This application claim the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 107134904, filed on Oct. 3, 2018. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
The technical field generally relates to solar photovoltaic system.
In a solar power generation array, failure of a single module will cause the overall power generation to drop, or even fail to work properly and supply power. Most of solar energy farms have a serial monitoring system, however, when an abnormality occurs in a battery array, it is not easy to find out which module is abnormal. So that the user can hardly perform the real-time monitoring in a quick way, and immediately find the location of the faulty module.
When a module monitoring and a module integration need to be certified, the cost is relatively increased because of extremely high reliability requirements. Therefore, how to monitor solar modules in a fast, simple and low-cost manner is an important issue.
This disclosure provides a solar photovoltaic system which utilizes the characteristics of the Zener diode to determine the degree of failure of the solar cell array.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a solar photovoltaic system includes a solar cell array, a bypass diode and a light-emitting module. The solar cell array has a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and includes a plurality of solar cells connected in series. The bypass diode is connected to the solar cell array in parallel. The light-emitting module is connected to the solar cell array in parallel and includes a Zener diode and a light-emitting diode. The Zener diode has an anode and a cathode. The cathode and the anode are electrically connected to the positive terminal and the negative terminal of the solar cell array, respectively. The light-emitting diode is connected to the Zener diode in series. The light-emitting module has a threshold voltage which is a breakdown voltage of the Zener diode and related to a voltage of a maximum power of the solar cell array under a standard illuminance.
According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a solar photovoltaic system includes a solar photovoltaic module and a light-emitting module. The solar photovoltaic module has a positive terminal a negative terminal, and includes a plurality of solar cell arrays and a plurality of bypass diodes. Each bypass diode is connected to a corresponding solar cell array of the solar cell arrays in parallel. The light-emitting module is connected to the solar photovoltaic module in parallel. The light-emitting module includes a Zener diode and a light-emitting diode. The Zener diode has an anode and a cathode, the cathode is electrically connected to the positive terminal of the solar photovoltaic module, and the anode is electrically connected to the negative terminal of the solar photovoltaic module. The light-emitting diode is electrically connected to the Zener diode is series. The light-emitting module has a threshold voltage which is a breakdown voltage of the Zener diode and is less than a voltage of a maximum power of the solar cell arrays under a test condition.
According to an embodiment of this disclosure, a solar photovoltaic system includes a plurality of solar cell arrays, a plurality of bypass diodes and a plurality of light-emitting modules. Each solar cell array has a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and has a plurality of solar cells connected to each other in series. Each bypass diode is connected to a corresponding solar cell array of the solar cell arrays in parallel. Each light-emitting module is connected to a corresponding solar cell array of the solar cell arrays in parallel. Each light-emitting module comprises a Zener diode and a light-emitting diode. The Zener diode has an anode and a cathode. The cathode of the Zener diode is electrically connected to the positive terminal of the corresponding solar cell array while the anode of the Zener diode is electrically connected to the negative terminal of the corresponding solar cell array. The light-emitting diode is connected to the Zener diode in series. The light-emitting module has a threshold voltage which is a breakdown voltage of the Zener diode and is related to a voltage of a maximum power of the solar cell array under a standard illuminance.
In summary, this disclosure provides a solar photovoltaic system in which a voltage of a maximum power of the solar cell array under a standard illuminance is analyzed to select an appropriate Zener diode. The Zener diode combined with a light-emitting diode is configured in a solar cell module. By utilizing the characteristics of the Zener diode, the light-emitting diode illuminates by selectively turning on the circuit according to the voltage provided by the solar cell module, thereby achieving failure detection of the solar cell module.
The foregoing will become better understood from a careful reading of a detailed description provided herein below with appropriate reference to the accompanying drawings
Below, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings so as to be easily realized by a person having ordinary knowledge in the art. The inventive concept may be embodied in various forms without being limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Descriptions of well-known parts are omitted for clarity, and like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.
