KEPCO BOP 1KW as Solar Device Tester Quick Start Guide - Manual

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Q U I C K S T A R T G U I D E
KEPCO
An ISO 9001 Company.
BOP 1KW
SOLAR DEVICE
TESTER
SOLAR DEVICE TESTER
USING BOP 1KW
I — INTRODUCTION
SCOPE OF MANUAL. This Quick Start Guide covers
the description and operation of the Solar Device Tester
demonstration application written in LabView.
DESCRIPTION. The Solar Device Tester demonstration
application is a simple standalone application that uses the
Kepco Solar Device Tester subvi to control the output of the
BOP and to take the measurements needed to characterize
a solar device. The subvi can be adapted to an overall Test
application as needed.
The BOP 1KW is connected directly to the solar device and
controlled by the computer. Because measurements are
done by the BOP 1KW, external DVMs are not needed. The
BOP 1KW changes the output and makes synchronized
measurements, and goes on to the next point at a rate of
up to 20mS per point. The Solar Device Tester demonstra-
tion application uses a LabView subvi to produce an I-V
curve that characterizes the solar device (such as solar
cells, solar panels, etc.) under test. For accurate voltage
measurements remote sensing is recommended (as
detailed in the BOP 1KW Operator manual, Section 2).
II — OPERATION
The user interface included with the Solar Device Tester
demonstration application is illustrated in Figure 1. The bot-
tom of Figure 1 shows a typical I-V curve taken by the
subvi.
USING THE DEMONSTRATION APPLICATION.
The Version OK indicator (at the top of the panel shown in
Figure 1) lights green to verify that the BOP firmware sup-
ports the demonstration application and the subvi, or red to
indicate that the firmware does not support the demonstra-
tion application. An upgrade kit to allow older units to sup-
port the demonstration application may be purchased at
www.kepcopower.com/bophibuy.htm#upgrade .
The BOP Parameters display allows the user to select volt-
age or current mode by clicking on the Mode switch. The
switch is green for voltage and yellow for current.
The start and end points for the sequence of setpoints that
will characterize the device are entered under Ramp Char-
acteristics. The Start and End Point units are in Amperes
for Current Mode and Volts for Voltage mode. The positive
Protection Limit ensures that the BOP output does not
exceed the capacity of the solar device. The negative Pro-
tection Limit is normally set close to zero to prevent the
solar device from overheating.
FIGURE 1. Demonstration Application Interface Showing
User Inputs and Rendered I-V Curve Output
Once the Start and End points are chosen, the user enters
the Number of Points, Milliseconds to Wait and whether to
swap the sign of the measurements. The number of points