Design and construction of a digital solar array simulator with fast dynamics and high performance

•A switching solar array simulator based on microcontroller eZdspF28335 is presented.•It has a very low output ripple and fast dynamic response for genuine emulation of the terrestrial PV source.•It is flexible and user-friendly to emulate different PV panels.•A resistance feedback method is used to produce the reference voltage signal within microcontroller.•The simulator performance is monitored by serial communication interface. This paper presents the hardware implementation of a digital solar array simulator (DSAS) to evaluate and validate the operation of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms and photovoltaic (PV) inverters used in solar power conditioning systems (SPCSs). The required criteria for designing and setting up a genuine SAS are high-accuracy static behavior, fast transient response, and high flexibility for the emulation of the different PV modules. A four-phase interleaved buck converter is chosen as the proposed power stage of the SAS because of its advantages of power management, filtering reduction requirements, and output ripple minimization. The proposed SAS control system has been digitally implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP)-based controller, in which third-order integral-lead compensator and resistive feedback method have been chosen to reproduce precise and stable operating points. Experimental results confirm the proper and satisfactory steady-state operation and dynamic response of the proposed DSAS.