic since

acknowledge of the energy crisis throughout the world. As a
result people turn to photovoltaic (PV) power systems or wind
power systems for future energy solution. However, there are
some drawbacks of field testing with real photovoltaic
modules, such as costly, heavy dependence on weather
condition and time consuming. PV simulator can emulate the
current-voltage output characteristics of actual PV arrays
under different temperature and solar irradiation; therefore it is
a good substitute to help test maximum power point trackers
or grid-connecting inverters of PV system in laboratory,
regardless of actual weather or temperature conditions.
There are several methods to implement PV simulator by
analog or digital technology, including: (i) amplifying the
output of current and voltage of a PV cell or a photo diode [1],
[2]; (ii) constructing a PV cell equivalent circuit with constant
current source and diode-resistor network [3], [4]; (iii) using a
switched-module power converter controlled by digital chips
or analog circuit to fill the current-voltage output
characteristics of PV arrays [5]-[8]. The third method has been
reported mostly in recent years because of digital technology
development and its advantage in rapid system prototyping.
This paper presents a DSP-controlled PV simulator, which
consists of a step-down DC-DC power converter and
simulates the current-voltage characteristics of the actual PV
arrays under different temperature and solar irradiation. The
mathematic modeling of the I-V curve of PV arrays is
investigated and a novel hybrid control strategy is put forward
for the proposed PV simulator. A 2-kW prototype has been
built and tested. The experiment results show that the PV
simulator could shift smoothly on its characteristic I-V curve,

978-1-422-2812-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

III.

MATHEMATIC MODELING OF I-V CURVE OF PV

ARRAYS

As reported in literature, PV arrays consist of series

connected cells which are actually diodes, thus the equivalent
circuit is represented by a current source parallel to an ideal
diode. The mathematical modeling of PV arrays output I-V
curve is given by following equation [10]:

L1

I
+

C1

V
-

DSP Control Board

Figure 1. Construction of PV simulator.

899

Load

current reference, and then adjust PWM modulation index to

produce the right current. However, PV source is a nonlinear
power source, which can be regarded as a current source when
the output voltage is low and a voltage source when the output
voltage is high. As shown in Fig.2, at the current source
segment, the output voltage changes from 0V to approximate
140V but the output current various range is only 1.5A. In
practice, it is hard for a measured current to select an accurate
voltage reference. And if the current control only method is
used, it will suffer the similar problem at voltage source
segment predictably. Consequently, neither voltage control
only nor current control only could achieve the whole I-V
output characteristics of PV arrays. Further analysis for the
operation procedure of PV simulator will be discussed in next
section.

q
V

) 1]
(1)
KTA N s
where I , V are output current and voltage of PV arrays,
N p and N s are the number of PV arrays connected in
I = N p I ph N p I rs [exp(

parallel and in series respectively, I ph is the photocurrent of a

single solar module which is proportional to both illumination
( W / m 2 ) and surface area ( m 2 ), I rs is the saturation current
of diode which is related to temperature, K is Boltzman
constant (1.38 e-23, in Joules per Kelvin), q is electric charge
(1.6 e-19, in Coulombs), T is operating temperature, and A
is P-N junction ideal factor.
In order to simplify analysis, rewrite (1) as
(2)
I = K 3 K 1 (e K 2V 1)
where

K 1 = N p I rs > 0; K 2 =

IV.

q
> 0; K 3 = N p I ph > 0 .
KTAN s

Given temperature and solar irradiation, K 1 , K 2 , K 3 can be

determined, so that PV simulator is designed to work on a
determined curve. When the PV arrays operation condition (i.e.
temperature, solar irradiation or PV arrays configuration)
changes, K 1 , K 2 , K 3 would change correspondingly, that in
fact is the basis for proposed simulator to emulate PV arrays
working under different conditions.
Fig. 2 shows a typical I-V output curve of PV arrays
( N p = 4 , N s = 9 and other parameters come from [11]). The
proposed simulator works at the intersection of its own output
curve and the loads I-V characteristic curve. Taking resistive
load as example, when the load changes from R1 to R2 or
from R2 to R3, the operation point will transfer from point A
to B, and then to point C correspondingly.
Some research suggests only voltage control or only current
control for the PV simulator. As voltage control, the output
current is measured; by looking up current-voltage table, the
controller will select a voltage reference, and then adjust
PWM modulation index to produce the right voltage. Similarly,
as current control, the output voltage is measured and by
looking up voltage-current table the controller will select a

HYBRID CONTROL STRATEGY

A. Voltage Control Process Analysis

1) Voltage control process
Since the current control process is similar, only voltage
control process is analyzed here. Fig. 3 shows a local picture
around the operation point, which is the intersection of PV
arrays I-V characteristics and the load curve. Assuming that
the PV simulator is working at point A originally, in case that
the load changes from R1 to R2 , the operation point will
change to point B at first since there is a capacitor C1 (see Fig.
1) and the output voltage could not change immediately.
According to the voltage control rule, current I R 2 + I1 is
measured and the voltage reference VR 2 V2 (point C) will
be given after looking up current-voltage table. As a result,
operation point will move to point D after adjustment of
controller. The relationship between V1 and V2 , I 1 and

I 2 is
I1
= KR
V1
I 1
= K PV
V2

= V1 K R / K PV

where K R is the slope of load curve, K PV is the slope of

tangential line at the operation point on PV curve. Since the

12

10

Current (A)

(3)

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Voltage (V)

Figure 2. Output characteristic of PV arrays.

