Firefighter Safety for PV Systems: A Solution for the Protection of Emergency Responders from Hazardous dc Voltage

Author

Mathe, Laszlo ; Sera, Dezso ; Spataru, Sergiu Viorel ; Kopacz, Csaba ; Blaabjerg, Frede ; Kerekes, Tamas

Author_Institution

Dept. of Energy Technol., Aalborg Univ., Aalborg, Denmark

Volume

21

Issue

3

fYear

2015

fDate

May-June 2015

Firstpage

75

Lastpage

84

Abstract

An important and highly discussed safety issue for photovoltaic (PV) systems is that as long as the PV panels are illuminated, a high voltage is present at the PV string terminals and cables between the string and inverters that is independent of the state of the inverter´s dc disconnection switch. The presence of these energized conductors on the dc side of the PV system can pose a danger to anyone performing maintenance or firefighting.

Keywords

conductors (electric); invertors; maintenance engineering; photovoltaic power systems; power cables; power system protection; dc disconnection switch; emergency responder protection; energized conductors; firefighter safety; hazardous dc voltage; inverter; maintenance; photovoltaic panels; photovoltaic string cables; photovoltaic string terminals; photovoltaic systems; Inverters; Photovoltaic systems; Switching circuits; Voltage measurement;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Industry Applications Magazine, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-2618

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/MIAS.2014.2345834

Filename

7050355