Ahmed J. Abid1* and Fawzi M. Al-Naima2

 

1Middle Technical University
2Fawzi M. Al-Naima

Download Citation: |
Download PDF


ABSTRACT

Testing and evaluation of the photovoltaic array are important issues for researchers and students alike in the renewable energy field. The collected data from the PV power plant gives a clear vision for the power plant production, array efficiency and fault detection. The presented system offers an electronic load connected to the PV array which is slightly increased from zero to the maximum designated value. It displays and stores all the voltage, current, and power measurements. It also calculates the voltage and current at the maximum power point, and the fill factor. All the measured data are documented within an Excel file on the computer; curves are plotted automatically to give the user a complete vision for the array behavior, power faults and the mismatching of the PV modules can be easily detected from these curves. The presented system describes all the electronic circuit schematics, how to select the appropriate electronic components with the proper rated values and offers a low-cost design that can be implemented with ease.


Keywords: Arduino Applications, Electronic load, Embedded system, Fault detection, PV array evaluation


Share this article with your colleagues

 


REFERENCES

  1. [1] Y. Kuai and S. Yuvarajan, "An electronic load for testing photovoltaic panels," J. Power Sources, vol. 154, no. 1, pp. 308-313, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2005.04.016

  2. [2] B. K. Bose, P. M. Szczesny, and R. L. Steigerwald, "Microcomputer Control of a Residential Photovoltaic Power Conditioning System," IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., vol. IA-21, no. 5, pp. 1182-1191, 1985. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIA.1985.349522

  3. [3] A. J. Abid, A. A. Obed, and F. M. Al-Naima, "Web-Based System Design to Monitor and Control the Mismatching Effects in a Vast Solar Farm," Int. Energy J., vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 379 - 390, 2018.

  4. [4] A. Abid, A. Abid, A. Obed, and F. Al-Naima, "Detection and control of power loss due to soiling and faults in photovoltaic solar farms via wireless sensor network," Int. J. Eng. Technol., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 718-724, 2018. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v7i2.10987

  5. [5] O. A. Al Ameri, M. A. Serhan, L. A. Lamont, and L. El Chaar, "Variable electronic load for testing PV performance," Appl. Sol. Energy, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 89-96, 2010. https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X10020027

  6. [6] A. J. Abid, R. S. Ali, F. M. Al-Naima, Z. Ghassemlooy, and Z. Gao, "A new power line communication modem design with applications to vast solar farm management," 2013 3rd Int. Conf. Electr. Power Energy Convers. Syst. EPECS 2013, vol. 4, no. 14, pp. 34-49, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1109/EPECS.2013.6713015

  7. [7] U. Zimmermann and M. Edoff, "A maximum power point tracker for long-term logging of PV module performance," IEEE J. Photovoltaics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 47-55, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2011.2174031

  8. [8] R. Patel, "Design and Implementation of an Isolated Solar Photovoltaic Power Generation System," National Institute of Technology, 2014.

  9. [9] K. Itoh, "Constant voltage power supply circuit and method of testing the same." Google Patents, Sep-2007.

  10. [10] T. S. Wurster and M. B. Schubert, "Mismatch loss in photovoltaic systems," Sol. Energy, vol. 105, pp. 505-511, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2014.04.014

  11. [11] S. MacAlpine, C. Deline, R. Erickson, and M. Brandemuehl, "Module mismatch loss and recoverable power in unshaded PV installations," in proceeding of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Austin, TX, USA, June 3-8 2012. https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2012.6317858

  12. [12] G. Makrides, B. Zinsser, M. Norton, and G. E., "Performance of Photovoltaics Under Actual Operating Conditions," in Third Generation Photovoltaics, 2012. https://doi.org/10.5772/27386

  13. [13] P. Manganiello, M. Balato, and M. Vitelli, "A Survey on Mismatching and Aging of PV Modules: The Closed Loop," IEEE Trans. Ind. Electron., vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 7276-7286, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIE.2015.2418731

  14. [14] E. Díaz-Dorado, A. Suárez-García, C. Carrillo, and J. Cidrás, "Influence of the shadows in photovoltaic systems with different configurations of bypass diodes," in proceeding of SPEEDAM 2010 - International Symposium on Power Electronics, Electrical Drives, Automation and Motion, Pisa, Italy June 14-16, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1109/SPEEDAM.2010.5542226

  15. [15] G. W. Chang, Y. H. Chen, L. Y. Hsu, Y. Y. Chen, Y. R. Chang, and Y. D. Lee, "Study of impact on high PV-penetrated feeder voltage due to moving cloud shadows," in proceeding of 2016 IEEE International Symposium on Computer, Consumer and Control, IS3C 2016, Xi'an, China, July 4-6, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1109/IS3C.2016.269

  16. [16] M. Mani and R. Pillai, "Impact of dust on solar photovoltaic (PV) performance: Research status, challenges and recommendations," Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 14, no. 9, pp. 3124-3131, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.07.065

  17. [17] M. N. Akram and S. Lotfifard, "Modeling and Health Monitoring of DC Side of Photovoltaic Array," IEEE Trans. Sustain. Energy, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1245-1253, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSTE.2015.2425791

  18. [18] A. R. Frey, D. G. Apt, and T. M. Tdi-dynaload, "Application note for New 500V Linear MOSFETs for a 120 kW Active Load," Adv. Power Technol., 2000.

  19. [19] A. J. Abid, "Internet of Energy: A Design to Manage Energy Consumption for Off-Grid Building," Int. J. Autom. Smart Technol., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 13-22, 2019. https://doi.org/10.5875/ausmt.v9i1.1408

  20. [20] B. T. Donnellan, G. J. Roberts, P. A. Mawby, and A. T. Bryant, "Modelling of current sharing in paralleled current limiting superjunction MOSFETs with common gate drives," Microelectron. Reliab., vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 497-502, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microrel.2011.12.00

  21. [21] F. Al-Naima, R. Ali, and A. J. Abid, "Design of an Embedded Solar Tracking System Based on GPS and Astronomical Equations," Int. J. Inf. Technol. Web Eng., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 12-31, 2014. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijitwe.2014010102

  22. [22] F. M. Al-Naima, R. S. Ali, and A. J. Abid, "Design and Implementation of a Smart Dual Axis Sun Tracker Based on Astronomical Equations," in EWRES - The European Workshop on Renewable Energy Systems, 2012.

  23. [23] F. M. Al-Naima, R. S. Ali, and A. J. Abid, "Design of a Control and Data Acquisition System for a Multi-Mode Solar Tracking Farm," in EWRES - The European Workshop on Renewable Energy Systems, 2012.

  24. [24] A. J. Abid, "Arduino Based Blind Solar Tracking Controller," An Int. Open Access Journal, IETI Trans. Comput., vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 24-29, 2017.


ARTICLE INFORMATION

Received: 2019-03-26

Accepted: 2019-06-27
Available Online: 2020-06-01


Cite this article:

Abid, A.J. and Al-Naima, F.M. (2020) A Photovoltaic Measurement System for Performance Evaluation and Faults Detection at the Field. Int. J. Autom. Smart Technol. https://doi.org/10.5875/ausmt.v10i1.2144

  Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Other people also read...