Comprehensive Electric-Thermal Photovoltaic Modeling for Power-Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation (PHILS) Applications

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic, electric-thermal model for a photovoltaic (PV) cell that combines electrical and thermal parameters to accurately emulate PV panels in real time for power-hardware-in-the-loop simulation (PHILS). In this model, the irradiance and ambient temperature are used to calculate the PV cell temperature based on a five-layer thermal model. The cell temperature is then used in the electrical model to accurately adjust the PV electrical characteristics. A custom experimental setup is built to test and verify the electrical and thermal characteristics of the PV cell model. This electricthermal model is validated using experimental data in realistic scenarios. The model is also tested with PHILS using a real time simulator and a programmable dc power supply to emulate PV power generation under various load changes. The model is well matched to the experimental measurements with an error within 2.4% for the electrical aspects and within 1.5% for the thermal aspects in the tested scenarios.