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Photovoltaics
Published in Volker Quaschning, Understanding Renewable Energy Systems, 2016
A transformer can adjust the alternating current voltage and provide galvanic isolation between the grid and the photovoltaic generator. Inverters without transformers are now commonly used in photovoltaics. By doing without a transformer, losses are reduced, thereby enabling especially great inverter efficiencies. To ensure safety, however, residual current has to be monitored universally and the grid connection reliably if there is a flaw. Before using an inverter that has no transformer, make sure that the photovoltaic modules you are using have been approved by the manufacturer for this combination. Certain moduels undergo potential-induced degradation (PID) when used with inverters that have no transformer. TCO corrosion in particular destroys the front contacts of thin-film modules and can destroy them in the process. Grounding one of the module’s poles – generally the minus pole – considerably reduces the risk of degradation.
Convolutional Neural Network based Automatic Detection of Visible Faults in a Photovoltaic Module
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2021
Naveen Venkatesh Sridharan, V Sugumaran
Fault occurrences in a PVM are caused due to three major factors, namely (i) physical damages (transportation and installation), (ii) damages due to electrical failures (open circuit, short circuits etc.), (iii) damages due to environmental conditions (thermal stress, moisture, clouds etc.). Among the above mentioned factors faults due to physical damages and environmental conditions cause electrical faults. The various faults that occur due to physical damages and environmental conditions include glass breakage, burn marks, delamination, discoloration and snail trail. These faults lead to potential induced degradation (PID) that can cause a significant drop in power output of PVM (more than 30%) (Pillai and Rajasekar 2018). Hence, prevention of fault occurrences with an accurate and timely fault detection technique is the need of the hour. Initially, fault detection in PVM was performed by trained personnel through visual inspections. Due to technological advancements more effective and nondestructive techniques such as electrical measurements, thermographic assessments, electroluminescence imaging, photoluminescence imaging, etc., are used in the field of fault detection. Smart grids with multiple sensors and smart meters have been used in recent times to monitor the condition of PVM from time to time. Faults occurring in the modules are diagnosed and the faulty panels are isolated for service restoration resulting in the efficient working of PVM and uninterrupted operation of the grid (Srivastava, Bhat, and Singh 2020). Certain drawbacks like time consumption, an excessive requirement of man power and non-feasibility in large installed capacities have paved the way for the requirement of new techniques (Köntges et al. 2014).