Real-Time Anticipation and Prevention of Hot Spots by Monitoring the Dynamic Conductance of Photovoltaic Panels

Hot spotting in photovoltaic (PV) panels causes physical damage, power loss, reduced lifetime reliability, and increased manufacturing costs. The problem arises routinely defect-free standard panels; any string of cells that receives uneven illumination can develop hot spots, the temperature rise often exceeds 100 $^\circ$ C conventional monocrystalline-silicon despite on-panel bypass diodes, mitigation technique. Bypass diodes limit dissipated a cell subjected to reverse bias, but they do not prevent spots from forming. An alternative control method has been suggested by Kernahan (Kernahan, 2015) senses real time dynamic conductance notation="LaTeX">$|$ d I /d xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">V adjusts its operating current so partially shaded is never forced into bias. We start exploring behavior individual illuminated PV when externally observe suffer significant heating structural with desoldering cell-tabbing discolorations on front surface. Then we test confirm Kernahan’s proposed panel-level solution anticipates prevents time. Simulations our experimental observations provide insights both operation panel performance.