Effective real-time performance monitoring and diagnostics of individual panels in PV plants

Author

Guerriero, P. ; d´Alessandro, Vincenzo ; Petrazzuoli, L. ; Vallone, G. ; Daliento, S.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Inf. Technol., Univ. of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy

fYear

2013

fDate

11-13 June 2013

Firstpage

14

Lastpage

19

Abstract

In this paper, we present an improved version of a recently-developed monitoring circuit devised to measure the operating voltage and current, the open circuit voltage, and the short circuit current of string-connected photovoltaic (PV) panels. The system can substitute the junction box, is fully self-powered, and does not require additional cables thanks to a wireless communication. An extensive experimental campaign is performed to prove the reliability and usefulness of the system for continuous monitoring of PV plants; in particular, the capability to detect the effects of partial shading conditions on a PV string is highlighted.

Keywords

monitoring; photovoltaic power systems; power generation reliability; PV plants; PV string; continuous monitoring; effective real-time performance monitoring; open circuit voltage; operating voltage; panel diagnostics; partial shading condition; recently-developed monitoring circuit; short circuit current; string-connected PV panel; string-connected photovoltaic panel; system reliability; wireless communication; Current measurement; Inverters; Monitoring; Sensors; Short-circuit currents; Voltage measurement; Wireless communication; Monitoring system; partial shading; photovoltaic plant; reliability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Clean Electrical Power (ICCEP), 2013 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Alghero

Print_ISBN

978-1-4673-4429-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICCEP.2013.6586958

Filename

6586958