PV-Engineering PVPM 1000CX User manual

PVPM 1000CX
Peak Power Measuring Device
and I-V-Curve Tracer
for PV Modules and Generators
Users Manual

Page
Release © 11 / 013
PV-Engineering GmbH
Hugo-Schultz-Str. 14
DE-58640 Iserlohn
Germany
Tel. [phone]
Fax. [phone]
e-Mail [e-mail]
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Page 3
Contents
1 SOFTWARE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT..................................................................................................5
2 INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................................6
3 NORMAL USE ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
4 SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.........................................................................................................................................7
5 WARNINGS.................................................................................................................................................................... 8
6 OPERATION OF THE PVPM......................................................................................................................................
6.1 OPERATING AND CONNECTION ELEMENTS ...........................................................................................................................9
6.2 GENERAL HINTS............................................................................................................................................................9
6.3 CONNECTING PERIPHERAL DEVICES.................................................................................................................................10
6.4 POWER SUPPLY...........................................................................................................................................................11
6.5 CONNECTING A PC......................................................................................................................................................11
6.6 CONNECTING THE SOLAR GENERATOR.............................................................................................................................11
6.7 CONNECTING THE COMBINATION SENSOR.........................................................................................................................11
6. SWITCHING-ON............................................................................................................................................................12
6.9 BUTTONS................................................................................................................................................................... 13
6.10 MEASUREMENT.........................................................................................................................................................13
6.11 MESSAGES...............................................................................................................................................................16
7 EXTERNAL SECURITY SWITCH 1000V / 32A......................................................................................................17
8 IMPACTS ON THE ACCURACY OF THE MEASUREMENT..............................................................................18
INSTALLATION OF THE TRANSFER SOFTWARE PVPM.DISP......................................................................20
10 INSTALLING THE USB DEVICE DRIVER...........................................................................................................21
10.1 INSTALLATION WITH „NEW HARDWARE FOUND“...............................................................................................................21
10.2 UNINSTALLING THE CDM DRIVER................................................................................................................................24
11 OPERATION OF THE SOFTWARE PVPM.DISP.................................................................................................25
11.1 MAIN MENU FILE.....................................................................................................................................................25
11.2 EDIT....................................................................................................................................................................... 27
11.3 EXTRA.....................................................................................................................................................................2
11.4 DIAGRAM................................................................................................................................................................. 31
11.5 RESULTS / LISTS.......................................................................................................................................................32
11.6 HELP (NOT YET IMPLEMENTED)....................................................................................................................................32
12 HARDWARE INFORMATION................................................................................................................................33
12.1 MEASURING UNIT......................................................................................................................................................33
12.2 CALCULATION UNIT................................................................................................................................................... 33
12.3 DISPLAY..................................................................................................................................................................34
12.4 OPERATION...............................................................................................................................................................34
12.5 POWER SUPPLY.........................................................................................................................................................34
12.6 DIMENSIONS ............................................................................................................................................................34
12.7 OPERATION CONDITIONS.............................................................................................................................................34
12. OPTIONALLY AVAILABLE ACCESSORY..............................................................................................................................34
13 LIST OF SYMBOLS.................................................................................................................................................. 35
14 REASONS FOR DECREASED POWER AND YIELD OF PV GENERATORS.................................................36
15 I-U DIAGRAM: EXPLANATION............................................................................................................................37
16 SAMPLE CURVES.................................................................................................................................................... 42
17 GLOSSARY................................................................................................................................................................45
17.1 AZIMUTH (SS) AND ELEVATION (Α)................................................................................................................................45
17.2 SLOPE.....................................................................................................................................................................45
17.3 DC........................................................................................................................................................................ 45
17.4 DEGRADATION CHARACTERISTIC....................................................................................................................................45
17.5 DIRECT RADIATION / DIFFUSE RADIATION........................................................................................................................45
17.6 GENERATOR.............................................................................................................................................................45
17.7 GLOBAL/TOTAL RADIATION..........................................................................................................................................46
17. SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENT OF SOLAR CELLS......................................................................................................................46
17.9 MISMATCHING..........................................................................................................................................................46
17.10 MPP.................................................................................................................................................................... 46
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

