Novel hot spot mitigation technique to enhance photovoltaic solar panels output power performance

Abstract

Hot spotting is a reliability problem in photovoltaic (PV) panels where a mismatched cell heats up significantly and degrades PV panel output power performance. High PV cell temperature due to hot spotting can damage the cell encapsulate and lead to second breakdown, where both cause permanent damage to the PV panel. Therefore, the design and development of a hot spot mitigation technique is proposed using a simple, low-cost and reliable hot spot activation technique. The hot spots in the examined PV system is detected using FLIR i5 thermal imaging camera. Several experiments have been studied during various environmental conditions, where the PV module P-V curve was evaluated in each observed test to analyze the output power performance before and after the activation of the proposed hot spot mitigation technique. One PV module affected by hot spot was tested. The output power increased by approximate to 3.6 W after the activation of the hot spot mitigation technique. Additional test has been carried out while connecting the hot spot PV module in series with two other PV panels. The results indicate that there is an increase of 3.57 W in the output power after activating the hot spot mitigation technique.

Assessing MPPT Techniques on Hot-Spotted and Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Modules: Comprehensive Review Based on Experimental Data

“…[41]: this technique relies on modifying the MPPT algorithm using β parameter, henceforth it will not overlook at the GMPP and LMPPs during partial shading conditions. The novelty of this technique that it has the capability of detecting the occurrence of partial shading conditions without the need of any additional threshold or periodical interruption, but only β value which is determined by (2), where IString refers to the current of the PV modules, Veq is the equivalent voltage, and c is the diode constant. The MPPT tracking accuracy is always greater than 99.5%.…”

“…M-Beta technique achieved the maximum tracking accuracy (97.32%). As presented in section III, this technique relies on β value, determined by (2). Fig.…”

“…OT-SPOTTING is a reliability problem in Photovoltaic (PV) modules, this phenomena is well-identified when a mismatched solar cells' heat up significantly and reduce the PV module output power [1]. PV hot-spots occur when a cell, or group of cells activates at reverse-bias, dissipating power instead of delivering it, and consequently operating at anomalous temperature levels [2] and [3]. The PV hot-spots are also the main cause of accelerated ageing, and sometimes irreversible damage of entire PV panels [4].…”

On the Link between the Operating Point and the Temperature Distribution in PV Arrays Working under Mismatching Conditions

“…Active bypass switches are an improvement over bypass diodes but do not resolve the problem [7]. There are two further methods to prevent hot spots: method 1-regulation of the operating point (make the PV string work in open circuit in extreme cases) [26,37,38] and method 2-ensure that the cell can fully dissipate the worst-case power scenario without damages [7]. For example, cells with low reverse-breakdown voltages limit the power dissipated during hot spots and may be an effective prevention method.…”

Novel Photovoltaic Micro Crack Detection Technique

“…Photoluminescence (PL) aiming technique was proposed to solve this problem, since it can be used to inspect micro cracks in silicon wafers and PV modules [3]. PL technique can be applied not only at the end of the PV solar cell's production, but also it can be slotted in during the process of production [4].…”