A Photovoltaic Measurement System for Performance Evaluation and Faults Detection at the Field

Abstract

Testing and evaluation of the photovoltaic array are important matters for researchers and students in the renewable engineering 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.