LC curve tracer for solar PV application - not sure if this is the right forum

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Engineering_Junkie

Joined Sep 9, 2015
41
Hey everyone,

I've been reading this article published by Barbisio and I'm a little stumped. In the first few lines, he makes a good point about power mismatch measurement concerning capacitive load methods and says that LC tracers can help overcome this as you have a wider range:

"The inspection of the voltage-current characteristic i(u) of the PVG may prove to be a good diagnostic tool. For example, a vertical shift of i(u) would reveal an actual irradiance reduction, while a more complex shape modification would be the symptom of some mismatching.
However, not all mismatches reveal themselves in the 1st quadrant portions of i(u)"


Although after reading this article, I can't for the life of me see how having access to more quadrants allows you to better analyze mismatch or any other characteristics. I've also been unable to find any other articles on the LC curve tracer.


In my case, I planned on using a very popular method, where you summate the max power point of each individual panel and compare that to the collective maximum power point. This difference will correspond to the mismatch loss.

Is there any reason that I should consider this over the standard capacitive method or any reason why this would allow better analysis of power loss in PV cells compared to other curve tracers?

Thanks in advance for any help!

EDIT: Please let me know if my question seems vague or requires better clarification in anyway. I feel that typing something when I know exactly what I mean might seem very different for someone reading this.
 
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