978-1-422-2812-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

Figure 3. Analysis of voltage control procedure.

900

2) Maximum Power Point

We know that the output power of PV simulator is
(9)
P = IV = ( K1 + K 3 )V K1Ve K 2V
So at the maximum power point, we have
P
(10)
= ( K 1 + K 3 ) K 1 (VK 2 + 1)e K 2V = 0
V
This equation is the same as (8), which implies that the
maximum power point is the very point corresponding to the
critical resistance RC . So as shown in Fig. 4, the critical
resistance RC divides the I-V curve of PV arrays into two
segments: at the right side, R L > RC , where the voltage
control works effectively; at the left side, R L < RC , where
current control should be applied.
Although above analysis is based on the resistive load, the
output of the PV simulator is basically constant DC voltage
and current, so the inductive load (which is the general case)
will perform little difference when at steady state. The
simulator will still adjust operation point similarly as it does
with the resistive load.

V1 and V2 are the voltage differences before and after

one adjustment, the K R / K PV plays a key role in the

adjustment process: if K R / K PV < 1 , V2 < V1 , this

implies that operation point right on the output curve of PV
simulator (point E) will be reached after several adjustments;
if K R / K PV 1 , V2 V1 , which implies that the
voltage control process could never arrive at a steady state.
One can calculated K PV according to (2)
dI
= K1 K 2 e K 2V
dV

K PV =

(4)

K R can be calculated as
KR =

dI RL

1
RL

dV RL

(5)

From (4) and (5), one can get a critical point where
K R / K PV = 1 :
1

RL =

where RC

K 1 K 2 e K 2V
is critical resistance.

= RC

(6)

B. Hybrid Control Strategy

According to the above analysis, a hybrid control strategy is
implemented, which divides the PV curve into three segments
as shown in Fig.5. Different control methods are employed at
each segment:
1) When R L RV , the voltage control method is used. The
voltage reference is looked up by measured current through
the current-voltage data table, and then PI controller is used to
adjust PV simulators output voltage until it achieves the right
operation point on PV curve;
2) Since around the maximum power point where
K R / K PV equals to 1, using either voltage control or current

From (4) to (6), we learn that if R L > RC , K R / K PV is less

than 1, which means the voltage control will work effectively
according to former analysis; if R L < RC , K R / K PV is
greater than 1 and in this case the current control should be
applied in order to reach stable state.
Notice that at the intersection the load RL subjects to
I = K 3 K1 (e K 2V 1)
I = V / RL

V
K 3 K1 (e K 2V 1)

(7)

Then the operation point corresponding to RC can be

calculated by taking (7) into (6)
K + K3
(VK 2 + 1)e K 2V = 1
(8)
K1
Given K 1 , K 2 , K 3 , V can be calculated through (8), thus
RC can be calculated by (6) accordingly.

control will suffer an oscillation ( V1 = V2 ). So when

R I < RL < RV , a resistance-voltage data table is built and

10

12

Current (A)

Current (A)

10

Power (kW)

R
R

12

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Voltage (V)
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Voltage (V)

Figure 4. Critical resistance divides PV output curve into two segments.

978-1-422-2812-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

Figure 5. Three segments and overlaps of the hybrid control strategy.

901

voltage reference is looked up by a measured resistance

Rmeasured = V measured / I measured . Since there is a unique
resistance corresponding to every operation point on the PV
curve, the reference voltage is stable when this control applies;
3) When R L R I , the current control method is applied.
The current reference is looked up by measured voltage
through voltage-current data table, and then the PI controller
works to adjust PV simulators output current until it achieves
the right operation point on PV curve.
In order to avoid frequently switching between each two
control methods when R L is around RV or R I , an overlap is
set up at each boundary (i.e. RV R, RI R ) in practice.
V.

Figure 7a. Dynamic response when load switches

from 28 to 15.5 .

