This paper presents the development of a photovoltaic (PV) source emulator based on an optimized sliding mode controller (SMC) using genetic algorithms (GA). This power circuit is used to reproduce the real PV module behaviour regardless of environmental conditions variation, it helps the manufacturers and researchers to perform experiences and tests on PV generators without using actual PV sources, which are generally very costly and require a large space. The GA is used in order to find the optimal values of the SMC parameters so as to deal with the nonlinearity of the PV characteristics as well as to improve significantly the static and dynamic performances of the PV emulators. The user has to choose the desired PV characteristic to emulate and select the wanted load and weather parameters values of irradiance (G) and temperature (T) so that the proposed emulator can track the PV characteristics and behave similarly as a real PV source. Simulation results using Matlab Simulink software are given and discussed in depth in order to verify the effectiveness of the PV emulator system and evaluate its performances in terms of accuracy, speed, overshoot limitation and robustness against parameters change and external disturbances. The presented results show the considerable improvement of the PV emulator performances compared to the existing solutions, especially regarding the accuracy of the emulation and the fast dynamic response.
Volume 12 | 01-Special Issue
Pages: 394-406
DOI: 10.5373/JARDCS/V12SP1/20201087