2012 International Conference on Systems and Informatics (ICSAI 2012)

A Multifunctional Data acquisition System for Photovoltaic Plants

Li Bian, Xinjing Zou, Yonghui Zhai, Haitao Liu Photovoltaic and Wind Power systems Quality Test Center Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
AbstractThis paper describes the development of a multifunctional data acquisition system for photovoltaic (PV) plants. The proposed system consists of a set of data collection boxes for measuring electrical parameters (e.g. DC current, DC voltage, AC current, AC voltage, AC power, etc.), a meteorological data collection system for measuring meteorological parameters (e.g. irradiance, ambient air temperature, etc.), a power quality analyzer for measuring power quality and a central data processing system. The multifunctional data acquisition system can be used to measure PV plants with different capacity and configuration. A set of data collection boxes can be selected and combined freely for data acquisition according to capacity and configuration of measured PV plant. The software of the multifunctional data acquisition system based on LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) package is used to process, display and store the collected data in the PC disk. The multifunctional data acquisition system was installed in a rooftop building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) plant for an on-site measurement in Gejiang province in China. The obtained results confirm that it has the ability to measure the PV plants with different capacity and configuration and has functions of data collection, data processing and analysis. It meets the requirement of the performance evaluation for PV plants. Keywords- PV plant; nultifunctional data acquisition system; LabVIEW

system for monitoring different kinds of PV plants and evaluating the performance and quality of these PV plants. In order to solve the problem, it is necessary to develop a multifunctional data acquisition system for measuring PV plants with different capacity and configuration. In this paper, a multifunctional data acquisition system for measuring meteorological parameters and electrical parameters is proposed. It can be set up flexibly to measure PV plants with different capacity and configuration according to the PV plant design. In order to verify the functions of the multifunctional data acquisition system, two PV plants with different capacities and configuration in south part of China were measured by this system. The aim of this research is to develop an on-site test platform to collect data and evaluate the performance of various PV plants. II. A. SYSTEM DISCRIPTION

I.

INTRODUCTION

With the development of photovoltaic (PV) technology and the reduction in cost of PV generation, PV power systems have been increasing worldwide due to its more progressive insertion into governmental policies aiming to find more renewable energy sources [1-4]. Many PV plants have been built in China and abroad in recent years. However, how to evaluate the performance and quality of PV plants has become an important problem for the continuing development of the PV industry. For component manufacturers, performance and quality evaluations are benchmarks of quality for their products. For research and development teams, they are a key method for helping to an optimum design. For systems integrators and end customers, they are vital tools for evaluating products and product quality to guide future decision-making [5]. PV plants have many kinds of types and capacities. So far, some PV plants have their own data acquisition systems for monitoring their operation performance, but some do not. In addition, the data acquisition systems which have been installed in PV plants are fixed in the plants and are limited to test only these plants. They cannot be used to test other PV plants. There are no a kind of data acquisition

Description of PV Plants The PV plants can be divided into grid-connected PV plants and stand-alone PV plants. The grid-connected PV plant shown in Fig. 1 is usually composed of the following main parts: PV array unit, power conditioning unit (PCU), grid access unit. The PV array unit consists of several module strings connected in parallel and combiner boxes. It is used to generate the DC power. Each module string consists of several PV modules connected in series. The combiner box is used to gather the several output wires of module strings together in order to decrease the numbers of connecting wire between the PV array unit and PCU. Several output wires of combiners are connected to the input terminal of PCU in parallel. PCU consists of inverters, DC control cabinets and AC control cabinets. The main function of it is to convert DC power generated from a photovoltaic panel to AC power. Grid access unit consists of set-up transformers, relay protection devices and electric energy metering devices, etc. The set-up transformer increases the output voltage from the PCU to the voltage of high voltage grid. If the utility grid is low voltage grid, the set-up transformer will not be used in the PV plant. The stand-alone PV plant is composed of the following main parts: PV array unit, PCU, batteries and loads. The main difference between the grid-connected PV plant and the standalone PV plant is that the former puts the generated energy into the utility grid, while the latter puts the generated energy into batteries first and then batteries supply the energy to loads.

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Utility grid Set-up transformer Grid access unit

Power conditioning unit

PV array unit PV array PV array

Fig. 1. Diagram of a grid-connected PV plant.

B.

