Low-Cost Photovoltaic Emulator With a High-Dynamic Response for Small Satellite Applications

Abstract

In recent years, growing interest from academic institutions and emerging countries in small satellite missions has led to a need for Photovoltaic Emulators (PVEs) during subsystem testing. Unfortunately, the market lacks suitable PVEs with adequate power and characteristics for these applications.To fill this gap, this proposal introduces a low-cost, flexible, and high-dynamic response PVE for testing small satellite subsystems. The proposed PVE includes an analog electronic circuit that amplifies the reference I-V curve from a space reference solar cell. It is characterized by accurate amplification of solar cell curves under various conditions, achieving a maximum output power of 124 W. This capability enables assessment under diverse space application scenarios with rapidly changing climatic conditions. The emulator´s remarkable flexibility is demonstrated through the use of various solar cell technologies for space applications as references. Experimental results effectively confirm the practical feasibility of the proposed PVE.