RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Low-Cost Electronics for Online I-V Tracing at Photovoltaic Module Level: Development of Two Strategies and Comparison between Them
A1 Morales Aragonés, José Ignacio
A1 Gallardo Saavedra, Sara
A1 Alonso Gómez, Víctor
A1 Sánchez Pacheco, Francisco José
A1 González Rebollo, Miguel Ángel
A1 Martínez Sacristán, Óscar
A1 Muñoz García, Miguel Ángel
A1 Alonso García, María del Carmen
A1 Hernández Callejo, Luis
K1 Current–voltage curves
K1 Curvas de intensidad-voltaje
AB The measurement of current–voltage (I-V) curves of single photovoltaic (PV) modules is at this moment the most powerful technique regarding the monitoring and diagnostics of PV plants, providing accurate information about the possible failures or degradation at the module level. Automating these measurements and allowing them to be made online is strongly desirable in order to conceive a systematic tracking of plant health. Currently, I-V tracers present some drawbacks, such as being only for the string level, working offline, or being expensive. Facing this situation, the authors have developed two different low-cost online I-V tracers at the individual module level, which could allow for a cost-affordable future development of a fully automated environment for the tracking of the plant status. The first system proposed implements a completely distributed strategy, since all the electronics required for the I-V measurement are located within each of the modules and can be executed without a power line interruption. The second one uses a mixed strategy, where some common electronics are moved from PV modules to the inverter or combiner box and need an automated very short disconnection of the modules string under measurement. Experiments show that both strategies allow the tracing of individual panel I-V curves and sending of the data afterwards in numerical form to a central host with a minimum influence on the power production and with a low-cost design due to the simplicity of the electronics. A comparison between both strategies is exposed, and their costs are compared with the previous systems proposed in the literature, obtaining cost reductions of over 80–90% compared with actual commercial traces.
PB MDPI
SN 2079-9292
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/50609
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/50609
LA eng
NO Electronics, 2021, vol. 10, n. 6, 671
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 01-may-2024