Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

Shin, Woo Gyun; Ko, Suk Whan; Song, Hyung‐Jun; Ju, Young Chul; Hwang, Hye-Mi; Kang, Gi‐Hwan

doi:10.3390/en11092416

Cited by 28 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(22 reference statements)

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“…The repeated alternation in the switching (off/on) for the bypass diodes resulting in a possible failure. This is also the case in many investigated studies such as [28][29][30]. Results shown in Figure 8c,d present the annual degradation rate for the sub-array in both Albury and Newcastle PV systems.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Photovoltaic Degradation Rate Affected by Different Weather Conditions: A Case Study Based on PV Systems in the UK and Australia

Dhimish

Alrashidi

2020

Electronics

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This article presents the analysis of degradation rate over 10 years (2008 to 2017) for six different photovoltaic (PV) sites located in the United Kingdom (mainly affected by cold weather conditions) and Australia (PV affected by hot weather conditions). The analysis of the degradation rate was carried out using the year-on-year (YOY) degradation technique. It was found that the degradation rate in the UK systems varies from −1.05% and −1.16%/year. Whereas a higher degradation ranging from −1.35% to −1.46%/year is observed for the PV systems installed in Australia. Additionally, it was found that in the Australian PV systems multiple faulty PV bypass diodes are present due to the rapid change in the ambient temperature and uneven solar irradiance levels influencing the PV modules. However, in cold weather conditions (such as in the Northern UK) none of the bypass diodes were damaged over the considered PV exposure period. Furthermore, the number of PV hot spots have also been observed, where it was found that in the UK-based PV systems the number of hot spotted PV modules are less than those found in the Australian systems. Finally, the analysis of the monthly performance ratio (PR) was calculated. It was found that the mean monthly PR is equal to 88.81% and 86.35% for PV systems installed in the UK and Australia, respectively.There are various references in the literature that include the degradation rate of PV systems worldwide. However, there are a lack of references found in the literature describing the behavior and degradation analysis of existing PV systems in the United Kingdom and Australia. Therefore, in this article, the degradation rate of six PV sites installed in three different locations in the UK and Australia are examined over a period of ten years (2008 to 2017). Before moving to the methodology, it is indeed important to have an overview of the degradation rate across multiple regions in the world, which will be summarized as follows:• United States of America (USA): The USA is placed on the top five countries leading the PV technology worldwide [6]. In 1977, the Department of Energy established the Solar Energy Research Institute in Golden, Colorado. In 1991, it was renamed as the NREL. Outdoor testing of modules and sub-modules started at the Solar Energy Research Institute in 1982. When amorphous silicon (a-Si) modules first became commercially available, NREL began to report degradation rate that were considerably higher than −1.0%/year [7]. In [8] and [9], similar results of the PV degradation were found in small (<10 kWp) size PV installations, followed by a yearly degradation rate of approximate −0.8% to −1.25%/year. • Europe: The terrestrial focus of PV industry in Europe can be traced to the oil crisis of the 1970s. The development and institution of PV sites can be divided into publicly and privately funded projects. The publicly funded portion in Europe can be additionally divided into the umbrella organization of the Commission of the European Communities and individual national p...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Photovoltaic Degradation Rate Affected by Different Weather Conditions: A Case Study Based on PV Systems in the UK and Australia

Dhimish

Alrashidi

2020

Electronics

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“…The long-term operation of BPC under high temperature is one of the causes of BPC failure. 32 To reduce the risk of temperature increase, the duration of light shielding should therefore be reduced as much as possible.…”

Section: Pulsed Light Irradiation Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On‐site detection of bypass circuit opening failure in photovoltaic array under power generation operation

Baba

Itami

Yamada

2020

Energy Science & Engineering

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To ensure the long‐term reliability of photovoltaic systems (PVSs), periodical inspections are necessary. Despite the risk of severe temperature rise, bypass circuit open‐circuit (BPC‐OC) failure has attracted low research interest compared with other types of failure. This paper presents the pulsed light irradiation (PLI) method for robust BPC‐OC failure detection that eliminates the need to switch off the power generation operation of the PVS. The proposed method detects the BPC‐OC failure of the solar cell string by measuring the modulated current induced by local PLI. Electrical circuit simulations as well as indoor and outdoor experiments are performed to verify the performance of the proposed method. Results of the outdoor experiment show that the PLI method performs well in a real PVS under power generation operation. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed method are summarized.

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“…With vectors V db Nm and I db Nm the I-V curve of the bypass diode is estimated. From such vectors, a couple of points are be selected to be replaced in the Schottkey equation to set the system of non-linear equations shown in (9), where the unknowns are I sat,db and η db , x 1 and y 1 are the voltage and current of the first point of the I-V curve, respectively, and x 2 and y 2 are the voltage and current of the second point of the I-V curve, respectively. Such a system of equations can be solved by using numerical methods like Newton-Raphson.…”

Section: Procedures For Estimating the Bypass Diode Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the activation of the bypass diode provokes inflections points in the I-V curve and multiple peaks in the power-voltage (P-V) curves of the module and arrays [7,8]. Therefore, the bypass diodes play an important role in the operation and the modeling of PV modules [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Non-Invasive Procedure for Estimating the Exponential Model Parameters of Bypass Diodes in Photovoltaic Modules

et al. 2019

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Bypass diodes (BDs) present in photovoltaic (PV) modules are represented by the exponential model, which requires two parameters: the inverse-saturation current ( I s a t , d b ) and the ideality factor ( η d b ). However, it is difficult to estimate those parameters since the terminals of the BDs are not isolated, hence there is only access to the series connection of the module BDs. This problem must be addressed since inaccurate BDs parameters could produce errors in the reproduction of the current-voltage (I-V) curves of commercial PV modules, which lead to wrong predictions of the power production. This paper proposes a non-invasive procedure to estimate I s a t , d b and η d b of the bypass diodes present in a PV module using two experimental I-V curves. One I-V curve is measured completely covering the submodule of the module whose BD will be parameterized; while the other I-V curve is measured without any shadow on the module. From those curves, the I-V curve of the BD is estimated and I s a t , d b and η d b are calculated by solving a system of two nonlinear equations. The proposed procedure is validated through simulations and experimental results considering a commercial PV module formed by three submodules, where the estimation errors in the reproduction of the BD I-V curve are less than 1% in the simulations and less than 10% in the experiments.

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Origin of Bypass Diode Fault in c-Si Photovoltaic Modules: Leakage Current under High Surrounding Temperature

Cited by 28 publications

References 22 publications

Photovoltaic Degradation Rate Affected by Different Weather Conditions: A Case Study Based on PV Systems in the UK and Australia

Photovoltaic Degradation Rate Affected by Different Weather Conditions: A Case Study Based on PV Systems in the UK and Australia

On‐site detection of bypass circuit opening failure in photovoltaic array under power generation operation

A Non-Invasive Procedure for Estimating the Exponential Model Parameters of Bypass Diodes in Photovoltaic Modules

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