A novel scheme for fault detection in PVmodules based on frequency response analysis

Fault detection and identification play an important role in the reliability and efficiency of any system. Large scale photovoltaic solar plants are susceptible to various types of faults which can affect total system performance. This is more so because, in a large-scale photovoltaic installation (LSPVI), solar panels are connected in series to produce photovoltaic (PV) panel string. In this work, we investigated the use of a scheme that is based on frequency mode excitation of PV strings to detect and differentiate faulty conditions from a shadow effect of a cloud. The results obtained show that the scheme can detect, differentiate and identify normal and cracked solar panel in a string.