Development of Reliable Low-cost Computerized Data Acquisition System for PV Performance Monitoring

Balbir Singh Mahinder Singh1, Nur Izzati bt. Idris2 & Sayed Ali Kasaei Zadeh Mahabadi3
Head of Foundation Studies Department, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia. Tel: 605-3687660, Fax: 605-3655905, Email: balbir@petronas.com.my 2 Dept. of Electrical & Electronics Eng., Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia 3 Dept. of Computer Information System, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS. Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia
1

Abstract
Solar energy is an important component in renewable energy resources, and the development of Photovoltaic (PV) system with its own low-cost computerized data acquisition system for performance monitoring is the objective of this project. The existing performance monitoring systems are yet to be optimized while being expensive. A low-cost but accurate system to monitor the PVs performance was developed with the software produced by using embedded C, Visual Basic, and Java Script together with circuitry designed as an interface of the PV and the computer. The low cost module digitizes the analogue voltage signal and the software specially created for this research will then convert the values to useful data. The system developed can remotely monitor multiple users, as real-time values via Internet. The accuracy of developed monitoring system was proven by analyzing the correlation between the developed system and a Fluke 43B Power Quality Analyzer. The findings demonstrate the viability of the module to provide a low cost yet accurate monitoring system. The system is also developed to have multi channels for load utilization and energy storing purposes. The output of this project contributes positively to the development of solar energy related system.

Keywords: -PV, performance-monitoring system,

data-acquisition, solar

2015, 10% by 2020 and 12% to 15% by 2030 [2]. At present, Solar Photovoltaic (PV) applications in Malaysia are restricted to rural electrification, street and garden lighting, and telecommunications, while solar water heaters are basically used for heating purposes in hotels, the food and beverage industry, and upper-class urban homes. Since PV systems are being more and more popularly incorporated in Malaysian households, a PV monitoring system would be important to monitor the performance of PV cells especially in terms of the voltage produced to generate electricity. The PV monitoring systems currently available is only for commercial purposeses and is relatively expensive, whereby the data acquisition itself can cost up to USD 600 [3]. In previous work [4], the proposed lower cost monitoring system uses the LabVIEW software to interface with the PC implying that users should acquire the LabVIEW license which would cost up to USD 1199 [5]. The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost monitoring system that is low cost and accurate. The designed monitoring system was developed at the cost of USD 37, the price including the developed software which can be used to remotely monitor multiple users via internet. The data will also be saved in the database for each users reference. This project will demolish one of the main disadvantages of solar energy which is that the monitoring of solar energy requires high cost. This project covers the utilization of solar energy for electricity generation and the development of a data acquisition system.

1. Introduction
In Malaysia, one of the main barriers in implementing solar energy projects is that resources have not developed rapidly due to cost in harnessing solar energy. Another interesting point is that there is also a perspective that PV is a method that has been untested [1]. Despite that, the Malaysian government has set a 6% target of using renewable energy by

2. Data Acquisition System

The aim of this project is to deliver a multichannel low-cost data acquisition system that is accurate. The overall system is shown in the block diagram below:

Software A software called RS-232 Communicator was developed using Embedded C, Visual Basic, PHP, Java Script and HTML, in order to communicate the microcontroller with the computer. The data captured by this software can be displayed as real time values on a local PC or can be viewed over the Internet by using a web-based system. A serial connection is used as an interface for the circuitry and the computer. The data can be viewed graphically at the application, and is updated every second. The figure below shows the RS232 interface while recording raw data:

System Hardware The output from the PV panel is converted to digital signal and is sent to the PIC16F877 microcontroller. To convert the input to a sensible data reading, a program was written using C language and is stored in the microcontroller. The voltage reading can be seen on the LCD, and for recording and verification purposes the data will be stored continuously to the computer and the database created in the internet. The interface used for the handshaking process of the computer and the microcontroller is the MAX232, a dual driver/receiver that includes a capacitive voltage generator to supply TIA/EIA-232-F voltage levels from a single 5-V supply. The circuitry for this circuit is designed with a software called Eagle (Version 5.1.0) and is implemented on a PCB board for commercializing purposes. The figure below shows the connections of the PCB board generated by this software:

Figure 3: RS232 Interface After the circuit has been setup, the user shall run the RS232 Communicator file. The connect button is clicked to connect the circuit with the application. Once the connection is established, the retrieved data will be displayed in the RS232 Communicator window. The retrieved data is updated every one second. For monitoring purposes, the programme saves the data automatically after 15 minutes interval recording. The stored data is saved in files with the extension .csv and can be manipulated to display data graphically as desired by users. Monitoring via the Internet To connect to the internet, the user has to click the connect button in the RS-232 application, open their internet browser and type in the address of the website provided to view the data graphically. The program connects to server by Internet socket through Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), which allows live communication. TCP has the ability of error checking and thus it increases the communication reliability [6]. Hence real-time data can be viewed instantaneously through the web.

Figure 2: The connections of the PCB board

system has also been tested and will be discussed in the Results section.

