Photovoltaic (PV) Monitoring System With Visualisation
The Photovoltaic (PV) monitoring system was designed to monitor the performance of the PV panels’ output versus the temperature on the PV panel. There were two different types of PV panels used for monitoring, namely the mono-crystalline and amorphous silicone (Thin Film). The data that was collected were the DC output and the temperature on the PV panels.
The monitoring system was designed completely with the use of Phoenix Contact products. The hardware used were ILC131ETH controller, IB IL RS485/422 PRO- PAC communication module, IB IL Temp 2 RTD-PAC temperature monitoring module, SCK-M-8S-20A Solarcheck module for measuring the DC current output from the PV panels and SCK-C-Modbus communication module which is interface with the Solarcheck to transfer the data to the controller via the RS485/422 module.
The PC WORX software used to develop the function block for the PV monitoring system. The data of the DC output and the PV panel temperature is collected as a .csv file in the ILC controller.
In order to retrieve the data for visualisation, we used the VISU+ software. For the VISU+ software to retrieve the data additional function block need to be inserted in the PC WORX program.
Shown below are pictures of Circuit Diagram needed to build using PC WORX software.
- PC WORX Circuit Diagram.
Fig. 1a
Fig. 1b
PV Monitoring Box
The VISU+ data as seen on the PC monitor via network at our Technology center.
Contributed by our guest writer, Mr. Alexander Anandharaj (Lecturer, Electrical Engineering, ITE College East)