Method and photovoltaic inverter for determining the insulation resistance of a photovoltaic system to ground

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11614475-B2
Application number	US-202117762214-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2021
Priority date	Mar 11, 2020
Publication date	Mar 28, 2023
Grant date	Mar 28, 2023

Abstract

A method and a photovoltaic inverter for determining the insulation resistance of a photovoltaic system relative to ground are provided. The voltage required for the measurement can be provided by an intermediate circuit in the form of an intermediate circuit voltage and a measuring device is designed to actuate an input short-circuit switch for short-circuiting a DC input with an AC disconnector open, as a result of which the intermediate circuit voltage can be applied to the DC input in the reverse direction. The measuring device is configured to record measured voltages with a switch of a voltage divider open and closed, and to determine the insulation resistance from the measured values of the two measured voltages recorded with the switch of the voltage divider open and closed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining the insulation resistance (R iso ) of a photovoltaic system ( 1 ) relative to ground (PE), having a photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) with at least one DC input ( 3 ) for connecting to at least one photovoltaic module ( 4 ) or a string ( 4 ′) of a plurality of photovoltaic modules ( 4 ), a DC/DC converter ( 5 ) with an input diode (D Boost ), an intermediate circuit ( 6 ), a DC/AC converter ( 7 ), an AC disconnector ( 8 ), an AC output ( 9 ) for connection to a supply network ( 10 ) and/or consumer ( 11 ), a control device ( 12 ), and with a measuring device ( 13 ) with a voltage divider ( 14 ) containing at least two resistors (R 1 , R 2 ), a switch (S iso ) for connecting a resistor (R 1 ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) and a voltage measuring unit ( 15 ) for recording measured voltages (U Mi ) on at least one resistor (R 2 ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) with the switch (Siso) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed, and for determining the insulation resistance (R iso ) from the temporal waveform of the recorded measured voltages (U Mi ), the method comprising the steps of:
providing the voltage required for the measurement by the intermediate circuit ( 6 ) in the form of the intermediate circuit voltage (U ZK ),
recording the measured voltages (U Mi ) with the AC disconnector ( 8 ) open while the DC input ( 3 ) is short-circuited with an input short-circuit switch (S Boost ), which applies the intermediate circuit voltage (U ZK ) to the DC input ( 3 ) the reverse direction,
recording each of the measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed, and
determining the insulation resistance (R iso ) from the measured values of the two recorded measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of closing the AC disconnector ( 8 ) only if a defined minimum insulation resistance (R iso_min ) is exceeded.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of measuring the insulation resistance (R iso ) by recording the measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) during a specified time interval (Δt), in particular 1 s to 10 s.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of measuring the voltage (U DC ) at the DC input ( 3 ) of the photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ), and short circuiting the DC input ( 3 ) with the input short-circuit switch (S Boost ) if the voltage (U DC ) is below a preset limit value (U DC_limit ).

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining the system capacitance (C PV ) from the temporal waveform of the measured voltage (U M2 ) after the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) is closed.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of connecting an energy storage device ( 18 ) by closing a battery disconnector ( 17 ), recording the measured voltages (U UM1 , U M2 ) and using the measured voltages (U UM1 , U M2 ) to determine the insulation resistance (R iso ) and, if applicable, the system capacitance (C PV ).

7. The method according to claim 6 , further comprising the steps of determining each of the exceeding of the defined minimum insulation resistance (R iso_min ), the absolute insulation resistance (R iso ), the falling below of the defined maximum system capacitance (C PV_max ), and/or the absolute system capacitance (C PV ) with and without the energy storage device ( 18 ) connected.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of displaying and/or storing the exceeding of the defined minimum insulation resistance (R iso_min ), the absolute insulation resistance (R iso ), the falling below of the defined maximum system capacitance (C PV_max ), and/or the absolute system capacitance (C PV ).

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of determining the exceeding of the defined minimum insulation resistance (R iso_min ), the absolute insulation resistance (R iso ), the falling below of the defined maximum system capacitance (C PV_max ), and or the absolute system capacitance (C PV ) within a measuring time (t m ) of a maximum of 10 s.

10. A photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) for determining the insulation resistance (R iso ) of a photovoltaic system ( 1 ) relative to ground (PE), with at least one DC input ( 3 ) for connecting to at least one photovoltaic module ( 4 ) or a string ( 4 ′) of a plurality of photovoltaic modules ( 4 ), a DC/DC converter ( 5 ) with an input diode (D Boost ), an intermediate circuit ( 6 ), a DC/AC converter ( 7 ), an AC disconnector ( 8 ), an AC output ( 9 ) for connection to a supply network ( 10 ) and/or consumer ( 11 ), a control device ( 12 ), and with a measuring device ( 13 ) with a voltage divider ( 14 ) containing at least two resistors (R 1 , R 2 ), a switch (S iso ) for connecting a resistor (R 1 ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ), and a voltage measuring unit ( 15 ) for recording measured voltages (U Mi ) on at least one resistor (R 2 ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed while the intermediate circuit voltage (U ZK ) is applied to the DC input ( 3 ) and for determining the insulation resistance (R iso ) from the recorded measured voltages (U Mi ), wherein the voltage required for the measurement can be provided by the intermediate circuit ( 6 ) in the form of the intermediate circuit voltage (U ZK ), and the measuring device ( 13 ) is designed to actuate an input short-circuit switch (S Boost ) for short-circuiting the DC input ( 3 ) with the AC disconnector ( 8 ) open, as a result of which the intermediate circuit voltage (U ZK ) can be applied to the DC input ( 3 ) in the reverse direction, and the measuring device ( 13 ) is configured to record measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed, and to determine the insulation resistance (R iso ) from the measured values of the two measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) recorded with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed.

11. The photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the measuring device ( 13 ) is connected to the AC disconnector ( 8 ) or the control device ( 12 ), so that the AC disconnector ( 8 ) can only be closed if a defined minimum insulation resistance (R iso_min ) is exceeded.

12. The photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the measuring device ( 13 ) is designed to measure the insulation resistance (R iso ) by the fact that the measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ) can be recorded with the switch (S iso ) of the voltage divider ( 14 ) open and closed for a specified time interval (Δt), in particular 1 s to 10 s.

13. The photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) according to claim 10 , wherein at least one battery terminal ( 16 ) with at least one battery disconnector ( 17 ) and connected to the intermediate circuit ( 6 ) is provided for connection to at least one energy storage device ( 18 ), wherein the battery disconnector ( 17 ) is connected to the measuring device ( 13 ) or the control device ( 12 ) so that the battery disconnector ( 17 ) can be actuated during the recording of the measured voltages (U M1 , U M2 ).

14. The photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the input short-circuit switch (S Boost ) is formed by an existing boost switch (S Boost ) of the DC/DC converter ( 5 ) implemented as a booster.

15. The photovoltaic inverter ( 2 ) according to claim 10 , wherein the measuring device ( 1

Assignees

• Fronius Int Gmbh

Inventors

• Fischereder Franz
• Muehlberger Andreas
• Pirchenfellner Juergen
• Luger Andreas

Classifications

• H02J2101/24

  Photovoltaics · CPC title

• H02J7/663

  using battery or load disconnect circuits (H02J9/002 takes precedence) · CPC title

• Y02E10/56

  Power conversion systems, e.g. maximum power point trackers · CPC title

• G01R15/04 Primary

  Voltage dividers · CPC title

• G01R27/025 Primary

  Measuring very high resistances, e.g. isolation resistances, i.e. megohm-meters · CPC title