Outdoor detection and visualization of hailstorm damages of photovoltaic plants

Muehleisen, Wolfgang; Eder, Gabriele; Voronko, Yuliya; Spielberger, M.; Sonnleitner, H.; Knoebl, Karl; Ebner, R.; Újvári, G.; Hirschl, Christina

doi:10.1016/j.renene.2017.11.010

Cited by 53 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Excitation with UV light was performed with a self‐made UV lamp, consisting of three power‐tuneable LED‐arrays with an emission maximum at 365 nm and a short pass filter to cut off all visible light emitted. Power supply is a modified DC/DC converter with a controllable and piecewise constant voltage/constant current characteristic, providing a maximum DC power of 300 W, sourced by a 12 cell lithium‐polymer accumulator with a capacity of 5000 mAh . This characterization method is nondestructive, non‐invasive, easy to handle, and fast (an exposure time of 30 seconds is sufficient to achieve a well‐contrasted UV‐fluorescence image of a module) 6, 39 40 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate specific accelerated ageing tests and evaluation of ageing induced electrical, physical, and chemical changes

Eder

Voronko

Dimitriadis³

et al. 2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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As the PV market shows enormous potential with huge growth rates especially in climatic‐sensible regions, specific artificial ageing test procedures are a key point for an efficient and fast product development of new PV modules/materials optimized for the use in specific climatic regions. Based on the definition of four climate profiles (dry and hot—arid, moderate, humid, and hot—tropical and high irradiation—alpine), a program was worked out with 14 climate specific test conditions for accelerated ageing tests. The big challenge in this respect was the adaption/advancement of existing standard procedures for PV modules/components testing in a way that reliable testing for certain climatic conditions optimized PV modules is possible. The time‐dependent repeated application of combined climatic and environmental stresses (temperature, temperature cycles, humidity, irradiation, mechanical load, salt mist) was used to induce performance losses, material degradation, and failures in test modules which resemble those effects occurring in real‐life PV installations under comparable climatic and environmental conditions. For this demanding task, a large number of identical test modules with respect to composition and module design was manufactured. A detailed nondestructive analysis/characterization of all modules was performed: (1) before; (2) during (six intermediate stages); and (3) after the accelerated ageing test. The nondestructive characterization methods used to follow the module's ageing processes throughout the whole accelerated ageing procedure were current‐voltage characteristics measurements and electroluminiscence images for the electrical performance evaluation and ultraviolet fluorescence (spectroscopic and imaging) measurements, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy as well as colour measurements of the backsheets outer layer for recording of chemical changes of the encapsulant and backsheet. The electrical and material characterization data were incorporated in an optimized database. As stated above, a set of three identical modules was exposed together in the respective climate specific ageing tests and subsequently characterized in order to increase statistical reliability of the measuring results. The analysis of the data and first approaches of advanced data treatment have already clearly shown that the electrical and material degradation of the test modules is dependent on (1) the type and combination, (2) duration, and (3) mode (sequential versus constant) of the stresses applied. On the one hand, the simulation of environmental stresses like heavy snow and wind load and enhanced frequency of temperature cycling resulting in cell cracks and cell connector breakage could be demonstrated. Additional treatment in salty atmosphere, on the other hand, did not show an accelerating effect on degradation on the electrical or material side. The accelerating effect of enhanced temperature, humidity, or additional irradiation on the degradation of power and materials could be shown very well. D...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…34 cell lithium-polymer accumulator with a capacity of 5000 mAh. 38,39 This characterization method is nondestructive, non-invasive, easy to handle, and fast (an exposure time of 30 seconds is sufficient to achieve a well-contrasted UV-fluorescence image of a module) 6, 39 40 .…”

Section: Electroluminescence Measurements (El)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate specific accelerated ageing tests and evaluation of ageing induced electrical, physical, and chemical changes

Eder

Voronko

Dimitriadis³

et al. 2018

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…Such damage would lead to the loss of output power, system security, and safety of PV panels. After heavy hail attacks, potential hidden damage may be found through very careful PV inspection [98]. Of course, the damaged panel would need to be replaced.…”

