Method and Device for ARC Fault Detection for Photovoltaic Inverter and Photovoltaic Inverter Using the Same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016282398-A1
Application number	US-201514983704-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 30, 2015
Priority date	Mar 25, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and a device for arc fault detection for a photovoltaic inverter, and a photovoltaic inverter using the same. The method includes: acquiring current signals at a DC side of the photovoltaic inverter; obtaining frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal according to the current signal; judging whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc; and if the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc, shutting down the photovoltaic inverter, acquiring respectively a first input voltage when the photovoltaic inverter is shut down and a second input voltage after a predetermined time period after the shutdown, calculating a voltage drop from the first input voltage to the second input voltage, and judging whether an arc fault occurs according to the voltage drop.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for arc fault detection for a photovoltaic inverter, comprising:
acquiring current signals at a DC side of the photovoltaic inverter; obtaining frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal according to the current signal; judging whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc; and if the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc,
shutting down the photovoltaic inverter,
acquiring respectively a first input voltage when the photovoltaic inverter is shut down and a second input voltage after a predetermined time period after the shutdown,
calculating a voltage drop from the first input voltage to the second input voltage, and
judging whether an arc fault occurs according to the voltage drop.

2 . The method for arc fault detection according to claim 1 , further comprising:
if no arc fault is detected, then re-starting the photovoltaic inverter normally, and if an arc fault is detected, then sending information about the arc fault.

3 . The method for arc fault detection according to claim 1 , wherein obtaining the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal according to the current signal comprises:
converting the current signal into a digital signal, and performing a Fast Fourier Transform on the digital signal, to obtain the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal.

4 . The method for arc fault detection according to claim 1 , wherein judging whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc comprises:
selecting frequency spectral characteristics of a specific frequency band from the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal, judging whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the specific frequency band exceed a predetermined power threshold, compared with a basic frequency spectral characteristic of the current signal, and if it exceeds the power threshold, judging that the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc.

5 . The method for arc fault detection according to claim 4 , wherein the specific frequency band excludes switching frequencies of the photovoltaic inverter and frequencies which are multiplication of the switching frequencies.

6 . The method for arc fault detection according to claim 1 , wherein judging whether an arc fault occurs according to the voltage drop comprises:
if the voltage drop exceeds a voltage threshold, judging that an arc fault occurs.

7 . A device for arc fault detection for a photovoltaic inverter, comprising:
a current-signal acquiring unit, configured to acquire current signals at a DC side of the photovoltaic inverter; an input-voltage acquiring unit, configured to acquire an input voltage of the photovoltaic inverter; and a processing unit, coupled respectively to the current-signal acquiring unit and the input-voltage acquiring unit, configured to obtain frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal according to the current signal acquired by the current-signal acquiring unit, judge whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc, and if the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc, shut down the photovoltaic inverter, calculate a voltage drop from a first input voltage when the photovoltaic inverter is shut down to a second input voltage after a predetermined time period after the shutdown acquired by the input-voltage acquiring unit, and judge whether an arc fault occurs according to the voltage drop.

8 . The device for arc fault detection according to claim 7 , wherein
if no arc fault is detected, the processing unit is further configured to normally start the photovoltaic inverter, and if an arc fault is detected, the processing unit is further configured to send information about the arc fault.

9 . The device for arc fault detection according to claim 7 , wherein to obtain frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal according to the current signal comprises:
convert the current signal into a digital signal, and perform a Fast Fourier Transform on the digital signal, to obtain the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal.

10 . The device for arc fault detection according to claim 7 , wherein to judge whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc comprises:
select frequency spectral characteristics of a specific frequency band from the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal, judge whether the frequency spectral characteristics of the specific frequency band exceed a predetermined power threshold, compared with a basic frequency spectral characteristic of the current signal, and if it exceeds the power threshold, judge that the frequency spectral characteristics of the current signal have a frequency spectral characteristic of an arc.

11 . The device for arc fault detection according to claim 10 , wherein the specific frequency band excludes switching frequencies of the photovoltaic inverter and frequencies which are multiplication of the switching frequencies.

12 . The device for arc fault detection according to claim 7 , wherein to judge whether an arc fault occurs according to the voltage drop comprises:
if the voltage drop exceeds a voltage threshold, judge that an arc fault occurs.

13 . A photovoltaic inverter, comprising:
the device for arc fault detection according to claim 7 ; a current detection circuit, coupled to the device for arc fault detection, configured to detect a current signal at a DC side of the photovoltaic inverter, and output the current signal to the device for arc fault detection; and a voltage detection circuit, coupled to the device for arc fault detection, configured to detect an input voltage at the DC side of the photovoltaic inverter, and output the input voltage to the device for arc fault detection.

14 . The photovoltaic inverter according to claim 13 , wherein
the current detection circuit comprises: a current transformer and a band-pass filter, or a current sampling resistor and a band-pass filter, and/or the voltage detection circuit comprises: a differential amplifier circuit.

15 . The photovoltaic inverter according to claim 13 , wherein the device for arc fault detection is a microcontroller.

Assignees

• Delta Electronics Shanghai Co

Inventors

• Zhu Xuancai
• XU Feidong

Classifications

• G01R31/025 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• H02S50/10 Primary

  Testing of PV devices, e.g. of PV modules or single PV cells (testing of semiconductor devices during manufacturing {H10P74/00}) · CPC title

• G01R31/42

  AC power supplies · CPC title

• H02S50/00

  Monitoring or testing of PV systems, e.g. load balancing or fault identification · CPC title

• G01R31/1227

  of components, parts or materials (G01R31/1209, G01R31/1218, G01R31/18 take precedence; circuits therefor G01R31/14; testing vessels of electrodes G01R31/16) · CPC title