A Low-Cost Monitoring and Fault Detection System for Stand-Alone Photovoltaic Systems Using IoT Technique

In this paper we developed a prototype device for smart monitoring and fault detection of a stand-alone photovoltaic system (SAPVS), using an Internet of Things approach. An electronic sensing board has been designed and a web-based application has been developed in order to monitor the data (current and voltages delivered by the SAPVS, as well as air temperature and solar irradiance) in real time. The prototype has been tested experimentally at the Renewable Energy Laboratory of Jijel University, Algeria. The experimental results show the capability of the prototype to monitor data, detecting and signalling out possible faults based on the output PV power, and inform users via website about the state of the system. The faults that have been investigated are: open circuit, shading effect and dust accumulation on PV modules. The prototype is cost-effective and very easy to be implemented without any additional circuits and efforts.