Description of the Multifunctional Data Acquisition System Fig. 2 shows a diagram of the grid-connected PV plant and the multifunctional data acquisition system. The gridconnected PV plant with components connected in solid lines in Fig. 2 has been described in the previous paragraph. Here, we are focus on the introduction to the multifunctional data acquisition system. The data acquisition system with components connected in dotted lines in Fig. 2 consists of some data collection boxes, a meteorological data collection system, a power quality analyzer, a central data processing system, signal transmission lines, wireless stations and antennas. It is used for collecting electrical and meteorological parameters in real time.
Utility grid Measurement point Power quality analyzer Indoor data collection box Internet Remote computer

Central data processing system

Outdoor data collection box

Antenna

Meteorological data collection system Fig. 2. Overview of the grid-connected PV plant and the multifunctional data acquisition system.

collection box and is fitted beside the combiner box to collect the operation data of PV array unit. Box B is indoor data collection box and is fitted beside the PCU indoor to collect the operation data of PCU. If the PV plant is a stand-alone PV plant, box B is not only used for collecting the data of PCU, but also the data of batteries and loads. The meteorological data collection system is mounted outside and is used for collecting the meteorological parameters such as irradiance, ambient air temperature, wind speed and direction, etc. The power quality analyzer is fitted on the point of interconnection to collect the data of the power quality of the PV plant. The central data processing system consists of a computer, internetwork communication part and system software. The collected data are sent to the central data processing system by local area network. The computer is used for storing, processing, analyzing and displaying the collected data. National Instruments (NI) CompactRIO (Reconfigurable InputOutput) platform is chosen as the data acquisition device for outdoor data collection boxes. It consists of a NI cRIO9073 integrated chassis and controller, NI cRIO-9205 module for voltage signal collection and NI cRIO-9217 module for other signal collection. Current and voltage sensors of LEM company and a PT100 temperature sensor are also installed in the outdoor data collection box and connected to the CompactRIO modules directly. The NI Compact RIO platform features a 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet port for programmatic communication over the network and built in Web (HTTP) and file (FTP) servers. It also features with the clock synchronization of every data collection point and function of real time data transmission. Moreover, the Compact RIO platform has advantages of flexibility and expandability and the data collection points can be freely and easily expanded in the platform according to the measuring requirement. The design idea on indoor data collection box is the same as that on outdoor data collection box. The DC parameters are collected by NI compact RIO platform and AC parameters are collected by SIEMENS SENTRON PAC 3200 and 4200 power meters. The data collection boxes are distributed in every collection point. The computer of the central data processing system is used as the central computer for monitoring. The computer and data collection boxes together formed the standard ethernet. The data acquisition system based on EtherCAT (Ethernet Control Automation Technology) technology has realized the remote data exchange through optical fibers. The meteorological data collection system consists of a CR1000 data logger made by CAMPELL company, pyranometers, pyrheliometer, reference cells, a temperature sensor, an anemometer, a wireless transmission station, etc. The computer receives the data from CR1000 data logger through the wireless transmission station to accomplish functions of file upload and download. A Fluke 1760 power quality analyzer is used to measure the power quality data such as harmonic, wave distortion, voltage deviation, voltage fluctuation and flicker, voltage unbalance, direct current component, etc.

There are two kinds of data collection boxes for electrical parameters collection, box A and B. Box A is outdoor data

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C. Software of the Multifunctional Data acquisition System The software of the multifunctional data acquisition system based on the LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) package is to use further process, display and storage the collected data in the PC disk. It consists of software of Windows PC, CompactRIO system software, field programmable gate array (FPGA) program and database shown in Fig. 3.
CompactRIO System LabVIEW Real-Time controller LabVIEW FPGA Windows PC LabVIEW for Windows

III.

