KLP S-Series - Emulation Details

The emulation of the solar cell is accomplished by the KLP output following the unique I-V curve. For each measurement of current, the KLP output is set to the corresponding voltage. After setting the voltage, the KLP again measures the current, looks up the current in the downloaded table and sets the output to the voltage corresponding to the current measured. The cycle repeats until the emulation is stopped. The smart table concentrates current/voltage pairs near the Pmp, allowing greater accuracy and resolution where it is needed and speeding up downloaded curve generation.

KEPCO supplies a set of sample I-V curves with its LabView driver program. In addition, the user can modify any or all of the Voc, Isc, Vmp and Imp values to emulate different solar cells as well as illumination conditions. While the emulation is running, the KLP S-series continually monitors its output current and correspondingly modifies its voltage setpoint, so that its output follows the programmed I-V curve.

An added benefit of the KLP S-series is the fact that in addition to the ability to use the LabView program to perform solar cell emulation, they may be operated as standard KLP 1200 watt instrument power supplies without reconfiguring. Another benefit of the S-series is that, like all KLP models, they automatically use the hyperbolic power limit expanding the range of the I-V curves to utilize the 1200 Watts at the Pmp point, allowing the S-series to emulate a wider variety of I-V curves with a single model with little set-up modification. Only seven models are required for Voc up to 600V maximum, Isc up to 120A maximum (see Figure 2). Master-slave configurations allow increased current capability.