Design and Simulation of Digital PV Simulator Based on Push-Pull Forward Converter

The digital photovoltaic (PV) simulator presented by this paper is designed based on Push-Pull Forward (PPF) topological structure and digital control principle. The digital PV simulator can be able to behave electrically similar to PV array but without depending on weather conditions. That makes it convenient to perform different PV energy production system tests and verifications under many diverse operation conditions and without depending on weather or much more expensive and larger systems. The output characteristics of PV array under different sunshine intensity and temperature are simulated under MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation results show that the output characteristics of the PV simulator are consistent with the actual PV module's. The work done in this paper lays an important foundation for further actual application of PV simulator.