Design and construction of a low cost photovoltaic generator for laboratory investigations

The dependence on weather conditions of photovoltaic (PV) systems coerces a development of an indoor PV generator using sun-rays simulator to study the output characteristics of the solar panel and to evaluate maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms. In this paper, a 40Wp low cost PV generator is constructed using a solar panel illuminated by switched halogen lamps. The output characteristics of the PV generator are investigated under different panel illumination levels. Both constant voltage and perturb and observe (P&O) MPPT control schemes are examined. The different operation modes of standalone PV applications with battery backup are emulated utilizing a dc-dc converter based power conditioning unit with a resistive and battery loads.