Differentiating series and parallel photovoltaic arc-faults

Johnson, Jay; Montoya, Michael; McCalmont, Scott; Katzir, Gil; Fuks, Felipe; Earle, Justis; Fresquez, Armando; Gonzalez, Sigifredo; Granata, Jennifer E

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2012.6317708

Cited by 87 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Generally, DC fault arcs in PV systems can be classified into series arcs and parallel arcs [3]. Series arc faults are in the majority of arc accidents currently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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PV arc-fault feature extraction and detection based on bayesian support vector machines

Gao¹,

Dong²,

Sun³

et al. 2015

ijsgce

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In a PV system, DC arc is regarded as a serious fault, which might cause circuit damage and trigger fires. The arc fault, however, is hard to detect due to the special fields of photovoltaic systems: constant direct current without zerocrossing point, sophisticated components leading to noise interruption, and usually occupying large area. Therefore, detectable characteristics are of great importance to diagnosis and alarm of fault arcs in PV systems. In this paper, we presented a classification method of separating arcing and non-arcing in the feature space. First, data sets of current signal were sampled by designing field experiments with "pull apart" method for arc ignition. Then seven features in both time and frequency domains were defined and two of them in each domain were selected to train BSVM. In order to simplify the computation, the trained BSVM network was replaced by a separating line, which was proved to have a better performance of classification. Testing results showed that this method could diagnose fault arcs with high accuracy. But whether this method is suitable for other PV systems needs to be verified in further work.

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“…Generally, DC fault arcs in PV systems can be classified into series arcs and parallel arcs [3]. Series arc faults are in the majority of arc accidents currently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latent functions f can be modelled as a multivariate Gaussian random variable with zero mean and a nn  covariance matrix Σ [3], given by (2) and (3). …”

Section: Introduction Of Bsvmmentioning

confidence: 99%

PV arc-fault feature extraction and detection based on bayesian support vector machines

Gao¹,

Dong²,

Sun³

et al. 2015

ijsgce

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“…This leaves the possibility of a parallel arc-fault establishing a fire. As a result, UL 1699B [2] provides a testing protocol for listing a Type 2 device capable of mitigating series and parallel arc-faults, and the PV industry is currently pursuing parallel arc-fault detection, differentiation, and mitigation techniques [3][4][5]. MidNite Solar, Inc. has developed the first series and parallel AFCI combiner box prototype, which first assumes a series arc-fault when there is arc-fault noise on the array and opens the string(s); then the AFCI rechecks for arcing noise and shorts the array to de-energize the parallel arc-fault if necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MidNite Solar, Inc. has developed the first series and parallel AFCI combiner box prototype, which first assumes a series arc-fault when there is arc-fault noise on the array and opens the string(s); then the AFCI rechecks for arcing noise and shorts the array to de-energize the parallel arc-fault if necessary. However, there are many alternative approaches to detecting and differentiating series and parallel arc-faults presented in previous work [3]; the simplest of which would be to monitor the high frequency noise created by the arc-fault in conjunction with the current and voltage of the array. Numerical and experimental studies were performed to determine the accuracy and robustness of using this method for a range of fault types, impedances, and locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical simulations of series and parallel PV arc-faults

Flicker

Johnson

2013

2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

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Abstract-Arcing in PV systems has caused multiple residential and commercial rooftop fires. The National Electrical Code® (NEC) added section 690.11 to mitigate this danger by requiring arc-fault circuit interrupters (AFCI). Currently, the requirement is only for series arc-faults, but to fully protect PV installations from arc-fault-generated fires, parallel arc-faults must also be mitigated effectively. In order to de-energize a parallel arc-fault without module-level disconnects, the type of arc-fault must be identified so that proper action can be taken (e.g., opening the array for a series arc-fault and shorting for a parallel arc-fault). In this work, we investigate the electrical behavior of the PV system during series and parallel arc-faults to (a) understand the arcing power available from different faults, (b) identify electrical characteristics that differentiate the two fault types, and (c) determine the location of the fault based on current or voltage of the faulted array. This information can be used to improve arc-fault detector speed and functionality.

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“…Extensive testing of arc-fault detector functionality and nuisance tripping issues has been performed at Sandia National Laboratories over the last three years [1][2][3][4][5]. As part of this work, the DC electrical arc-fault noise signatures of series and parallel arc-faults were measured and quantified [1][2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Series and parallel arc-fault circuit interrupter tests.

Johnson¹,

Fresquez²,

Gudgel³

et al. 2013

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While the 2011 National Electrical Code® (NEC) only requires series arc-fault protection, some arc-fault circuit interrupter (AFCI) manufacturers are designing products to detect and mitigate both series and parallel arc-faults. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has extensively investigated the electrical differences of series and parallel arc-faults and has offered possible classification and mitigation solutions. As part of this effort, Sandia National Laboratories has collaborated with MidNite Solar to create and test a 24-string combiner box with an AFCI which detects, differentiates, and de-energizes series and parallel arc-faults. In the case of the MidNite AFCI prototype, series arc-faults are mitigated by opening the PV strings, whereas parallel arcfaults are mitigated by shorting the array. A range of different experimental series and parallel arc-fault tests with the MidNite combiner box were performed at the Distributed Energy Technologies Laboratory (DETL) at SNL in Albuquerque, NM. In all the tests, the prototype deenergized the arc-faults in the time period required by the arc-fault circuit interrupt testing standard, UL 1699B. The experimental tests confirm series and parallel arc-faults can be successfully mitigated with a combiner box-integrated solution. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis work was funded by the

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Differentiating series and parallel photovoltaic arc-faults

Cited by 87 publications

References 3 publications

PV arc-fault feature extraction and detection based on bayesian support vector machines

PV arc-fault feature extraction and detection based on bayesian support vector machines

Electrical simulations of series and parallel PV arc-faults

Series and parallel arc-fault circuit interrupter tests.

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