RGA based Optimal Parameter Estimation of Diode Model for Solar Photo-Voltaic Array Emulator Development

The research on Solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) based Energy Conversion (SPEC) system requires an expensive and composite experimental setup. Therefore, PV source emulator is an essential component to evaluate the performance of SPEC system source under varying environmental conditions. This paper presents the design and development of solar PV Array Emulator (PVAE) using Programmable DC power supply. The PV module in the PVAE is designed with five parameter diode model. The parameters of the PV module is estimated using Real-coded Genetic Algorithm. The PV array is developed in the Multisim software and replicated with the support of programmable DC power source using LabVIEW. The proposed PVAE works on the online load tracking algorithm and does not require memory space to store the characteristic curve lookup table of the PV array. The prototype of the proposed PVAE is tested with a 800 W solar PV array along with Maximum Power Point Tracking algorithm and the performance of the developed system is reported in this paper.