Referring to
The light-emitting module has a threshold voltage. The solar photovoltaic system 1 selectively turns on the system loop according to the operating voltage Vout and the threshold voltage to make the light-emitting diode 143 illuminate, thereby determining whether the solar cell C1 is abnormal or not. More specifically, the threshold voltage could be seen as a breakdown voltage of the Zener diode 141. The solar photovoltaic system 1 of this disclosure utilizes the characteristics of the breakdown voltage of the Zener diode 141 to perform an internal failure detection of the solar cell module.
An exemplary embodiment is given below for further illustration, assuming that the breakdown voltage of the Zener diode 141 is 6 volts. While the solar cells C1 inside the solar module are all in a normal state, since the output operating voltage Vout is large enough, a reverse bias voltage reaching the value of the breakdown voltage can be provided to turn on the Zener diode 141, thereby making the light-emitting diode 143 illuminate. Conversely, when the solar cell C1 inside the solar module is in an abnormal state (for example, object blocking or hot spot effect), the output operating voltage Vout becomes smaller. Therefore, the reverse bias voltage provided fails to reach the value of the breakdown voltage so that the Zener diode 141 cannot be turned on. At the moment, the light-emitting diode 143 fails to illuminate.
The breakdown voltage is related to a voltage of a maximum power of the solar cell array under a test condition. Specifically, the breakdown voltage is less than a maximum power point voltage under the test condition. For example, a relation of 0.25 Vmpp<Vb<Vmpp can be obtained, where the breakdown voltage is denoted as Vb, and the maximum power point voltage under the test condition is denoted as Vmpp. In detail, the breakdown voltage of the Zener diode 141 is selected mainly by measuring the maximum power point voltage of different illuminance levels for the solar cell array 10a under the test condition (for example, a standard test condition). A regression equation is found by using a least square method to perform the linear regression analysis for different maximum power points. Then, the reverse-transmission voltage specification (that is, the breakdown voltage) of the Zener diode 141 is defined by using this regression equation and taking a voltage difference into account, where the voltage difference is caused by the temperature difference between the actual operation of the solar module and the standard test condition of the solar module. In practice, the standard test condition (STC) of the ground photovoltaic module may refers to the atmospheric quality AM=1.5; the illuminance=1000 W/m2; and the temperature=25° C.
For example, please refer to
However, the normal operating temperature of the solar module will not keep at 25° C. When the module temperature is higher, the voltage will be lower. Therefore, the voltage difference caused by the temperature needs to be taken into consideration. This voltage difference is equal to V×Coev×(NOCT−STC), where V represents the module open circuit voltage, Coev represents the voltage temperature coefficient, NOCT represents the actual operating temperature, and STC represents the normal operating temperature. With the above-mentioned equation, the voltage difference can be obtained, which is 36×0.00416×(45−25)=2.99 (V). The final Zener diode specification (that is, 32.3V) can be defined by subtracting the voltage difference (that is, 2.99V) from the preliminary Zener diode specification (that is, 35.3V). In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Please refer to
In the embodiment of
According to another embodiment, when the solar cell C1 inside the solar module is severely abnormal, the reverse bias voltage provided is less than 6 volts. At the moment, all of the Zener diodes 241a, 241b, and 241c are not turned on, and thus the corresponding light-emitting diodes 243a, 243b, and 243c would not illuminate. In other words, the user could determine the degree of failure of the solar module according to the display of the light-emitting diode. In practice, the light-emitting diodes 243a, 243b, and 243c can emit light of different colors, such as green, yellow, red, and the like. The display of the different colors of the light-emitting diodes allows the user to quickly realize the current degree of failure of the solar module.
