GUI-PV Application Tool for Teaching Performance of PV System using MATLAB-Graphical User Interface Environment

A MATLAB-Graphical User Interface (GUI) based educational software which could aid in the analysis and education of photovoltaic (PV) modules is presented in this paper. The MATLAB-GUI for studying the PV module based on the evaluation of the current, voltage and power characteristics as well as performance evaluation of the PV module under different values of radiation and temperature are presented. The Graphical User Interface-Photovoltaic (GUI-PV) application is developed to simulate the characteristics of PV module and show the effects of temperature and solar radiation on the PV modules. In addition, the GUI-PV can provide PV module specifications and parameters including maximum power, current and voltage, fill factor and efficiency, …etc. Two GUI-PV models are developed for PV module characteristics and performance evaluation of solar module. Testing of the GUI-PV platform exposes that students who are trained using GUI-PV software easily understood the concept of a solar PV panel and defined the maximum power of the solar photovoltaic modules and some other parameters.