Allow the user to access the data from the internet. DATA COLLECTION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

The data selection should meet the requirement of the analysis and evaluation for a PV plant. The functions of the multifunctional data acquisition system should be verified by an on-site test in PV plant. A. Data Collection The parameters to be measured by the multifunctional data acquisition system in real time are shown in table 1. The parameter selection is based upon the standard IEC 61724 [6] and within the framework of the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power System (IEA PVPS) Program Task [7, 8]. The sampling interval for parameters is set as 5 seconds and stored as 1 minute average. All parameters will be continuously measured during the specified monitoring period at a common rate.
TABLE I. PARAMETERS TO BE MEASURED IN REAL TIME Symbol GI Tam Sw VMS IMS PMS Tm VC IC PC VPI IPI PPI VPO IPO PPO VU ITU PTU Unit W/m2 m/s V A kW V A kW V A kW V A kW V A kW

FPGA interface

TCP/IP

Fig. 3. Software block diagram of the multifunctional data acquisition system

The signals from sensors are collected by acquisition module and converted to digital data. These data are transferred to FPGA chip. The FPGA chip has been designed and programmed using the development environment of LabVIEW. The data can be analyzed, judged and stored between the real time controller and FPGA by the interactive program through the FPGA interface. The processed data have been transferred to the PC by transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) and can be displayed in the PC disk. People can view the data in the PC in real time. Some displaying modes such as flow chart, real-time graph, historical graph, data list, record report, alert browse can be displayed by the PC. The PC interface receives data from the data acquisition system and forward it to the PC using the Ethernet. The user interface of PC needs to be easy to input the information of the PV system, select and display the configuration of the measurement, show data and curve of the measured and calculated parameters. Hence, it needs to program to meet these requirements by LabVIEW software. The programmed software realizes several functions as follows: Giving an input interface for the information of PV plant. It is possible to select the measurement combination and configuration according to the design of the measured PV plant and display the configuration diagram. Display digital values and visual representation for irradiance, temperature, weed speed and direction, current, voltage and power. Display accumulated values of irradiation and energy, as well as system performance indices in data lists or curves if need be. Alert the user with visual signal if irregular operating occurs. Allow the user to view and print the measurement report of the PV system.

Parameters Meteorology Total irradiance or direct irradiance, in the plane of the array Ambient air temperature Wind speed Module string Output voltage Output current Output power Module temperature Combiner box output voltage output current Output power PCU Input voltage Input current Input power Output current Output voltage Output power Utility grid Utility voltage Current to utility grid Power to utility grid

The parameters of power quality such as harmonic, wave distortion, voltage deviation, voltage fluctuation and flicker, voltage unbalance, direct current component can be measured by a power quality analyzer in a period of time. If the PV plant is a stand-alone system, the parameters of the battery voltage, battery current, load voltage and load current should also be collected in real time. Various derived parameters related to the PV plants energy and performance may be calculated from the recorded monitoring data using sums, averages, maxima, minima, and ratios over the measuring period , (such as days, weeks, months and years) by the data acquisition software. Derived parameters are shown in table 2.

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TABLE II.

DERIVED PARAMETERS Symbol HI,d EMS, EC, ETPCU, EFPCU, ETUN, BOS YA Yf Yr Lc LBOS PR Amean, tot, Unit kWh/m2d kWh kWh kWh kWh kWh Dimensionless h/d h/d h/d h/d h/d Dimensionless Dimensionless Dimensionless

Parameters Meteorology Daily global or direct irradiation, in the plane of the array Electrical energy quantities Energy from module string Energy from combiner box Energy to PCU Energy from PCU Energy to utility grid BOS component performance BOS efficiency System performance indices Array yield Final PV system yield Refernce yield Array capture losses BOS losses Performance ratio Mean array efficiency Overall PV plant efficiency

We have measured the subsystem A3 and the whole PV plant by the multifunctional data acquisition system. Since subsystem A3 and the whole PV plant have different configuration and capacity, we designed the different combination of data collection boxes for measurement. Table 4 shows the configurations of multifunctional data acquisition system for subsystem A3 and the whole PV plant.
TABLE IV. CONFIGURATION OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR SUBSYSTEMS AND THE WHOLE PLANT Subsystem A3 3 1 1 1 The whole PV plant 20 8 1 1

Measurement device numbers Outdoor data collection box numbers Indoor data collection box numbers Power quality analyzer numbers Meteorological data collection system numbers

BOS: balance of system components

B.

