A simple model of PV system performance and its use in fault detection

Firth, Steven; Lomas, Kevin J.; Rees, Simon

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2009.08.004

Cited by 222 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…By analyzing the energy losses on the plant and grid side of the grid-tied PV system i.e. constant or variable energy losses the overall efficiency of the system can be realized [15]. The loss of energy in photovoltaic array can be obtained as L array = (Expected P max,array ) -(Instantaneous P max,array ) (1) The instantaneous P max,array = V pv *I pv in Watts depends upon the instantaneous plant voltage, current and other plant factors such as climatic conditions, module temperature, level of irradiance, PV shading, tilt angle of module, maximum power point tracking algorithm, mismatching, cable losses etcetera.…”

Section: B Two Variable Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Variable Method for Fault Analysis in Grid Tied Solar Photovoltaic System

Khatri¹,

Kumar²

2017

IJET

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Abstract-To increase the efficiency and reliability of a grid tied solar PV plant, it is important to detect the possible abnormalities and their location in the system. Conventional power devices frequently fails to detect certain types of faults which occur due to inappropriate installation, varying plant conditions and environmental factors such as low irradiance, snow, clouds, bird dropping, dust accumulation. Therefore, it is necessary to identify a vital solution to deal with the internal and external faults of the system. The faults in photovoltaic modules, array strings and inverter sometimes leads to safety issues in the system. This paper proposes a simple two-variable method to detect faults under the abnormal operating conditions of grid tied solar photovoltaic system. Furthermore the internal and external faults are studied using an experimental setup and obtained results indicate the accurate analysis of the fault severity and the change in electrical parameters of the system can be observed and compared with the normal working condition of system. Keyword-Grid-Tied PV system, Inverter fault, Array fault, Fault detection.I. INTRODUCTION Popularity of photovoltaic systems is increasing rapidly worldwide due to the simplicity of installation, no fuel cost, less maintenance and long life. The energy produced by the plants depends upon various factors such as performance characteristics of plant components, geometrical configuration, electrical and mechanical parameter and weather conditions of the site and availability of amount of solar irradiance. The power production capacity of the grid tied photovoltaic (PV) plants ranges from few kilowatts to several megawatts depending upon their usage for domestic to utility scale. The maximum power production of plant reduces in case of abnormality in the system. The conventional protection devices of PV plant consist of over current interrupters, protection relays, ground fault and arc-fault protection devices frequently fails to detect the faults under certain conditions [1]. The challenge is to protect the system from the abnormalities due to protection equipment failure, environmental conditions, maximum power point tracker, blocking diodes and PV module shading. The faults in the system can be detected by comparing the actual electrical parameters which depend upon the system configuration parameters and meteorological data of the plant site with the expected quantities of the system [2]. Thresholds are defined considering PV array parameters such as the amount of irradiance incident at the normal of flat plate collector surface, ambient temperature and electrical quantities of the system so as to detect the presence of abnormalities. Currently, many researchers are working on identifying the techniques to detect the PV system faults in minimum possible time to eliminate them from the system. To locate disconnect in the PV module string the earth capacitance measurement method was developed in [3], another technique that can detect the change in transmis...

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Section: B Two Variable Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Variable Method for Fault Analysis in Grid Tied Solar Photovoltaic System

Khatri¹,

Kumar²

2017

IJET

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“…must be much smaller than the average fault occurrence time interval, which is in the order of days or months [6], so that we can safely assume that at most one PV cell fault occurs during each time interval and the fault detection algorithm only needs to detect at most one newly-occurring fault at each execution. The fault detection algorithm first compares the actual PV panel output power with the theoretical output power of the PV panel without any faults.…”

Section: Reconfiguration For Fault Detection and Fault Bypassingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…PV cell faults in a PV system are caused by contact failure, corrosion of wire, hail impact, moisture, etc [5]. Authors in [6] conducted a two-year monitoring study of 27 PV systems and recorded the annual occurrence rates of PV cell faults in the range of 1.1%~11.7%. Due to the increasing number of orbital debris, the fault occurrence rate on PV systems in space is even higher [7].…”

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confidence: 99%

Designing Fault-Tolerant Photovoltaic Systems

et al. 2014

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“…Using POA irradiance is useful to tighten the prediction of PV system performance as well as to more quickly detect when the system needs maintenance [19]. For this reason, tracking POA for purposes of O&M is recommended even if GHI is selected for the implementation of this test.…”

Section: Advantages Of Monitoring Poa Irradiancementioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Photovoltaic System Energy Performance Evaluation Method

Kurtz¹,

Newmiller²,

Kimber³

et al. 2013

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Documentation of the energy yield of a large photovoltaic (PV) system over a substantial period can be useful to measure a performance guarantee, as an assessment of the health of the system, for verification of a performance model to then be applied to a new system, or for a variety of other purposes. Although the measurement of this performance metric might appear to be straightforward, there are a number of subtleties associated with variations in weather and imperfect data collection that complicate the determination and data analysis. A performance assessment is most valuable when it is completed with a very low uncertainty and when the subtleties are systematically addressed, yet currently no standard exists to guide this process.This report summarizes a draft methodology for an Energy Performance Evaluation Method, the philosophy behind the draft method, and the lessons that were learned by implementing the method. The general philosophy behind the methodology includes the following features:• The method is performance-model agnostic.• The performance model must not be inadvertently modified, when being implemented on the measured meteorological data sets, relative to the model that was used on the historical data set.

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A simple model of PV system performance and its use in fault detection

Cited by 222 publications

References 6 publications

Two Variable Method for Fault Analysis in Grid Tied Solar Photovoltaic System

Two Variable Method for Fault Analysis in Grid Tied Solar Photovoltaic System

Designing Fault-Tolerant Photovoltaic Systems

Analysis of Photovoltaic System Energy Performance Evaluation Method

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