Written by Mark Lloyd, Senior Product Manager- Surge Protection & Power Supplies and Fraser Cowie, Product Manager- Interface
Whether you own your home, run a business, or have some land that can be developed, you can make use of this space to install solar panels, which will help reduce your carbon footprint and you can benefit from lower energy bills.
Phoenix Contact have a plethora of solutions which can be utilised in solar applications helping you to install, control and protect your solar application.
Here are just a few to whet your appetite:
Surge Protection for PV systems
One of the most common causes of damage to PV systems, both Solar farm or rooftop PV is damage resulting from thunderstorms. If unprotected, lightning surges can easily destroy expensive system parts such as PV modules, inverters and monitoring systems and can cause significant financial loss and valuable downtime until replacement is possible. Phoenix Contact have the solution for protecting the AC side downstream of the inverter or the DC side upstream. The VAL-MS range of Surge Protection Devices includes Type 1 or Type 2 SPDs rated up to 1500DC all conforming to EN 50539-11, featuring an integrated latch and optional remote contact.
Two new power supplies are now available specifically designed for generating 24DC control power directly from the PV field voltage. Available in either 1.5A or 8A output @ 24DC, the TRIO power supplies for PV systems can be connected to voltages of between 500 and 1650DC on the input, making them suitable for all current PV systems. Featuring tool free installation, a remote contact, and adjustable output voltage. Flexible grounding can be positive, negative, or floating concepts.
String Combiner Boxes (SCB) for PV Systems
Phoenix Contact have a huge range of SCBs for rooftop or ground mounted solar farm applications. There are pre-made boxes and also a tailor-made service where you just tell us what you need, and we build it for you. All necessary field connectors are included, and we make use of push in technology wherever possible to save you time and space when it comes to your installation. We also do PV sets with an integrated fireman’s switch to enable external disconnection of the PV panels.
String Current Monitoring with SolarCheck
The SolarCheck current monitoring relay comes with either 4 or 8 channels and is powered via a separate Modbus communication module, typically housed in the control room, meaning there is no need for 24v dc within your string combiner box. Each channel is rated up to 20 amps and has reverse current detection built in.
All models also have a digital input and the ability, via an analogue interface, to connect further sensors (voltage measuring, temperature, or irradiation).
Other solutions within the Phoenix Contact PV portfolio are Data Loggers, Communication Network Components,Weather Sensors, Energy Meters and Field Connection Devices, such as Sunclix. If you want to know more about these solutions please click here.
You can also download the brochure: Brochure: Solar power – Solutions for photovoltaics, or you can get in touch with Fraser Cowie on fcowie@phoenixcontact.com
