Electrical Faults and Their Impact On Performance of Solar PV Array
Electrical Faults and Their Impact On Performance of Solar PV Array
Volume 6, Issue 10, October – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Electrical Faults and Their Impact on Performance of
Solar PV Array
Abhishek Kumar Gupta1*, Aryan Garg2, Ravi Saxena3
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, IFTM University, Moradabad, U.P. India
2
R. A. N. Public School, Bhurarani, Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, India
3
Department of Electrical Engineering, GBPUA&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India
Abstract:- The demand of energy is increasing the total electricity generated by all sources, the amount of
exponentially in large amount since last two decades. So, electricity generated by solar photovoltaic array is
to meet the demand of energy, a large amount of increasing day by day. Hence, the study of impact of
alternate source of energy is required. Among all the electrical faults on the solar PV array performance is
non-conventional energy resources, the photovoltaic necessary.
energy is pollution free source of energy and widely
adopted. Therefore, the stability and reliability is the A 4×4 PV array of 1596 W is modelled and shown in
large aspect for solar photovoltaic systems (SPV). The figure 1. The model consists of 16 photovoltaic modules and
unusual situations like two node connections of different maximum output power of each module is 99.75 W. All the
voltages, line to ground connection, etc leads to PV modules are connected with their bypass diodes and the
reduction in electricity generation. The electrical blocking diodes are also connected in series with every rows
characteristics of photovoltaic array like current-voltage of the array. The full specification of a single PV module is
and power-voltage curves are non-linear due to which it given in table 1.
is some more difficult to detect and classify the faults on
photovoltaic array. In this research work various faults The temporary fault and permanent fault are the two
are created on a 4×4 PV array of 1596 W in major classification of faults occur in the solar photovoltaic
MATLAB/Simulink environment. electricity generation system [3]. The faults under the
category of permanent fault are line-line (LL) fault, line-
Keywords:- Electrical Faults, Solar Photovoltaic, PV Array, ground fault (LG), open-circuit fault and degradation faults.
Partial Shading, Line-line Faults. The shading of photovoltaic module is the part of temporary
faults [4]–[7]. These faults are sufficiently able to reduce the
I.INTRODUCTION efficiency of the entire system. The four types of faults are
shown in the figure 2. Line 1 is unintentionally connected
The unavailability of fossil fuels and the high demand with line 2 shown in figure 2 (a). Fa1 and Fa2 are two
of electricity is the major cause of high demand of non- different condition of line-line faults [6]–[8]. Fb1 and Fb2
conventional energy like wind and solar energy. The solar are the two situations of line-ground faults shown in figure 2
PV system is widely adopted renewable source of energy (b) [9], [10]. The degradation of PV module as Fc1 and Fc2
because of plenty availability of solar irradiation. The are shown in figure 2 (c) [11]. The temporary fault is shown
generated electricity from solar PV array is supplied to grid in figure 2 (d). Third and fourth row of PV array is partially
with the help of electronic converters [1], [2]. Since, among shaded to evaluate the performance of the system [12], [13].
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Volume 6, Issue 10, October – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Figure 1: Solar photovoltaic generation model in MATLAB/Simulink
Table 1: Nexpower Technology NH-100 UT_4A solar panel electrical specification at STC
Parameter Value
Maximum output power 99.75 W
Voltage at MPP (Vmp) 37.5 V
Current at MPP (Imp) 2.66 A
Open-circuit voltage (Voc) 50.5 V
Short-circuit current (Isc) 3.3 A
Temperature coefficient of (Voc) -0.306 %/ oC
Temperature coefficient of (Isc) 0.09 %/ oC
Shunt resistance (Rsh) 77.04 ohm
Series resistance (Rse) 2.74 ohm
(a) (b)
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Volume 6, Issue 10, October – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
(c) (d)
Figure 2: (a) Line-line fault, (b) Line ground fault, (c) Degradation fault, (d) Partial shading
II.ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS FAULTS IN
PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAY
(a). Due to LL fault, the changes in current and voltage are
In this section various faults have been created in 0.73 A and 13.56 V respectively. Hence, the overall
MATLAB/Simulink to analyse the impacts of electrical reduction in power is 244 W. In second case of LL fault
faults on photovoltaic array. (Fa2), the mismatch of PV module is increased by one i.e.
now the LL fault occurs with the two module mismatch. So,
2.1. LL FAULT (Fa1 & Fa2) the drop in current and voltage are now 8.73 A and 26.8 V
In the first case of LL fault (Fa1), fault is created by respectively shown in figure 3 (b).
