Detection and prediction of faults in photovoltaic arrays: A review

The solar industry has rapidly grown over the past several years and photovoltaic (PV) systems in particular have significantly expanded. Detection and prediction of various faults in the PV system is a key factor to increase the efficiency, reliability, and lifetime of the PV system. The PV system element that is subject to hard working condition is the PV panels, which leads to many possible faults affecting the operation and life time of the system if not identified or predicted in timely manner. In previous studies, several techniques of fault detection were presented. These detection methods depend on sensing different faults at different locations of the PV system. Some solutions identify the faults on the DC side, while others detect faults on the AC side of the system. This paper provides a comprehensive review of common faults within the context of the DC side of the PV system (PV panel), addressing the faults type, causes, their effects on the PV performance, and possible detection and prediction. In this paper, the faults will be divided into groups based on their time characteristics as permanent, intermittent or temporary, and based on the incipient faults. The study of the incipient faults is essential to identify the faults at initial stages that may result in preventing permanent faults. This review paper includes a detailed overview of major PV panels fault detection approaches and classifies them according to their detection and prediction methods. The paper introduces the most effective techniques for faults detection in PV arrays.