B-learning of photovoltaics systems using oread PSPICE: "Work in progress"

In this work-in-progress, an educational tool based on a PSpice photovoltaic (PV) module simulation model is presented. An innovative practice relies on a monitoring system for PV applications that supports this didactic tool. The monitoring system manages to provide real data about the performance of the PV module such as irradiance, ambient temperature and the current, voltage and power of the PV module. Students can study and calculate the effect of irradiance and ambient temperatures on these variables. Afterwards, they use the simulation models provided to observe the PV module performance. Finally, both set of data (calculated and simulated) will be compared with the real data obtained from the monitoring of the PV module mentioned above. The tool here developed not only shows the effect of a given instantaneous solar irradiance and temperature upon photovoltaic cell and module performance but manages to show, through a friendly and didactic graphic interface, their performance throughout a determined interval of time (e.g. days), given real irradiance and ambient temperatures profiles obtained from the monitoring system. Moreover, this tool has a high potential as it can be added more functionalities as energy estimation and the effect of shadows on a PV generator.