PV system power loss and module damage due to partial shade and bypass diode failure depend on cell behavior in reverse bias

Brooks, Adria E.; Cormode, Daniel; Cronin, Alexander D.; Kam-Lum, Elsa

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2015.7356290

Cited by 25 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Therefore, the bypass diode can protect the cell and module under shading. Moreover, the installation of a bypass diode in the PV module results in superior performance under shaded conditions by setting a new maximum power point (MPP) within a few seconds [5,6]. To minimize output losses and prevent hotspots caused by shading, intensive studies have been conducted to improve the performance of the PV module and system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

Shin

Song

et al. 2018

Energies

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Bypass diodes have been widely utilized in crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) modules to maximize the output of a PV module array under partially shaded conditions. A Schottky diode is used as the bypass diode in c-Si PV modules due to its low operating voltage. In this work, we systematically investigated the origin of bypass diode faults in c-Si PV modules operated outdoors. The temperature of the inner junction box where the bypass diode is installed increases as the ambient temperature increases. Its temperature rises to over 70 °C on sunny days in summer. As the temperature of the junction box increases from 25 to 70 °C, the leakage current increases up to 35 times under a reverse voltage of 15 V. As a result of the high leakage current of the bypass diode at high temperature, melt down of the junction barrier between the metal and semiconductor has been observed in damaged diodes collected from abnormally functioning PV modules. Thus, it is believed that the constant leakage current applied to the junction caused the melting of the junction, thereby resulting in a failure of both the bypass diode and the c-Si PV module.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

Shin

Song

et al. 2018

Energies

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“…Using the infrared thermography (IRT) many studies prove the presence of hot spot zones on the shaded PV cells (Basri et al, 2015;Tsanakas et al, 2016). Thus, the temperature increase in these zones leads to a thermal power dissipation (Bressan et al, 2016), reduces considerably the PV module lifetime and can damage the shaded cells (Brooks et al, 2015). The detection of such undesirable operating conditions has become mandatory for obvious safety and economic reasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

PV shading fault detection and classification based on I-V curve using principal component analysis: Application to isolated PV system

et al. 2019

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Health monitoring and diagnosis of photovoltaic (PV) systems is becoming crucial to maximise the power production, increase the reliability and life service of PV power plants. Operating under faulty conditions, in particular under shading, PV plants have remarkable shape of current-voltage (I-V) characteristics in comparison to reference condition (healthy operation). Based on real electrical measurements (I-V), the present work aims to provide a very simple, robust and low cost Fault Detection and Classification (FDC) method for PV shading faults. At first, we extract the features for different experimental tests under healthy and shading conditions to build the database. The features are then analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The accuracy of the data classification into the PCA space is evaluated using the confusion matrix as a metric of class separability. The results using experimental data of a 250 Wp PV module are very promising with a successful classification rate higher than 97% with four different configurations. The method is also cost effective as it uses only electrical measurements that are already available. No additional sensors are required.

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“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Typical PV module failures are manifested by discolorations (yellowing or browning), delamination, glass breakages, hot spots, interconnect disconnections, cell cracks, bypass circuit (BPC) failures, etc. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] BPC failures are failures of the bypass function of the PV module, which is enabled by installing diodes, which are also called bypass diodes. With the exception of BPC open-circuit (BPC-OC) failures, these failures can be detected by visual inspection, 17,18 infrared (IR) imaging technology, [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and photoluminescence 24 in outdoor conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…cause degradations owing to continuous thermal cycles. 14 Kato 5 reported that the local temperature of a PV module reached several hundred degrees Celsius when a hot spot occurs in BPC-OC failure. The occurrence of such a high-temperature hot spot in PV modules would lead to the risk of a fire accident and related failures such as glass breakages, interconnect disconnections, and cell cracks increases that are due to high thermal cycle stress.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

On‐site detection of bypass circuit opening failure in photovoltaic array under power generation operation

Baba

Itami

Yamada

2020

Energy Science & Engineering

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To ensure the long‐term reliability of photovoltaic systems (PVSs), periodical inspections are necessary. Despite the risk of severe temperature rise, bypass circuit open‐circuit (BPC‐OC) failure has attracted low research interest compared with other types of failure. This paper presents the pulsed light irradiation (PLI) method for robust BPC‐OC failure detection that eliminates the need to switch off the power generation operation of the PVS. The proposed method detects the BPC‐OC failure of the solar cell string by measuring the modulated current induced by local PLI. Electrical circuit simulations as well as indoor and outdoor experiments are performed to verify the performance of the proposed method. Results of the outdoor experiment show that the PLI method performs well in a real PVS under power generation operation. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method are summarized.

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PV system power loss and module damage due to partial shade and bypass diode failure depend on cell behavior in reverse bias

Cited by 25 publications

References 4 publications

Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

PV shading fault detection and classification based on I-V curve using principal component analysis: Application to isolated PV system

On‐site detection of bypass circuit opening failure in photovoltaic array under power generation operation

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