line 1 and line 2 with the mismatch of one module. Power,
current and voltage waveforms are plotted shown in figure 3
Figure 3 (a): LL fault (Fa1) Figure 3 (b): LL fault (Fa2)
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Volume 6, Issue 10, October – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165
2.2. LG FAULT (Fb1 & Fb2) 2.3. PARTIAL SHADING (P1 & P2)
Line-ground fault is introduced in figure 2 (b). In the Two different patterns of partial shading is created to
first case of LG fault (Fb1), last module of the first column is study the shading effects. The shading pattern of both cases
connected with the ground. The drop reported in current and is given in table 2 and table 3. In the first case there are three
voltage is 0.7 A and 15 V respectively. This drop leads to different irradiation levels, so there will be three different
reduction in output power by 254 W as shown in figure 4 power peaks in their power-voltage curve. Similarly, in
(a). Another case of LG fault (Fb2) is shown in figure 2 (b). second case there will be four different power peaks in
In this case, two different line of PV array is shorted and power-voltage curve due to four different irradiation level.
connected to ground. Due to impact of this fault case the In the first case the drop reported in current, voltage and
output current and voltage are decreased by 0.52 A and power is 1.67 A, 23.53 V and 462 W respectively and in the
25.42 V respectively. The overall power loss in this case is second case the drop in the respective parameters are 4.15
about 336 W as shown in figure 4 (b). A, 58.29 V and 595 W as shown in figure 5 (a) and figure 5
(b).
Figure 4 (a): Curve during LG fault (Fb1) Figure 4 (b): Curve during LG fault (Fb2)
Table 2: Partial shading pattern for case 1 Table 3: Partial shading pattern for case 2
1000 W/m2 1000 W/m2 1000 W/m2 1000 W/m2 900 W/m2 900 W/m2 900 W/m2 900 W/m2
2 2 2
1000 W/m 1000 W/m 1000 W/m 1000 W/m2 700 W/m 2
700 W/m 2
700 W/m 2
700 W/m2
2 2 2
800 W/m 800 W/m 800 W/m 800 W/m2 500 W/m 2
500 W/m 2
500 W/m 2
500 W/m2
2 2 2
700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m2 300 W/m 2
300 W/m 2
300 W/m 2
300 W/m2
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Volume 6, Issue 10, October – 2021 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
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Figure 5 (a): Curve during partial shading Case 1 Figure 5 (b): Curve during partial shading Case 2
Figure 6 (a): Curve during uniform shading Case 1 Figure 6 (b): Curve during uniform shading Case 2
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2.4. UNIFORM SHADING voltage and power are 2.41 A, 33.9 V and 641 W
Uniform shading also causes the power loss in the PV respectively as shown in figure 6 (a). For the second case
generation system. Here, two cases of uniform shading are the uniform irradiation level is 400 W/m2. In this case the
created to understand the shading behaviour of such cases. drop in current, voltage and power are 5.66 A, 79.38 V and
In the first case, the irradiation level for all module is 700 1244 W respectively as shown in figure 6 (b).
W/m2. Due to the reduced irradiation the drop in current,
Table 5: Uniform shading pattern for case 2
Table 4: Uniform shading pattern for case 1 400 W/m2 400 W/m2 400 W/m2 400 W/m2
700 W/m2 700 W/m2 700 W/m2 700 W/m2 400 W/m 2
400 W/m 2
400 W/m2 400 W/m2
2 2 2
700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m2 400 W/m 2
400 W/m 2
400 W/m2 400 W/m2
2 2 2
700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m2 400 W/m 2
400 W/m 2
400 W/m2 400 W/m2
2 2 2
700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m 700 W/m2
III.CONCLUSION permanent faults, therefore these faults should be removed
from the array for reliable operation of the system. The
Four types of electrical faults have been discussed. partial shading and uniform shading conditions are the
The summary of the faults effect is given in table 6. Results temporary faults but they also affects the system
given in section 2 is exported from MATLAB/Simulink. performance. The changes in basic electrical parameters due
The research work discussed in this paper conclude that the to faults are given in the table 6. Further, to distinguish the
faults in solar photovoltaic array affects the electrical output type of faults and to clear the faults various researches are in
parameters. The line-line and line-ground faults are progress.
Table 6: Summary of faults and their impacts on electrical parameters
Fault Types Pre-Fault Post-Fault Changes due to faults
P (W) I (A) V (V) P (W) I (A) V (V) ΔP (W) ΔI (A) ΔV (V)
Fa1 1352 9.91 136.44 244 0.73 13.56
LL fault
Fa2 1076 8.73 123.20 520 1.91 26.80
Fb1 1342 9.94 135.00 254 0.70 15.00
LG fault
Fb2 1260 10.12 124.58 336 0.52 25.42
1596 10.64 150
Case 1 1134 8.97 126.47 462 1.67 23.53
Partial Shading
Case 2 1001 6.49 91.71 595 4.15 58.29
Case 1 955 8.23 116.10 641 2.41 33.90
Uniform Shading
Case 2 352 4.98 70.62 1244 5.66 79.38
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