In practical applications, for large-scale solar photovoltaic systems (such as large-scale solar farms), the status of the light-emitting diodes in the solar photovoltaic system can be photographed using a drone to facilitate rapid detection. For small-scale solar photovoltaic systems (such as small rooftop solar farms), users can directly observe the light-emitting diodes, and then determine the system module's condition without reading related information of the system module. In an embodiment, each of the light-emitting modules 24a, 24b, and 24c has current-limiting resistors 245a, 245b, and 245c connected respectively in series with the light-emitting diodes 243a, 243b, and 243c for respectively limiting the currents of the light-emitting diodes 243a, 243b, and 243c to prevent the light-emitting diodes from being damaged due to excessive current.
Please refer to
The positive terminal (+) and the negative terminal (−) of the solar module 30 are electrically connected to the cathode and the anode of the Zener diode 341 in the light-emitting module 34, respectively. Each of these solar cell arrays 30a, 30b, and 30c is formed by a plurality of solar cells C3 to provide an operating voltage Vout. Similar to the embodiment of
Please refer to
The plurality of light-emitting modules described above individually have threshold voltages representing the breakdown voltages of the corresponding Zener diodes 441a, 441b, and 441c, respectively. The breakdown voltages of these Zener diodes 441a, 441b, and 441c are all different. By utilizing the component characteristics of the specific breakdown voltage of the different specifications of the Zener diode, the overall failure state of the solar module can be effectively determined. When the solar cells among the solar cell arrays 40a, 40b, and 40c are abnormal, the supplied operating voltage Vout is lowered, resulting in insufficient reverse bias voltage supplied to the Zener diodes 441a, 441b, and 441c. Under the situation, only some of the Zener diodes are turned on or none of the Zener diodes is turned on. The degree of failure of the solar module can be easily detected by the states of the light-emitting diodes.
In the embodiments described above, a plurality of solar cell arrays share a set of light-emitting module. However, in order to more clearly present the failure state and degree of each solar cell array in the solar module, each of the solar cell arrays can be individually configured with a light-emitting module. For example, please refer to
In the embodiment of
For example, assuming that some of the solar cells in the solar cell array 50c are abnormal, the dropping of the output voltage V3 provided by the solar cell array 50c results in the reverse bias voltage supplied to the Zener diode 541c to fail to reach the corresponding breakdown voltage. While the other solar cell arrays 50a and 50b are all operating normally, the each of the output voltages V1 and V2 individually provided can supply the Zener diode 541c to reach the reverse bias voltage of the breakdown voltage. At the moment, both of the Zener diodes 541a and 541b are turned on to make the light-emitting diodes 543a and 543b illuminate, while the Zener diode 541c is not turned on and the light-emitting diode 543c fails to illuminate. Therefore, the user can quickly realize which solar cell arrays are abnormal, and perform subsequent corresponding maintenance.
Please refer to
Each solar cell array is connected in parallel with a corresponding bypass diode and a light-emitting module. The solar cell arrays 60a, 60b, and 60c have their positive terminals (+) and a negative terminals (−), respectively, and respectively provide output voltages V1, V2, and V3. The positive terminal and the negative terminal of the solar cell array 60a are electrically connected to the cathodes and the anodes of the Zener diodes 641a, 641b, and 641c, respectively. The positive terminal and the negative terminal of the solar cell array 60b are electrically connected to the cathodes and the anodes of the Zener diodes 651a, 651b, and 651c, respectively. The positive terminal and the negative terminal of the solar cell array 60a are electrically connected to the cathodes and the anodes of the Zener diodes 661a, 661b, and 661c, respectively. Similar to the foregoing embodiments, the light-emitting modules 64a-64c, 65a-65c, and 66a-66c in the solar photovoltaic system 6 of
Comparing to the embodiment of
In summary, in the solar photovoltaic system provided by the present disclosure, the voltage of the maximum power of the solar cell array under a standard illuminance is analyzed to select a Zener diode with an appropriate specification. The Zener diode together with the light-emitting diodes are used in the solar module. The element characteristics of the Zener diode are used to selectively turn on the system loop according to the voltage provided by the solar module to make the light-emitting diodes illuminate, thereby achieving failure detection of the solar module.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the disclosed embodiments. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplars only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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107134904 | Oct 2018 | TW | national |