Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Monitoring System for Small-Scale Photovoltaic Plants

  • SOLAR POWER PLANTS
  • Published:
Applied Solar Energy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract–

This study presents the results of research aimed at developing and creating a monitoring system for solar photovoltaic power plants; this system would allow measuring values of key output parameters (generated power, current and voltage, photovoltaic module, and ambient temperatures). The presented monitoring system consists of a measuring device, a computer, a shunt, and thermal sensors. The measuring device was made on the basis of an STM32F415RGT6 microcontroller. It is shown that an operational amplifier with a programmable gain can be used in which the gain can be changed via the SPI interface to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 16, or 32. When high and low voltages are measured, this gain is programmatically switched to lower and, vice versa, higher levels. This makes it possible to measure the voltage smoothly in the entire range to high precision and without manual switching. The DS18B20 temperature sensors are used to measure the temperature from –55 to 125ºC. Several programs based on C++Builder are developed to display graphs and the MySQL database and save the measurement results on a computer. Every 15 min the software collects data from the measuring device, displays them in the form of tables, graphs, and also records and stores the data in a MySQL database for further processing and analysis.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. Osborne, M., Global solar PV installations reach 109 GW in 2018 - BNEF. https://www.pv-tech.org/ news/global-solar-pv-installations-reach-109gw-in-2018-bnef. Accessed Jan. 16, 2019.

  2. Henze, V., Clean Energy Investment Trends, 2018. https://about.bnef.com/blog/clean-energy-investment-exceeded-300-billion-2018/. Accessed Jan 16, 2019.

  3. Int. Renewable Energy Agency, Renewable Energy Capacity Statistics 2019, Int. Renewable Energy Agency, 2019. www.irena.org.

  4. Matchanov, N.A., Mirzabaev, A.M., Umarov, B.R., et al., Experimental studies of the characteristics of monocrystal and polycrystal silicon photovoltaic modules under environmental conditions of Tashkent, Appl. Sol. Energy, 2017, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 23–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Marion, B., Influence of atmospheric variations on photovoltaic performance and modeling their effects for days with clear skies, in Proceedings of the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, Austin, TX, June2012, p. 38.

  6. Schwingshackl, C., Petitta, M., and Wagner, J.A., Wind effect on PV module temperature: Analysis of different techniques for an accurate estimation, Energy Proc., 2013, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 77–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lay Ekuakille, A., Vergallo, P., Arnesano, A., et al., Effects of environmental conditions on photovoltaic module measurements, in Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Sensing Technology,2013, pp. 944–947.

  8. Ye, J.-Y., Ding, K., Reindl, T., and Aberle, A.G., Outdoor PV module performance under fluctuating irradiance conditions in tropical climates, Energy Proc., 2013, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 238–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dash, P.K. and Gupta, N.C., Effect of temperature on power output from different commercially available photovoltaic modules, Eng. Res. Appl., 2015, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 148–151. www.ijera.com.

  10. Strebkov, D.S., Kharchenko, V.V., and Chebekov, V.V., Measuring complex for monitoring the operation of renewable energy equipment, RF Patent no. 103624U1, 2010.

  11. Tarbell, B., Rive, P., Coper, Ch.I., Poklemba, R., and Ho, N.D., Renewable energy system monitor, US Patent no. 7925552B2, 2011.

  12. Takehara, T. and Takada, Sh., Network topology for monitoring and controlling a solar panel array, US Patent no. 8264195B2, 2012.

  13. Bliss, A.M., Smith, A., and Gottschalg, R., Spectral response measurements of perovskite solar cells, IEEE J. Photovolt., 2018, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 220–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Alers, G.B., Zhou, J., and Deline, C., Degradation of individual cells in a module measured with differential IV analysis, Prog. Photovolt.: Res. Appl., 2011, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 977–982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. King, D.L., Hansen, B.R., and Kratochvil, J.A., Dark current-voltage measurements on photovoltaic modules as a diagnostic or manufacturing tool, in Proceeding of the 26th IEEE PVSC,2010, pp. 85–88.

  16. STMicroelectronics Company, STM32F415xx Microcontroller, DocID022063 Rev. 8, 2016. http://www.st.com.

  17. Wikipedia, RS-232. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232. Accessed March 29, 2019.

  18. Kondrat'ev, V.Yu., Voltmeter and Ammeter on a Microcontroller. http://www.kondratev-v.ru/izmereniya/ voltmetr-i-ampermetr-na-pic16f676.html. Accessed April 16, 2016.

  19. Microchip Company, MCP6S21/2/6/8 Programmable Gain Amplifier, 2012. http://www.microchip.com.

  20. Datasheet, 1-wire Digital Thermometer. https://datasheets.maximintegrated.com/en/ds/DS18S20.pdf.

  21. Wikipedia, 1-wire. https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Wire. Accessed November 28, 2018.

  22. Matchanov, N.A., Butunbaev, B.N., and Mirzaev, A.A., Program for monitoring the output voltage and temperature of PV modules, DGU 05120, Uzbekistan, 2018.

  23. Shaari, S., Sopian, K., Amin, N., and Kassim, M.N., The temperature dependence coefficients of amorphous silicon and crystalline photovoltaic modules using Malaysian field test investigation, Am. J. Appl. Sci., 2009, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 586–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Davis, K.O., Multi-pronged analysis of degradation rates of photovoltaic modules and arrays deployed in Florida, Prog. Photovolt.: Res. Appl., 2013, vol. 21, pp. 702–712. https://doi.org/10.1002/pip.2154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Bashir, M.A., Ali, H.M., and Khalil, S., Comparison of performance measurements of photovoltaic modules during winter months in Taxila, Pakistan, Therm. Sci., 2014, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 915–923. http://thermalscience.vinca.rs/2017/2/14.

    Google Scholar 

  26. IEC FDIS 61215-2:2015, Terrestrial photovoltaic (PV) modules. Design qualification and type approval. Part 2: Test procedures.

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank all our colleagues who worked closely with us on project № ОТ-Атех-2018-517.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Ministry of Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan, project ОТ-Атех-2018-517, Integration of Photovoltaic Systems into a Power Supply Grid.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Solar Energy Institute, 100084, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    N. A. Matchanov, B. N. Butunbayev, D. Sh. Saidov & K. A. Bobojonov

  2. Urganch branch of the Tashkent University of Information Technologies, 220100, Urganch, Uzbekistan

    D. Sh. Saidov & K. A. Bobojonov

Authors
  1. N. A. Matchanov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. B. N. Butunbayev
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. D. Sh. Saidov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K. A. Bobojonov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to B. N. Butunbayev.

Additional information

Translated by S. Kuznetsov

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Matchanov, N.A., Butunbayev, B.N., Saidov, D.S. et al. Monitoring System for Small-Scale Photovoltaic Plants. Appl. Sol. Energy 56, 131–136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X20020085

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0003701X20020085

Keywords:

Search

Navigation