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So I’ve been using an Agilent E4360A solar array simulator to test the microinverter and
this is actually an Enphase Energy microinverter. I have the manual for it right here.
It’s an M175. Its design has been around for a couple of years but still works very well.
And in the manual there’re quite a few specifications. So typically the solar array simulator is used
in design and development. It might be used in product verification for doing environmental
testing for life cycle testing or it could even be used to do certification testing to
make sure that the inverter complies with various regulatory standards. And the things
that I see here on the spec sheet – things like the maximum power point tracking – that
algorithm has to be tested in the design environment. Things like the efficiency of the inverter
are extremely important. Things like output power factor, voltage and frequency range,
output over-current protection – all these things are specs on the microinverter, and
the solar array simulator is an invaluable tool to provide the input IV curves on the
DC input for the microinverter.