Experimental Results The multifunctional data acquisition system was installed in a rooftop grid-connected building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) plant in Gejiang province in China to perform an onsite test. The BIPV plant has the capacity of 1.29 MW and it is connected to the low voltage utility grid (380V) directly. It is composed of 8 independent subsystems and these subsystems are being installed in 8 areas on the rooftop. The configuration of the whole plant and the subsystems is listed in Table 3.
TABLE III. CONFIGURATION OF SUBSYSTEMS AND THE WHOLE PLANT Subsystem A1 to A6 166.5 900 12 3 150 1 380 Subsystem B1 and B2 148 800 16 2 150 1 380 The whole PV plant 1290 1700 --20 150 8 380

The data of the subsystem A3 were collected by the multifunctional data acquisition system. The collected data were shown in the PC in real-time graphs and data lists. Some of the real time curves are shown in Fig. 4 and Fig 5 respectively. Fig.4 shows the curves of irradiance, ambient air temperature, a combiner box output current and voltage in subsystem A3 measured on March 23, 2011. Fig.5 shows the curve of irradiance, module temperature and output AC power of subsystem A3.

Contents Power capacity (kWp) Installed module numbers String numbers connected to a combiner box Combiner box numbers Inverter nominal power (kVA) Inverter numbers Grid coupling voltage (V)

The subsystems have 2 kinds, A and B. Subsystems A1 to A6 are totally same, and each subsystem has a power capacity of 166.5 kW. It consists of 900 PV modules (36 strings, 25 modules/string, 185 W/module). 3 combiner boxes were used to connect the strings. Each combiner box has 12 strings connected to its input. For grid coupling, a PCU with an inverter of nominal power of 150 kVA was used. Subsystems B1 and B2 have same configuration and each subsystem has a power capacity of 148 kW. It consists of 800 PV modules (32 strings, 25 modules/string, 185 W/module). Two combiner boxes were used to connect the strings. Each combiner box has 16 strings connected to its input. The PCU of subsystem B is same as A.

Fig. 4. Irradiance, ambient air temperature, outpur current and voltage of a combiner box in subsystem A3 measured on March 23, 2011.

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IV.

CONCLUSION

In this paper, the development of a multifunctional data acquisition system for PV plants is described. The proposed method is based on sensors, NI CompactRIO platform, SIEMENS power meters, meteorological data collection system, etc. The software of the multifunctional data acquisition system based on LabVIEW package is used to process, display and store the collected data in the PC disk. The multifunctional data acquisition system was installed in a rooftop BIPV plant to perform an on-site test. The whole PV plant and one of a subsystem were measured by it. The results confirm that it has the ability to measure the PV plants with different capacity and configuration and has functions of data collection, data processing and analysis. It meets the requirement of the performance evaluation for PV plants. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Fig. 5. Irradiance, module temperature, outpur power of subsystem A3 measurements on March 23, 2011.

The accumulated values of energy, conversion efficiency of PV array as well as system performance indices of the subsystem A3 on March 23, 2011 have been calculated by the software and are shown in Table 5.
TABLE V. VALUES OF ENERGY TO UTILITY GRID, CONVERSION EFFICIENCY OF PV ARRAY, THE PARAMETERS YR, YF AND PR OF THE SUBSYSTEM A3 ON MARCH 23, 2011. ETUN,d (kWh) 884.39 Yr (h/d) 6.12 Yf (h/d) 5.31 PR 0.87 Conversion efficiency of PV array (%) 12.51

This work was carried out with the financial support by the State Plan for High-Tech Research and Development of Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The contract number is 2009AA05Z441. REFERENCES
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[2]

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The accumulated values of energy, conversion efficiency of PV array as well as system performance indices of the whole system (including 8 subsystems) on March 28, 2011 have been calculated by the software and are shown in Table 6.
TABLE VI. VALUES OF ENERGY TO UTILITY GRID, CONVERSION EFFICIENCY OF PV ARRAY, THE PARAMETERS YR, YF AND PR OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM ON MARCH 28, 2011. Subsystems A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 B1 B2 ETUN,d (kWh) 864.01 850.66 863.99 850.57 845.78 856.66 746.89 764.23 Yr (h/d) 6.07 6.07 6.07 6.07 6.07 6.07 6.07 6.07 Yf (h/d) 5.19 5.11 5.19 5.11 5.08 5.15 5.05 5.16 PR 0.85 0.84 0.85 0.84 0.84 0.85 0.83 0.85 Conversion efficiency of PV array (%) 12.36 12.14 12.38 12.20 12.13 12.27 12.14 12.17

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

The obtained results demonstrate that the multifunctional data acquisition system has the ability to measure the PV plants with different capacity and configuration and has functions of data collection, data processing and analysis. It meets the requirement of the performance evaluation for PV plants.

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