Thermoelectric generator emulator for MPPT testing

This paper presents a novel approach to use a DC power supply as a thermoelectric generator (TEG) emulator to perform static and dynamic maximum power point tracking (MPPT). First, the electrical characterization of a calcium-manganese-oxide module is performed on a TEG test rig. Afterwards, the experimentally obtained I-V characteristics of the TEG are emulated using a programmable solar array simulator (SAS). The detailed implementation procedure of the TEG emulator is described. In this work, the SAS has been successfully used to test static and dynamic efficiencies of the MPPT algorithm. For dynamic testing, a trapezoidal temperature profile with 1 °C/s slope is used as equivalent to a realistic profile for a TEG integrated into a stove.