Fire hazard and other safety concerns of photovoltaic systems

Neelkanth G. Dhere; Narendra S. Shiradkar

doi:10.1117/1.JPE.2.022006

14 December 2012 Fire hazard and other safety concerns of photovoltaic systems

Neelkanth G. Dhere, Narendra S. Shiradkar

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Photonics for Energy, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 022006 (December 2012). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.2.022006

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) modules are usually considered safe and reliable. But in case of grid-connected PV systems that are becoming popular, the issue of fire safety of PV modules is becoming increasingly important due to the employed high voltages of 600 to 1000 V. The two main factors, i.e., open circuiting of the dc circuit and of the bypass diodes and ground faults that are responsible for the fire in the PV systems, have been discussed in detail along with numerous real life examples. Recommendations are provided for preventing the fire hazards such as designing the PV array mounting system to minimize the chimney effect, having proper bypass and blocking diodes, and interestingly, having an ungrounded PV system.

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Neelkanth G. Dhere and Narendra S. Shiradkar "Fire hazard and other safety concerns of photovoltaic systems," Journal of Photonics for Energy 2(1), 022006 (14 December 2012). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.2.022006

Published: 14 December 2012

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