Predicting service life of bypass diodes in photovoltaic modules

Shiradkar, Narendra; Gade, Vivek; Sundaram, Kalpathy B.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7355606

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The power dissipation in the reverse bias is greater than the cooling capacity of the junction box. Therefore, the diode is subject to permanent damage, as is consequently, the PV module [36].…”

Section: How To Choose a Bypass Diodementioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Review on Bypass Diode Application on Photovoltaic Modules

et al. 2020

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Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy has shown significant expansion on the installed capacity over the last years. Most of its power systems are installed on rooftops, integrated into buildings. Considering the fast development of PV plants, it has becoming even more critical to understand the performance and reliability of such systems. One of the most common problems faced in PV plants occurs when solar cells receive non-uniform irradiance or partially shaded. The consequences of shading generally are prevented by bypass diodes. A significant number of studies and technical reports have been published as of today, based on extensive experience from research and field feedbacks. However, such material has not been cataloged or analyzed from a perspective of the technological evolution of bypass diodes devices. This paper presents a comprehensive review and highlights recent advances, ongoing research, and prospects, as reported in the literature, on bypass diode application on photovoltaic modules. First, it outlines the shading effect and hotspot problem on PV modules. Following, it explains bypass diodes’ working principle, as well as discusses how such devices can impact power output and PV modules’ reliability. Then, it gives a thorough review of recently published research, as well as the state of the art in the field. In conclusion, it makes a discussion on the overview and challenges to bypass diode as a mitigation technique.

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Section: How To Choose a Bypass Diodementioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Review on Bypass Diode Application on Photovoltaic Modules

et al. 2020

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“…It is therefore important to mention the reasons for diode failures. Some of the important factors for the damaging of bypass diode in PV modules are [62] 1. When a PV module of a string is shaded (or a few cells of a single module), the bypassed diodes of the shaded module start to conduct (partial shading).…”

Section: Defective Bypass Diodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is therefore important to mention the reasons for diode failures. Some of the important factors for the damaging of bypass diode in PV modules are [62] 1.…”

Section: Defective Bypass Diodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of Typical Defects in Silicon Photovoltaic Modules and Application for Plants with Distributed MPPT Configuration

et al. 2019

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During their operational life, photovoltaic (PV) modules may exhibit various defects for poor sorting of electrical performance during manufacturing, mishandling during transportation and installation, and severe thermo-mechanical stresses. Electroluminescence testing and infrared thermographic imaging are the most common tests for checking these defects, but they are only economically viable for large PV plants. The defects are also manifested as abnormal electrical properties of the affected PV modules. For defect diagnosis, the appropriate parameters on their I-V curves are open circuit voltage, photo-generated current, series resistance, and the shunt resistance. The health of PV modules can be assessed by calculating these values and comparing them with the reference parameters. If these defects are diagnosed in time, the power loss is avoided and safety hazards are mitigated. This paper first presents a review of common defects in PV modules and then a review of the methods used to find the above-mentioned parameters during the normal PV operation. A simple approach to determine the resistances of the equivalent circuit is discussed. Finally, through a modification in an ordinary maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm, information about the state of health of PV modules is obtained. This method is effective, especially if applied to submodule-integrated MPPT architectures.

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“…At present, the authors have not found a detailed procedure to estimate the parameters of a bypass diode in a PV module. However, in literature there are some works related with calculating the parameters of a PV module [13][14][15], procedures to identify damages in the bypass diodes [16][17][18] and methods for estimating the parameters of Schottky diode [19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance in [24] the shading effects on the switching of the bypass diodes and on the performance of the PV module are studied. In [16,17] the authors propose some models to estimate the probability of failure in bypass diodes, since it has been evidenced that the bypass diodes fail more than other elements of a PV module [25]. In [18] authors propose a method to detect the defective bypass diodes from power losses, open circuit voltage and short-circuit current.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Non-Invasive Procedure for Estimating the Exponential Model Parameters of Bypass Diodes in Photovoltaic Modules

et al. 2019

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Bypass diodes (BDs) present in photovoltaic (PV) modules are represented by the exponential model, which requires two parameters: the inverse-saturation current ( I s a t , d b ) and the ideality factor ( η d b ). However, it is difficult to estimate those parameters since the terminals of the BDs are not isolated, hence there is only access to the series connection of the module BDs. This problem must be addressed since inaccurate BDs parameters could produce errors in the reproduction of the current-voltage (I-V) curves of commercial PV modules, which lead to wrong predictions of the power production. This paper proposes a non-invasive procedure to estimate I s a t , d b and η d b of the bypass diodes present in a PV module using two experimental I-V curves. One I-V curve is measured completely covering the submodule of the module whose BD will be parameterized; while the other I-V curve is measured without any shadow on the module. From those curves, the I-V curve of the BD is estimated and I s a t , d b and η d b are calculated by solving a system of two nonlinear equations. The proposed procedure is validated through simulations and experimental results considering a commercial PV module formed by three submodules, where the estimation errors in the reproduction of the BD I-V curve are less than 1% in the simulations and less than 10% in the experiments.

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Predicting service life of bypass diodes in photovoltaic modules

Cited by 7 publications

References 3 publications

A Comprehensive Review on Bypass Diode Application on Photovoltaic Modules

A Comprehensive Review on Bypass Diode Application on Photovoltaic Modules

Detection of Typical Defects in Silicon Photovoltaic Modules and Application for Plants with Distributed MPPT Configuration

A Non-Invasive Procedure for Estimating the Exponential Model Parameters of Bypass Diodes in Photovoltaic Modules

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