Open AccessSeries arc fault detection in photovoltaic system by small‐signal impedance and noise monitoring
Author(s) -
Georgijevic Nikola L.,
Stojic Djordje,
Radakovic Zoran
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international transactions on electrical energy systems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.428
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2050-7038
DOI - 10.1002/2050-7038.12234
Subject(s) - signal (programming language) , photovoltaic system , fault (geology) , electric power system , waveform , noise (video) , electrical impedance , engineering , electronic engineering , power (physics) , computer science , electrical engineering , voltage , physics , artificial intelligence , seismology , geology , image (mathematics) , programming language , quantum mechanics
Summary This paper presents a new method for the fast detection of series electrical arc (SEA) fault in a photovoltaic (PV) system, which relies on a power converter output switching waveforms as the excitation signal used to identify PV small‐signal impedance at switching frequency. In addition to the small‐signal impedance value, the proposed method extracts the high frequency noise power value caused by SEA from the PV current and uses it to indicate the presence of SEA. Both theoretical analysis and measurements performed on a commercial PV system show that SEA causes a step‐like increase in small‐signal reactance. SEA was detected in less than 10 ms during tests of the proposed algorithm. Moreover, various tests showed that there was no false tripping during transients in normal operation. Finally, the proposed algorithm was implemented and tested with a commercially available digital signal processor.