Section: Image Processing In Pv Fault Diagnosticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review on Methods of Fault Diagnosis in Photovoltaic System Applications

Syafaruddin¹,

Zinger²

2019

JESTR

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Recently, detection and identification of faults in photovoltaic (PV) system applications have been attracting researchers worldwide. Some of them have investigated the causes of potential faults, have worked on how to monitor and identify the faults through fault diagnosis, and have elaborated on how to develop problem-solving methods for the early detection of faults in PV system operations. This paper attempts to provide information comprehensively from the previous research. It summarizes types of faults, methods used in early fault identification and monitoring, and PV fault prevention and protection systems. The paper also investigates future trends in PV system fault diagnosis which include real-time implementation. The paper is expected to bring new perspective about the literature associate with fault studies in PV systems. This survey will be beneficial for the future discussion on how to provide comprehensive solutions for PV system fault problems. It will help avoid research repetition on similar topics and focus on the improvement and performance development of PV fault diagnosis methods.

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“…Upon improper handling, transport and/or installation of PV modules, failures due to mechanical impact, such as cracked cells, disruptions in the electric connection system or glass breakage, can occur (an elaborated review of failure modes of PV modules is given in [11]), [12]. Furthermore, extreme stress imposed on installed modules by storm events, heavy snow loads or hail storms can also cause such failures [13][14][15][16][17]. Thus, one of the major concerns, especially for operation and maintenance (O & M) companies, is to forecast how mechanically-induced module failures develop over time and how this will affect yield under different stress conditions in the future [18,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Austrian flagship research project, INFINITY, the topics of in-field failure detection and failure propagation were also addressed [17,21,22]. The objective of the work presented here is to investigate the detectability of various mechanically-induced failures (glass crack, solar cell micro-cracks and defects in the cell connection system) and their potential propagation under artificial stress conditions (enhanced temperature, humidity and irradiation) as well as under outdoor weathering conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Destructive Failure Detection and Visualization of Artificially and Naturally Aged PV Modules

et al. 2018

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Several series of six-cell photovoltaic test-modules-intact and with deliberately generated failures (micro-cracks, cell cracks, glass breakage and connection defects)-were artificially and naturally aged. They were exposed to various stress conditions (temperature, humidity and irradiation) in different climate chambers in order to identify (i) the stress-induced effects; (ii) the potential propagation of the failures and (iii) their influence on the performance. For comparison, one set of test-modules was also aged in an outdoor test site. All photovoltaic (PV) modules were thoroughly electrically characterized by electroluminescence and performance measurements before and after the accelerated ageing and the outdoor test. In addition, the formation of fluorescence effects in the encapsulation of the test modules in the course of the accelerated ageing tests was followed over time using UV-fluorescence imaging measurements. It was found that the performance of PV test modules with mechanical module failures was rather unaffected upon storage under various stress conditions. However, numerous micro-cracks led to a higher rate of degradation. The polymeric encapsulate of the PV modules showed the build-up of distinctive fluorescence effects with increasing lifetime as the encapsulant material degraded under the influence of climatic stress factors (mainly irradiation by sunlight and elevated temperature) by forming fluorophores. The induction period for the fluorescence effects of the polymeric encapsulant to be detectable was~1 year of outdoor weathering (in middle Europe) and 300 h of artificial irradiation (with 1000 W/m 2 artificial sunlight 300-2500 nm). In the presence of irradiation, oxygen-which permeated into the module through the polymeric backsheet-bleached the fluorescence of the encapsulant top layer between the cells, above cell cracks and micro-cracks. Thus, UV-F imaging is a perfect tool for on-site detection of module failures connected with a mechanical rupture of solar cells.

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Outdoor detection and visualization of hailstorm damages of photovoltaic plants

Cited by 53 publications

References 6 publications

Climate specific accelerated ageing tests and evaluation of ageing induced electrical, physical, and chemical changes

Climate specific accelerated ageing tests and evaluation of ageing induced electrical, physical, and chemical changes

Review on Methods of Fault Diagnosis in Photovoltaic System Applications

Non-Destructive Failure Detection and Visualization of Artificially and Naturally Aged PV Modules

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