Date of Award

Fall 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Program/Concentration

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Committee Director

Sylvain Marsillac

Committee Member

Shirshak Dhali

Committee Member

Oscar Gonzalez

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.E55 C567 2013

Abstract

Renewable energy resources are rapidly becoming extremely important as the world's energy consumption continues to rise. The most popular of these resources is solar energy and more specifically photovoltaic energy. Currently, solar modules on the market are still not highly efficient. In order to increase the productivity of solar energy systems, larger fixed-panel photovoltaic systems or tracking photovoltaic systems are utilized. The major disadvantage of larger photovoltaic systems is the increased space requirements. Therefore, tracking photovoltaic systems are the best alternative to achieve higher solar energy yields.

To date, the only method of monitoring tracking photovoltaic systems is with the aid of existing inverters. However, inverters account for approximately 50% of photovoltaic system faults making this technique highly unreliable. This method is also very broad in the level of monitoring, limiting the data to the combined power of all photovoltaic strings wired to the inverter. Therefore, small-scale faults within the system will go unnoticed and significantly reduce energy yield over time.

This thesis research proposes a solution to the poor fault detection monitoring systems available for photovoltaic tracker applications. The improved monitoring system developed is capable of monitoring tracking photovoltaic systems down to the individual string current level. The system is controlled with a Programmable Logic Controller and monitors a maximum of sixteen photovoltaic strings. The system is also able to monitor the combined string voltage of the sixteen strings to aid in accurate power calculations. The unique feature of the developed monitoring system is the integration of the combiner system. This further utilizes the existing components of the systems and will greatly increase photovoltaic tracker productivity for many years to come.

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DOI

10.25777/8y85-qd85

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