TESTING RESULTS

A prototype of PV simulator has been built in laboratory,

the structure of which is the same as shown in Fig. 1. The C1 ,

L1 in the LC filter is 2.3mF and 1.2mH respectively; the

switching frequency is 13.33 kHz. The PV simulator emulates
the PV array with 4 PV arrays connected in parallel and 9
modules in serial (sm-60, Samsung, 50W) at 100%, 87% and
74% unity illumination respectively. The output voltage range
is 0V~192V and the output current range is 0A~15A. The
maximum power for each case is 1.94 kW (@V=148.5V;
I=13.1A); 1.65 kW (@V=148.5V; I=11.3A); 1.38 kW
(@V=142.2V; I=9.7A) respectively. The critical resistance
RC equals 11.3 , 12.8 , 14.7 respectively in these three
cases.
In experiment, the proposed PV simulator is tested with a
three phase voltage source inverter, which serves as a constant
power load. When the power required by the inverter changes,
PV simulator will shift on its characteristic I-V curve to match
the output power, as show in Fig.6. This PV simulator is well
prepared for the inverter to track the maximum output power.
If the inverter could execute maximum power tracking, the PV
simulator will stop by its maximum power point finally.
In order to evaluate the reliability of performance when the
control strategy switches between different segments, tests
have been down with variable loads. Fig.7 shows the dynamic

Figure 7b. Dynamic response when load switches

from 15.5 to 28 .

25V/div
Vout=147V

5A/div
Iout=9.5A

Vout=125V
Iout=11A
400ms/div

16

Figure 7c. Dynamic response when load switches

from 15.5 to 11.4 .

14

Current (A)

12

10

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Voltage (V)

Figure 6. Operation Points of PV Simulator.

978-1-422-2812-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

Figure 7d. Dynamic response when load switches

from 11.4 to 15.5 .

902

response when the

15.5 and 11.4 .
VI.

load

switches

between 28 ,

REFERENCE
[1]

O. M. Midtgard, A simple photovoltaic simulator for testing of

power electronics, Power Electronics and Applications, 2007
European Conference, pp. 1-10, Sept 2007.
[2] H. Nagayoshi, I-V curve simulation by multi-module simulator
using I-V magnifier circuit, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells,
vol. 82, pp. 159-167, 2004.
[3] K. Khouzam, K. Hoffman, Real-time simulation of photovoltaic
modules, Solar Energy, vol. 56, No. 6, pp. 521-526, 1996.
[4] K. S. Phani Kiranmai, M. Veerachary, Maximum power point
tracking: a PSPICE circuit simulator approach, Power Electronics
and Drives Systems, International Conference, vol. 2, pp. 1072-1077,
Nov. 2005.
[5] E. Koutroulis, K. Kalaitzakis, and V. Tzitzilonis, Development of an
FPGA-based system for Real-Time simulation of photovoltaic
modules, Rapid System Prototyping, 7th IEEE International
Workshop, pp. 200-208, June 2006.
[6] Q. R. Zeng, P. G. Song, L. C. Chang, A photovoltaic simulator
based on DC chopper, Electrical and Computer Engineering, IEEE
CCECE 2002, Canadian Conference, pp. 257-261, May 2002.
[7] S. H. Lloyd, G. A. Smith, D. G. Infield, Design and construction of a
modular electronic photovoltaic simulator, Power Electronics and
Variable Speed Drives, 8th International Conference, pp. 120-123,
Sept 2000.
[8] J. Ollila, A medium power PV-array simulator with a robust control
strategy, Control Applications, Proceedings of the 4th IEEE
Conference, pp. 40-45, Sept 1995.
[9] N. Mohan, T. Undeland, W. Robbins, Power Electronics: Converters,
Applications and Design, New York: Wiley, 3nd Edition, 2003.
[10] C. Hua, J. Lin, C. Shen, Implementation of a DSP-controlled
photovoltaic system with peak power tracking, IEEE Trans.
Industrial Electronics, vol. 45, pp. 99-107, Feb. 1998.
[11] G. J. Yu, Y. S. Jung, J. Y. Choi, Study of 60Hz transformer-less high
frequency linked grid-connected power conditioners for photovoltaic
power system, http://lib.kier.re.kr/balpyo/renew14/18.pdf

CONCLUSION

This paper presents a general-purpose PV simulator

which consists of a step-down dc-dc converter and
controlled by a DSP based controller. According to the
mathematical modeling of the I-V characteristics of PV
arrays and the analysis of the voltage control process; this
paper finds out that the maximum power point of PV curve
is corresponding to a critical resistance RC . If the equivalent
load of PV simulator is greater than RC , the voltage control
method can be used effectively; if the equivalent load is less
than RC , then the current control method should be applied
in order to have the PV simulator working on the right
operation point. Based on this conclusion, a hybrid control
strategy is proposed to emulate the whole I-V characteristics
of PV arrays.
Tests have been done and the results of which confirms
the effectiveness and good reliability of the proposed
method. Consequently, the proposed control strategy is
simple to realize and can simulate PV arrays working under
variable illumination or temperature, which is suitable for
further testing of inverters and maximum power point
tracker of the PV system in laboratory.

978-1-422-2812-0/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

903