3. Results and Accuracy Test

The system was tested and the results were compared with a device called Fluke 43B Power Quality Analyzer. The output of the PV cell is monitored by one of Fluke 43Bs function called Sag & Swells. Sag and swells monitors rapid voltage flunctuations. [5]. The test was conducted on March 19th 2009. Data was recorded for 1 hour and 8 hours using both the developed monitoring system and the Fluke 43B for comparison. The graphs below shows the data recorded during both time intervals: Figure 5: Graphical view of data seen through the website Once users are registered with the Webprovider, an account will be given. Users can log in and monitor their system provided the Internet service is available through this account. The main concept of how the developed monitoring system functions is shown in Figure 6 below. The web site is developed such that it is automatically refreshed and data is updated every five seconds. Any change in the solar radiation received at the panel surface will be recorded after each refresh. The graphical view of the data as seen in the website is shown in the figure above: 1 hour recording

Mar 19 2009

Figure 7: Fluke 43B results for 1hour recording

Mar 19 2009

Figure 6: Working concept of monitoring system The accuracy of the developed monitoring

Figure 8: Developed monitoring systems results for 1-hour recording

8 hour Recording
Mar 19 2009

strength and direction of a linear relationship between two random variables. This relationship, which is expressed by what is known as the correlation coefficient, is represented by a value within the range of -1.00 to +1.00. A correlation coefficient of +1.00 indicates that two variables move in the same direction at all times. If variable A gains in value, we would expect variable B to gain as well. The data recorded for both systems are plotted into a graph and the correlation coefficients and error are calculated. 30 samples were taken from the result of four days data recorded. The samples taken for this analysis are from different time intervals. The results of the analysis and the graph plotted are shown below.

1h

4h

Validation
De ve lope d DAS (V )

Figure 9: Fluke 43B results for 8hour recording

30 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 Fluke 43B (V) Series1 Linear (Series1) 20 25 30

Mar 19 2009

Figure 11: Graph plotted for Fluke 43B and developed DAS samples Table 1: Calculated correlation coefficient and error for 4 days analysis Figure 10: Developed monitoring systems results for 8-hour recording The graphs indicate the voltage flunctuations of the solar panel. A significant voltage drop can be seen when clouds pass by affecting the amount of sunlight received by the solar panel. The evidence of two voltage drops can be seen in Figure 7 and 8. To determine the accuracy of the developed system, a mathematical analysis was done to verify the accuracy of the results by calculating the correlation coefficient and the mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of both the results between the monitoring system and Fluke 43B. MAPE is commonly used because it produces a measure of relative overall fit. The absolute values of all the percentage errors are summed up and the average is computed. The correlation coefficient indicates the Day 1 2 3 4 Correlation Coefficient 0.997853 0.978371 0.983923 0.972246 Error (%) 0.3027 0.4211 0.3872 0.4465

The average correlation coefficient is 0.981098 with an average error of 0.389375%. The error shown is less than 1%, thus we can conclude that the developed monitoring system is very accurate. The reliability of the monitoring system was also tested. The author left the system running for 1 week and the system worked without any major problems.

5. Discussion
The data recorded using the developed system is accurate, as tested against the data collected by

using a reliable measuring instrument. To accommodate the system, users should have the PC equipped with Window XP 2000 operating system and above. Before running the application, users are required to have .Net 2.0 frameworks.

7. References
[1]. Valdis Wish,12 November 2007 <http://knowledge.allianz.com/en/globalissues /energy_co2/energy_profiles/solar.html?from =special&special=energy> Date Retrieved: 23/08/2008 The Greenhouse Effect <http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamen tals/7h.html> Date Retrieved: 23/08/2008 <www3.fronius.com/worldwide/usa. solarelectronics/downloads/ pricelist_usa_eng _022007.pdf> Date retrieve: 9/9/08 N. Ferero, J. Hernandez, G. Gordillo. Development of a monitoring system for a PV solar plant. Renewable Energy, 2006; 47;2329-2336 LabVIEW- The software that Powers Virtual Intrumentation, 2008. <http://www.ni.com/labview> Behrouz A. Forouzan, Sophia Chung Fegan. Data Communications and Networking. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Professional; 2004 D. Yogi Goswami, Frank Kreith and Jan F. Kreider 1999, Principles of Solar Engineering (2nd Edition), United States, Taylor and Francis.

6. Recommendation
[2]. The system should be developed to be a standalone monitoring system, where the monitoring system and the computer should not be connected by cable or wires. Wireless devices like Bluetooth and RFID should be considered to overcome this problem, taking note that the objective of this system is to be low cost yet accurate. More parameters should also be captured by the developed data acquisition system so that we can analyze the solar panel in more detail. The parameters that should be taken in consideration are the current, power and solar radiation received by the solar panel. With more parameters to study from, users shall be able to position and utilize their solar panel for optimum performance.

[3].

[4].

[5].

[6].

7. Conclusion
[7]. The projects main objective is to develop a reliable low-cost computerized data acquisition system for PV performance monitoring. The steps taken to complete this project was determining the optimum angles and orientation for PV panel installation, estimating the load demand, and the amount of each PV components needed as well as optimizing the angles for the system sizing and finally developing the monitoring system. The purpose of developing a monitoring system while the commercial tools are available is to reduce the cost, since the price of US $600 (equivalent to approximately RM2000) is not an affordable price for users in a developing country. The estimated cost of the system developed is approximately USD $60 (RM200) or even cheaper. Besides that, this project is implementing a limitless free and clean power source, the sun. Solar power generation is a critical choice in developing and promoting affordable and possible power source. The indications are that solar energy is the most promising of the unconventional energy sources [7]. In conclusion, a low-cost yet reliable performance monitoring system will definitely contribute a positive impact to the people and to the environment. Thus all objectives are achieved,