TY - JOUR
T1 - Novel hot spot mitigation technique to enhance photovoltaic solar panels output power performance
AU - Dhimish, Mahmoud
AU - Holmes, Violeta
AU - Mather, Peter
AU - Sibley, Martin
PY - 2018/6/1
Y1 - 2018/6/1
N2 - Hot spotting is a reliability problem in photovoltaic (PV) panels where a mismatched cell heats up significantly and degrades PV panel output power performance. High PV cell temperature due to hot spotting can damage the cell encapsulate and lead to second breakdown, where both cause permanent damage to the PV panel. Therefore, the design and development of a hot spot mitigation technique is proposed using a simple, low-cost and reliable hot spot activation technique. The hot spots in the examined PV system is detected using FLIR i5 thermal imaging camera. Several experiments have been studied during various environmental conditions, where the PV module P-V curve was evaluated in each observed test to analyze the output power performance before and after the activation of the proposed hot spot mitigation technique. One PV module affected by hot spot was tested. The output power increased by approximate to 3.6 W after the activation of the hot spot mitigation technique. Additional test has been carried out while connecting the hot spot PV module in series with two other PV panels. The results indicate that there is an increase of 3.57 W in the output power after activating the hot spot mitigation technique.
AB - Hot spotting is a reliability problem in photovoltaic (PV) panels where a mismatched cell heats up significantly and degrades PV panel output power performance. High PV cell temperature due to hot spotting can damage the cell encapsulate and lead to second breakdown, where both cause permanent damage to the PV panel. Therefore, the design and development of a hot spot mitigation technique is proposed using a simple, low-cost and reliable hot spot activation technique. The hot spots in the examined PV system is detected using FLIR i5 thermal imaging camera. Several experiments have been studied during various environmental conditions, where the PV module P-V curve was evaluated in each observed test to analyze the output power performance before and after the activation of the proposed hot spot mitigation technique. One PV module affected by hot spot was tested. The output power increased by approximate to 3.6 W after the activation of the hot spot mitigation technique. Additional test has been carried out while connecting the hot spot PV module in series with two other PV panels. The results indicate that there is an increase of 3.57 W in the output power after activating the hot spot mitigation technique.
KW - Hot spot protection
KW - Photovoltaic (PV) hot spotting analysis
KW - Solar cells
KW - Thermal imaging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042176237&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2018.02.019
DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2018.02.019
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85042176237
VL - 179
SP - 72
EP - 79
JO - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
JF - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
SN - 0927-0248
ER -
