| dc.description.abstract | Photovoltaic (PV) system fire hazards pose a serious threat to public safety and finances. Arc faults are one of the main causes of electrical fires, shock hazards, and failures in PV systems, since it involves the release of concentrated radiant energy at the point of arcing in a small time period resulting in temperature exceeding 35,000 F. Thus, arc fault detection is crucial for reliable and safe system operation and is a prerequisite for high penetration of PV. To develop effective arc fault detectors, a thorough understanding of the electrical characteristics of PV arcs is required, which is possible only by obtaining large samples of voltage and current waveforms. This paper describes a computer-controlled mechatronics testbed to facilitate scientifically repeatable arc generation conditions and waveform recording. Various combinations of electrode material and geometry, electrical voltage and current, and electrode gap separation profile can be studied as these factors are hypothesized to affect the electrical characteristics of the arc. The collected arc voltage and current waveforms are analyzed using the Fast Fourier Transform and Short-time Fourier Transform as initial investigations into the suitability of the two methods in arc fault detection. | en |
