“…Therefore, the output characteristics of a PV array under various operating conditions are always simulated by a PV simulator, which can be made by an analog circuit, a digital circuit or an analog and digital hybrid circuit. There are several methods to implement a PV simulator, including: 1) amplifying the output of the current and voltage of a sample PV cell or photosensor diode with a controlled light source imitating sunlight or an LED light emission circuit to simulate variations in sunshine intensity [6], [7] 2) constructing a PV array by taking a PV cell equivalent circuit with analog circuits as a basic unit [8] 3) using a DC power supply controlled by a personal computer (PC) with a data acquisition card or a special real time digital simulator (such as RT-LAB) [9], [10] 4) adopting a unidirectional DC-DC converter with a basic topology controlled by a DSP, a PC, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or some other [15] 6) using multiple multiphase DC/DC converters controlled by a PC or a DSP as the main circuit of the PV simulator [16], [17] 7) selecting a high frequency PWM rectifier for a three-phase voltage source controlled by the host computer as the main circuit of the PV simulator [18]. Despite achieving adequate simulative effects, most of the PV simulators still exhibit some problems, such as a limited effective working range, bigger ripples of the output voltage and current, lack of systematic modeling and design methods for the controller parameters, lower development efficiency, and so on.…”