scholarly journals The Comprehensive Study of Electrical Faults in PV Arrays

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Sabbaghpur Arani ◽  
M. A. Hejazi

The rapid growth of the solar industry over the past several years has expanded the significance of photovoltaic (PV) systems. Fault analysis in solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays is a fundamental task to increase reliability, efficiency, and safety in PV systems and, if not detected, may not only reduce power generation and accelerated system aging but also threaten the availability of the whole system. Due to the current-limiting nature and nonlinear output characteristics of PV arrays, faults in PV arrays may not be detected. In this paper, all possible faults that happen in the PV system have been classified and six common faults (shading condition, open-circuit fault, degradation fault, line-to-line fault, bypass diode fault, and bridging fault) have been implemented in 7.5 KW PV farm. Based on the simulation results, both normal operational curves and fault curves have been compared.

Author(s):  
Rakesh Dalal ◽  
Kamal Bansal ◽  
Sapan Thapar

Rooftop solar photovoltaic(PV) installation in India have increased in last decade because of the flat 40 percent subsidy extended for rooftop solar PV systems (3 kWp and below) by the Indian government under the solar rooftop scheme. From the residential building owner's perspective, solar PV is competitive when it can produce electricity at a cost less than or equal grid electricity price, a condition referred as “grid parity”. For assessing grid parity of 3 kWp and 2 kWp residential solar PV system, 15 states capital and 19 major cities were considered  for the RET screen simulation by using solar isolation, utility grid tariff, system cost and other economic parameters. 3 kWp and 2 kWp rooftop solar PV with and without subsidy scenarios were considered for simulation using RETscreen software. We estimate that without subsidy no state could achieve grid parity for 2kWp rooftop solar PV plant. However with 3 kWp rooftop solar PV plant only 5 states could achieve grid parity without subsidy and with government subsidy number of states increased to 7, yet wide spread parity for residential rooftop solar PV is still not achieved. We find that high installation costs, subsidized utility grid supply to low energy consumer and financing rates are major barriers to grid parity.


2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (9) ◽  
pp. 3784-3795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ye Zhao ◽  
Jean-Francois De Palma ◽  
Jerry Mosesian ◽  
Robert Lyons ◽  
Brad Lehman

Fault analysis in solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays is a fundamental task to protect PV modules from damage and to eliminate risks of safety hazards. This paper focuses on line-line faults in PV arrays that may be caused by short-circuit faults or double ground faults. The effect on fault current from a maximum-power-point tracking of a PV inverter is discussed and shown to, at times, prevent overcurrent protection devices (OCPDs) to operate properly. Furthermore, fault behavior of PV arrays is highly related to the fault location, fault impedance, irradiance level, and use of blocking diodes. Particularly, this paper examines the challenges to OCPD in a PV array brought by unique faults: One is a fault that occurs under low-irradiance conditions, and the other is a fault that occurs at night and evolves during “night-to-day” transition. In both circumstances, the faults might remain hidden in the PV system, no matter how irradiance changes afterward. These unique faults may subsequently lead to unexpected safety hazards, reduced system efficiency, and reduced reliability. A small-scale experimental PV system has been developed to further validate the conclusions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-33
Author(s):  
Sourabh Kedar ◽  
Mr. Santosh Singh Negi

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have mainly been used in the past decade. Inverter-powered photovoltaic grid topologies are widely used to meet electricity demand and to integrate forms of renewable energy into power grids. Meeting the growing demand for electricity is a major challenge today. This paper provides a detailed overview of the topological trend of inverters with connection to the photovoltaic grid, as well as the advantages, disadvantages and main characteristics of the individual inverters. For proper integration into a network, coordination between the supporting devices used for reactive power compensation and their optimal reactive power capacity for grid current stability is important.


Author(s):  
Mohammed Bouzidi ◽  
Abdelkader Harrouz ◽  
Tadj Mohammed ◽  
Smail Mansouri

<p>The inverter is the principal part of the photovoltaic (PV) systems that assures the direct current/alternating current (DC/AC) conversion (PV array is connected directly to an inverter that converts the DC energy produced by the PV array into AC energy that is directly connected to the electric utility). In this paper, we present a simple method for detecting faults that occurred during the operation of the inverter. These types of faults or faults affect the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the photovoltaic system, especially the inverter, which is the main component responsible for the conversion. Hence, we have shown first the faults obtained in the case of the short circuit. Second, the open circuit failure is studied. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method. Good monitoring and detection of faults in the inverter can increase the system's reliability and decrease the undesirable faults that appeared in the PV system. The system behavior is tested under variable parameters and conditions using MATLAB/Simulink.</p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 225 ◽  
pp. 04004
Author(s):  
Tan Dei Han ◽  
Mohamad Rosman M. Razif ◽  
Shaharin A. Sulaiman

Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has the potential of supplying infinite electricity from renewable energy to rural areas around Malaysia. Various preterm failures happening frequently on the system lead to its drop in efficiency and breakdown. Lack of studies on the system in Malaysia hinders the development in terms of operation and maintenance. There is no proper documentation relevant to the premature failure of the system in Malaysia. The main objective of this project is to study the nature of premature failure of stand-alone solar photovoltaic system in Malaysia in order to improve the operation and maintenance of the system. The present study would provide reference for proper planning on operation and maintenance of the PV system. The study was conducted base on expert’s input and extensive literature survey. FMEA method and ISM approach are applied to analyze the data collected. Poor cooling system have the highest risk priority number. Poor workmanship is the least depending factor for premature failure to happen thus requires most attention. Highest driving force of premature failure is poor monitoring and maintenance. More focus should be given to these premature failure during the planning for operation and maintenance due to its severity and impact.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 1213 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Sayed ◽  
M. El-Shimy ◽  
M. El-Metwally ◽  
M. Elshahed

Recently, solar power generation is significantly contributed to growing renewable sources of electricity all over the world. The reliability and availability improvement of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has become a critical area of interest for researchers. Reliability, availability, and maintainability (RAM) is an engineering tool used to address operational and safety issues of systems. It aims to identify the weakest areas of a system which will improve the overall system reliability. In this paper, RAM analysis of grid-connected solar-PV system is presented. Elaborate RAM analysis of these systems is presented starting from the sub-assembly level to the subsystem level, then the overall system. Further, an improved Reliability Block Diagram is presented to estimate the RAM performance of seven practical grid-connected solar-PV systems. The required input data are obtained from worldwide databases of failures, and repair of various subassemblies comprising various meteorological conditions. A novel approach is also presented in order to estimate the best probability density function for each sub-assembly. The monitoring of the critical subassemblies of a PV system will increase the possibility not only for improving the availability of the system, but also to optimize the maintenance costs. Additionally, it will inform the operators about the status of the various subsystems of the system.


Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Baimel ◽  
Saad Tapuchi ◽  
Yoash Levron ◽  
Juri Belikov

This paper proposes two new Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) methods which improve the conventional Fractional Open Circuit Voltage (FOCV) method. The main novelty is a switched semi-pilot cell that is used for measuring the open-circuit voltage. In the first method this voltage is measured on the semi-pilot cell located at the edge of PV panel. During the measurement the semi-pilot cell is disconnected from the panel by a pair of transistors, and bypassed by a diode. In the second Semi-Pilot Panel method the open circuit voltage is measured on a pilot panel in a large PV system. The proposed methods are validated using simulations and experiments. It is shown that both methods can accurately estimate the maximum power point voltage, and hence improve the system efficiency.


2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Firdaus Muhammad Sukki ◽  
Roberto Ramirez Iniguez ◽  
Scott G. Mcmeekin ◽  
Brian G. Stewart ◽  
Barry Clive

Solar energy has become a matter of global attention in the past few years. This paper explores the use and benefit of solar concentrators in the solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. First, a short literature review of previous research on the usage of solar concentrators in improving solar PV system performance and reducing the cost of implementation is presented. This is followed by an overview of SolarBrane, an example of a Building Integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system which uses an optical concentrator in the solar PV design. An optimised design of the SolarBrane is also discussed afterwards. A financial benefit study is conducted to compare the average return of investment of using the optimised SolarBrane and traditional solar PV installed in Malaysia’s environment. SolarBrane has proven to be a good alternative to achieve costeffective solar PV system. The financial analysis simulated under the new Malaysian Feed–In Tariff scheme indicates that the optimised SolarBrane could potentially reduce the initial cost of implementation by 40% and generate higher return, close to 20%, when compared to traditional solar PV systems. Key words: Solar photovoltaic; solar concentrator; solarBrane; dielectric totally internally reflecting concentrator; financial analysis


Author(s):  
T. NARASIMHA PRASAD ◽  
V. LAKSHMI DEVI

Solar energy has become a very potential new energy; Connected directly with grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems does not require bulk and lossy battery. Distributed generation and on-site supply of PV system reduces losses of transmission and distribution, and mitigates environment pollution. This paper establishes a Dynamic model of grid-connected PV system by Matlab/Simulink with d-and q-axis as coordinates which is synchronously rotating with the grid voltage to reflect the characteristics of the system accurately. Based on the accurate modeling system, optimum control and fault analysis are studied. The simulation and analysis verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, and demonstrate that the proposed control system has good static performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Hafiz Muhammad Tayyab ◽  
Yaqoob Javed ◽  
Irfan Ullah ◽  
Abid Ali Dogar ◽  
Burhan Ahmed

A major problem in the photovoltaic (PV) system is to determine the maximum power point (MPP) and to overcome the limitations of environmental change. To resolve the limitation of different techniques with high convergence rate and less fluctuations, a hybrid model of fractional open circuit voltage is proposed. For partial shading, incremental conductance is used. The proposed technique is extremely useful, provides high efficiency, and takes less time to achieve the MPP. The tenacity of the proposed method has been checked using MATLAB/Simulink, which clearly shows that the proposed technique has high efficiency compared to other MPP tracking methods.


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