Characterization of DC series arc faults in PV systems based on current low frequency spectral analysis

This work presents an experimental study focused on the characterization of series arc faults in direct current (DC) photovoltaic (PV) systems. The aim of the study is to identify some relevant characteristics of arcing current, which can be obtained by means of low frequency spectral analysis of current signal. On field tests have been carried out on a real PV system, in accordance with some tests requirements of UL 1699B Standard for protection devices against PV DC arc faults. Arcing and non-arcing current signals are acquired and compared and the behavior of a set of indicators proposed by authors is analyzed. Different measurement equipment have been used, in order to study the impact of both measurement transducers and data acquisition systems on proposed indicators effectiveness. Presented results show that the considered indicators are suitable for detecting the arc presence even with commercial devices normally used for smart metering applications

An interface protection system based on an embedded metrology system platform

The aim of this work is to present an interface protection system (IPS) for Distributed Generators (DG) and Energy Storage Systems (ESS). The new prototype of IPS guarantees standard protection requirements, in terms of both voltage and frequency measurement accuracies and trip times. Moreover, it has the additional functionalities of implementing a communication link between the Distribution System Operator (DSO) and the DG and ESS Inverter. The new IPS is based on a smart meter platform with an integrated power line communication modem. Moreover, it has also an integrated metrology section. Experimental tests will show how this last feature allows a significant reduction of the measurement data access time allowing an improvement of trip time accuracy

Li-ion battery modeling and state of charge estimation method including the hysteresis effect

In this paper, a new approach to modeling the hysteresis phenomenon of the open circuit voltage (OCV) of lithium-ion batteries and estimating the battery state of charge (SoC) is presented. A characterization procedure is proposed to identify the battery model parameters, in particular, those related to the hysteresis phenomenon and the transition between charging and discharging conditions. A linearization method is used to obtain a suitable trade-off between the model accuracy and a low computational cost, in order to allow the implementation of SoC estimation on common hardware platforms. The proposed characterization procedure and the model effectiveness for SoC estimation are experimentally verified using a real grid-connected storage system. A mixed algorithm is adopted for SoC estimation, which takes into account both the traditional Coulomb counting method and the developed model. The experimental comparison with the traditional approach and the obtained results show the feasibility of the proposed approach for accurate SoC estimation, even in the presence of low-accuracy measurement transducers

CZT-Based Harmonic Analysis in Smart Grid Using Low-Cost Electronic Measurement Boards

This paper validates the use of a harmonic analysis algorithm on a microcontroller to perform measurements of non-stationary signals in the context of smart grids. The increasing presence of electronic devices such as inverters of distributed generators (DG), power converters of charging stations for electric vehicles, etc. can drain non-stationary currents during their operation. A classical fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm may not have sufficient spectral resolution for the evaluation of harmonics and inter-harmonics. Thus, in this paper, the implementation of a chirp-Z transform (CZT) algorithm is suggested, which has a spectral resolution independent from the observation window. The CZT is implemented on a low-cost commercial microcontroller, and the absolute error is evaluated with respect to the same algorithm implemented in the LabVIEW environment. The results of the tests show that the CZT implementation on a low-cost microcontroller allows for accurate measurement results, demonstrating the feasibility of reliable harmonic analysis measurements even in non-stationary conditions on smart grids

On some decision problems for trace codings

AbstractThe problem we mainly deal with is the existence of a coding between two trace monoids. We introduce a new notion of coding: the strong coding (independent letters are mapped into independent traces). We prove that the existence of a strong coding between two trace monoids is decidable when the first monoid belongs to one of two large families of trace monoids that we specify. Our decision conditions are based on graph-theoretical properties of the dependence relations. A related question of Ochmański (1988) is completely solved for strong codings