Real-Time Anticipation and Prevention of Hot Spots by Monitoring the Dynamic Conductance of Photovoltaic Panels

<div>Hot spotting in photovoltaic (PV) panels causes physical damage, power loss, reduced lifetime reliability, and increased manufacturing costs. The problem arises routinely in defect-free standard panels; any string of cells that receives uneven illumination can develop hot spots, and the temperature rise often exceeds 100°C in conventional silicon panels despite on-panel bypass diodes, the standard mitigation technique. Bypass diodes limit the power dissipated in a cell subjected to reverse bias, but they do not prevent hot spots from forming. An alternative control method has been suggested by Kernahan [1] that senses in real time the dynamic conductance |dI/dV| of a string of cells and adjusts its operating current so that a partially shaded cell is never forced into reverse bias. We start by exploring the behavior of individual illuminated PV cells when externally forced into reverse bias. We observe that cells can suffer significant heating and structural damage, with desoldering of cell-tabbing and discolorations on the front cell surface. Then we test PV panels and confirm Kernahan’s proposed panel-level solution that anticipates and prevents hot spots in real time. Simulations of cells and panels confirm our experimental observations and provide insights into both the operation of Kernahan’s method and panel performance.</div>

Real-Time Anticipation and Prevention of Hot Spots by Monitoring the Dynamic Conductance of Photovoltaic Panels

<div>Hot spotting in photovoltaic (PV) panels causes physical damage, power loss, reduced lifetime reliability, and increased manufacturing costs. The problem arises routinely in defect-free standard panels; any string of cells that receives uneven illumination can develop hot spots, and the temperature rise often exceeds 100°C in conventional silicon panels despite on-panel bypass diodes, the standard mitigation technique. Bypass diodes limit the power dissipated in a cell subjected to reverse bias, but they do not prevent hot spots from forming. An alternative control method has been suggested by Kernahan [1] that senses in real time the dynamic conductance |dI/dV| of a string of cells and adjusts its operating current so that a partially shaded cell is never forced into reverse bias. We start by exploring the behavior of individual illuminated PV cells when externally forced into reverse bias. We observe that cells can suffer significant heating and structural damage, with desoldering of cell-tabbing and discolorations on the front cell surface. Then we test PV panels and confirm Kernahan’s proposed panel-level solution that anticipates and prevents hot spots in real time. Simulations of cells and panels confirm our experimental observations and provide insights into both the operation of Kernahan’s method and panel performance.</div>

A Generalized Dynamic Conductance Model for High Intensity Discharge Lamps and its Prospective Application to Design Dimmable Electronic Ballast

A generalized model for high intensity discharge (HID) lamp is developed based on the Francis-Damelincourt dynamic conductance model of electric discharge by replacing the model constants A, B, C, D with four experimentally determined coefficient functions of rated lamp power and root mean square supply voltage. Experimental validation of this model is done, which shows a maximum deviation of about 5 %. Moreover, sensitivity analysis for the model coefficients is also performed, results of which conform to the physical behaviour of high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lamps. This model is capable to simulate electrical characteristics of HPS and MH lamps of wide range of commercially available rated power (70–400) W fed by a wide range of supply voltage (180–250) V, 50 Hz. As a prospective application, the model is applied to design dimmable low frequency square wave electronic ballast for HID lamps. A design algorithm is proposed for this purpose. Performance analysis of the designed ballast is conducted in Matlab-Simulink environment, which shows fairly good performance of the circuit in terms of dimming accuracy (maximum deviation 2.64 %), lamp power factor (≥ 0.993), and lamp current crest factor (equal to 1.0). The model can also be utilized for designing electronic ballasts of other topologies.

Negative Differential Resistance in Bidirectional Threshold Switching of Ag/HfOx/Pt Device

In this work, the dependence of negative differential resistance (NDR) on compliance current (Icc) was investigated based on Ag/HfOx/Pt resistive memory device. Tunable conversion from bidirectional threshold switching (TS) to memory switching (MS) were achieved through enhancing Icc. NDR can be observed in TS as Icc is below 800μA but vanishes in MS. The switching voltages and readout windows of TS evolve with Icc. Furthermore, the dynamic conductance (dI/dV) as a function of time in NDR can be well illustrated by capacitor-like relaxation equation, and the relaxation time constant is significantly dependent on Icc. These phenomena were elucidated from viewpoint of nanofilament evolution controlled by Icc as well as nanocapacitor effects originated from nanofilament gap. The Icc-dependent NDR as well as conversion between TS and MS on Ag/HfOx/Pt resistive memory device indicates its potential application as a multifunctional electronic device.