Automation of risk priority number calculation of photovoltaic modules

Mathan Kumar Moorthy, Govindasamy Tamizhmani

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Statistical risk analysis on the field observed defects/failures in the photovoltaic (PV) power plants is usually carried out using a combination of several manual methods which are often laborious, time consuming and prone to human errors. In order to mitigate these issues, an automated statistical risk analysis based on FMECA (failure mode effect criticality analysis) is necessary. The automated program developed in this work using MATLAB generates about 20 different reliability risk plots in about 3-4 minutes without the need of several manual labor hours traditionally spent for these analyses. The primary focus of this project is to automatically generate Risk Priority Number (RPN) for each performance defect and safety failure based on two Excel spreadsheets: Defect rate spreadsheet; Degradation rate spreadsheet. Automation involves two major programs - one to calculate Global RPN (Sum of Performance RPN and Safety RPN) and the other to find the correlation of defects with I-V parameters' degradations. Based on the generated RPN and other reliability plots, warranty claims for material defect and degradation rate may be made by the system owners.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages3038-3043
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781509056057
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017
Event44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017 - Washington, United States
Duration: Jun 25 2017Jun 30 2017

Publication series

Name2017 IEEE 44th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017

Other

Other44th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialist Conference, PVSC 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period6/25/176/30/17

Keywords

  • Correlation
  • FMECA
  • MATLAB
  • PV power plants
  • Photovoltaic power plants
  • RPN

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials

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