A Novel Gradual Faults Diagnosis Using the Photovoltaic Plant Reflectometry Profile

This paper presents a novel gradual defects diagnosis technique for photovoltaic (PV) panels using a new concept named the photovoltaic plant reflectometry profile (PPRP). In fact, the maintaining of the good functioning of PV systems requires a highly accurate diagnosis for detecting defects not only at the begining, during the commissioning of the PV systems, but also throughout their lifetime. The proposed technique in this paper allows not only the detection of a discordance between the datasheet and the measured performance of the manufactured PV panels, but also to find the exact location of the defective one on an already installed PV plant. The PPRP is a new analytical model and criterion used to compare between the reflected signal that is received within the PV Plant after its transmission and the ideal (expected) one computed analytically using the datasheet. Simulations were conducted using MATLAB Simulink to emulate the discordance between the ideal PPRP and the measured PPRP on the PV plant, and show precisely the expected location of the faulty module.