Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents

Accurate and fast fault monitoring system is important for photovoltaic (PV) systems to reduce the damage and energy loss associated with faults. This paper presents a fast fault detection and classification scheme for PV systems. The rate of change of the measured power at the array level is firstl...

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Main Authors: F. M. Aboshady, Ibrahim B. M. Taha
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2021-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9511421/
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author F. M. Aboshady
Ibrahim B. M. Taha
author_facet F. M. Aboshady
Ibrahim B. M. Taha
author_sort F. M. Aboshady
collection DOAJ
description Accurate and fast fault monitoring system is important for photovoltaic (PV) systems to reduce the damage and energy loss associated with faults. This paper presents a fast fault detection and classification scheme for PV systems. The rate of change of the measured power at the array level is firstly used to detect and differentiate between shading and PV system short-circuit faults. Then, the measured cross-strings differential currents classify the fault type in the case of short-circuit faults. The proposed method accounts for intra-string, string-to-negative terminal, cross-string (string to string), and pole-to-pole short-circuit faults, as well as open circuit faults. Two current transducers per two strings are only required to apply the method leading to a significant reduction in the number of transducers/sensors compared to the literature, making it a cost-effective solution. The fault is detected and classified in 1 ms. A 400 kW PV system consisting of 4 arrays simulated using MATLAB/Simulink package is used for the evaluation process. Short-circuit faults are imposed at different conditions of mismatch levels and fault resistance values. Also, operation at reduced irradiance level is considered, and shading faults are simulated in different levels. The simulation results prove the ability of the proposed scheme to detect and differentiate between shading and short-circuit faults. The proposed method can correctly classify different fault types in almost all cases. The low implementation cost due to the lower number of required sensors and the fast-operating time (1 ms) boost the feasibility of the proposed method.
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spelling doaj.art-79fd7e1831e14c3eafcc6d2e7305e62b2022-12-21T22:31:30ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362021-01-01911265511266910.1109/ACCESS.2021.31040079511421Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential CurrentsF. M. Aboshady0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6150-7487Ibrahim B. M. Taha1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2217-6923Electrical Power and Machines Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, EgyptDepartment of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Taif University, Taif, Saudi ArabiaAccurate and fast fault monitoring system is important for photovoltaic (PV) systems to reduce the damage and energy loss associated with faults. This paper presents a fast fault detection and classification scheme for PV systems. The rate of change of the measured power at the array level is firstly used to detect and differentiate between shading and PV system short-circuit faults. Then, the measured cross-strings differential currents classify the fault type in the case of short-circuit faults. The proposed method accounts for intra-string, string-to-negative terminal, cross-string (string to string), and pole-to-pole short-circuit faults, as well as open circuit faults. Two current transducers per two strings are only required to apply the method leading to a significant reduction in the number of transducers/sensors compared to the literature, making it a cost-effective solution. The fault is detected and classified in 1 ms. A 400 kW PV system consisting of 4 arrays simulated using MATLAB/Simulink package is used for the evaluation process. Short-circuit faults are imposed at different conditions of mismatch levels and fault resistance values. Also, operation at reduced irradiance level is considered, and shading faults are simulated in different levels. The simulation results prove the ability of the proposed scheme to detect and differentiate between shading and short-circuit faults. The proposed method can correctly classify different fault types in almost all cases. The low implementation cost due to the lower number of required sensors and the fast-operating time (1 ms) boost the feasibility of the proposed method.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9511421/Fault classificationPV systemshadingshort-circuit
spellingShingle F. M. Aboshady
Ibrahim B. M. Taha
Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
IEEE Access
Fault classification
PV system
shading
short-circuit
title Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
title_full Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
title_fullStr Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
title_full_unstemmed Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
title_short Fault Detection and Classification Scheme for PV System Using Array Power and Cross-Strings Differential Currents
title_sort fault detection and classification scheme for pv system using array power and cross strings differential currents
topic Fault classification
PV system
shading
short-circuit
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9511421/
work_keys_str_mv AT fmaboshady faultdetectionandclassificationschemeforpvsystemusingarraypowerandcrossstringsdifferentialcurrents
AT ibrahimbmtaha faultdetectionandclassificationschemeforpvsystemusingarraypowerandcrossstringsdifferentialcurrents