Modeling and Analysis of an Autonomous Photovoltaic System for Laboratory Research

In harmony with modern energy policy and the need to use alternative energy sources, the development of photovoltaic (PV) systems increases. At the same time, the requirements for their energy efficiency and optimal operation also increases and being specified. For this reason, an in-depth study of their individual components and operating modes are required at the PV system design stage. This requires the development of adequate mathematical and simulation models to perform a detailed preliminary analysis of the behavior of PV systems. The object of consideration in this work is an autonomous photovoltaic system designed and developed by the Scientific Research Practice working group at the “T. Kableshkov” University of Transport titled “Study of applications, using voltage converters in renewable energy systems with hydroelectric power”. It contains a photovoltaic module, a buck (step-down) DC-DC converter, a Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) controller, and a DC load. In this paper, a simulation model of the analyzed photovoltaic system is presented. It has been developed in a Matlab/Simulink environment where simulations have been performed under different atmospheric conditions. The simulation results are compared with experimentally collected data and system characteristics and the corresponding results are analyzed. On this basis, the adequacy and accuracy of the proposed model are evaluated in comparison with the real working photovoltaic system.