Cloud-Based Fault Monitoring of Solar Panels Using LabVIEW

Abstract

In UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), it was proposed that India will achieve the target of renewable energy capacity of 500 GW through non-fossil fuels by 2030. In the year 2022, India has installed solar energy capacity of about 100 GW. The solar panels were utilized from the year 2011 for electric power generation. However, there is probability of a shortage of power from installed solar capacity if any faults present in the installed panels. The projected shortage of power influences the progress on solar energy targets proposed in COP26. Commonly, the power generation by the solar panels is affected by aging, deposition of dust, faults or crack defects, irradiance, climate change, orientation, and so on. In this proposed work, the crack defects and dust deposition in the solar panel are detected and monitored in Cloud platform. The irradiance, LDR output, orientation of the solar panel are given as inputs to the application. The database is created for storing the output power generated by the solar panel over a period of time for various irradiances and orientations. The data from the solar panel are acquired and sent to the system. The output power is compared with database for the given irradiation and orientation. If the deviation in output power is greater than 50% for the given irradiation during daytime with the validation of LDR output, then the presence of dust deposition is diagnosed. Then, the wiper with soft brush will be energized to clean the panel. The power spectral density (PSD) is calculated by applying Fast Fourier Transform for the vibration signal received from the solar panel. The presence of crack in the solar panel is detected by comparing the power spectral density of cracked solar panel with defect-free solar panel, and it is monitored online through Cloud platform. The spectrum of the cracked panels and crack-free panels can be accessed by the user in the display console. The application software is created using LabVIEW and it is simulated for various input conditions. It displays the fault status of the system through LED and pop-up message to the user. Web apps are created in Google Firebase for monitoring analytics. This system is tested with solar panels of 110 W oriented at 10° and exposed to the irradiation of 800 W/m². The fault in the solar panels is monitored in Google Firebase which aids the concern authorities to take necessary corrective actions based on nature of faults. The proposed work demonstrates that continuous monitoring of faults in the solar panels will alert the utility authorities about potential shortages of power generation which is the barrier to achieve our targets proposed in COP26.