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17.11 TRACKING..............................................................................................................................................................46
17.12 PEAK POWER..........................................................................................................................................................46
17.13 PERFORMANCE RATIO...............................................................................................................................................46
17.14 PHOX-SENSOR.........................................................................................................................................................46
17.15 INTERNAL SERIES RESISTANCE.....................................................................................................................................47
17.16 SOLAR CONSTANT...................................................................................................................................................47
17.17 SOLAR IRRADIATION / INSOLATION...............................................................................................................................47
17.1 STANDARD TEST CONDITIONS....................................................................................................................................47
17.19 CURRENT-VOLTAGE-CHARACTERISTIC.........................................................................................................................47
17.20 EFFICIENCY............................................................................................................................................................4
17.21 FOUR-WIRE MEASUREMENT (KELVIN MEASUREMENT).....................................................................................................4
18 APPENDIX A..............................................................................................................................................................4
1 .1 INDICATOR LIGHTS IN THE FRONT PANEL ........................................................................................................................49
1 .2 SPEAKER SIGNALS:.....................................................................................................................................................49
1 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY.....................................................................................................................50
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Software End User License Agreement Page 5
1 Software End User License Agreement
LICENSE GRANT
The accompanying software and associated documentation ("Software")
are proprietary products owned by PV-Engineering GmbH and protected
under international copyright law. You may not remove any product
identification, copyright notices, or other notices or proprietary restrictions
from the Software.
Use of the Software is defined to be use and distribution consistent with the
following conditions.
You or any person under your authority or control may:
 Make copies of the Software for backup purposes provided said copies
contains all of the original Software's proprietary notices;
 Use the Software only on computers owned, leased, or otherwise
controlled by you and only on one computer at a time;
 Use the Software on a network, provided that a licensed copy of the
Software has been acquired for each person permitted to access the
Software through the network;
 Distribute or redistribute data files generated by the Software;
You or any person under your authority or control may not:
 Copy or use the Software except as authorized under this License Grant;
 Use on two or more computers at a time without separate authorization
and the payment of additional license fees;
 Distribute or redistribute any part of the Software or Files except as
described above;
 Permit other individuals to distribute or redistribute any part of the
Software or Files;
 Modify, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, or create
derivative works based on the Software or Files;
 Copy the Software or Files, rent, lease, grant a security interest in, or
otherwise transfer rights to the Software or Files, or remove any proprietary
notices or labels on the Software or Files.
EXPORT
You agree to comply fully with all laws and regulations to assure that
neither the Software, nor any direct product thereof, is exported, directly or
indirectly, in violation of law.
TERMINATION
This license granted hereunder will terminate automatically if you fail to
comply with the limitations described herein.
LIMITED WARRANTY
PV-Engineering GmbH makes no warranties, including warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Any remedy under this
warranty is limited to return of the software and the user manual to the
dealer or to PV-Engineering GmbH for replacement or refund. This
warranty is valid for 90 days from your date of purchase. PV-Engineering
GmbH excludes any warranty coverage for incidental or consequential
damages. Some states do not allow limitations on implied warranties, so
some of the above limitations may not apply to you.
TRADE MARKS
Borland is a trade mark of Borland Inc.
MS-DOS, MS-Windows are trade marks of Microsoft Corporation
Iserlohn, 20.06.2003
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Introduction Page 6
2 Introduction
The devices of type PVPM enab es the measurement of the I-V-curve of photovo taic modu es as we as of
strings. By a new deve oped procedure the device can measure and ca cu ate the peak power Ppk, the Rs and
Rp direct y at the p ace of insta ation of the PV system. Ca cu ation resu ts and the diagram can be disp ayed on
the interna TFT disp ay.
The peak power is the power of a modu e under Standard Test Conditions (STC) [1]. In the past the very
comp ex measurement of the peak power was possib e on y in particu ar y suited aboratories. By a new
patented method [2], which was deve oped by Professor Wagner at the University of App ied Sciences
Dortmund, this measurement can easi y be performed with the PVPM. So the qua ity contro of a PV system can
be executed fast and economica y. This simp e and meaningfu check in practice serves the certainty of the
customer and a so that of the insta er. Beyond that the measured I-V-curves permit further exp anations about
the e ectrica characteristics of the checked modu e or string. So the PVPM is suitab e as an instrument in
research as we as for deve opment purposes.
The PVPM is a mobile measuring device with integrated battery supply and battery charger in a durable and light
weight plastic housing. The device has its own industrial miniature PC and a high-contrast TFT graphic display
and thus its function is independent of other devices. Nevertheless (if desired) a PC can be attached for data
transfer and further analysis of the measured values over a standard USB interface.
The PVPM is operated comfortably over the touch screen and an on-screen menu. The functions are defined
self-describing and the user is always led by the program. So no long training activities for the operating
personnel are necessary.
The device accepts the input from usual irradiance reference sensors that produce a voltage between 0mV and
100mV which linear depends on the irradiation (→ Phox sensor). An additional temperature sensor (RTD,
Pt100) can be connected and attached to the back surface of the module under test for better results.
Description of the measurement:
The PVPM automatically measures the I-V-characteristic of the PV generator at a capacitive load. From the
measured data it calculates the effective solar cell characteristic, Ppk, Rs and Rp [ ], [3]. After the
measurement the data are stored automatically in a non-volatile storage and so are available later (e. g. in the
office) [4]. The device internally can store the data of several thousand measurements.
The following results are displayed:
Permanent values:
Peak Power PPk
Internal Series Resistance Rs
Internal Parallel Resistance Rp (shunt resistance)
Current values, depending on irradiation and temperature:
Vpmax , Ipmax , Pmax
Voc , Isc , FF, Tmod , Eeff
The determined I-V-characteristic can also be shown directly on the LC-display.
[1] IEC60904-3: STC= Irradiance 1000 W/m2, Spectrum AM=1.5, Ce Temper. 25°C
[2] Wagner A.: Peak Power and Interna Series Resistance Measurement under Natura Ambient Conditions. –EuroSun Copenhagen
2000
[3] Bende C., Wagner A.: Photovo taic Measurement re evant to the Energy Yie d. - WCPEC3 Osaka 2003
[4] Schu te K.M., Wagner A.: Die Effektive So arze enkenn inie. - Anwendung Tei ast-Berechnung. Staffe stein. 2002
3 Normal use
The peak power and I-V-characteristic measuring instrument series PVPM is used exclusively for the
admission of the I-V-characteristic curve of single photovoltaic modules and strings. Before connecting the PV
generator under test to the measuring instrument it must be ensured that the test specimen cannot exceed
the maximum current and voltage levels of the measuring instrument at any time.
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Safety Requirements Page 7
4 Safety Re uirements
Before the first use of the PVPM read this manual carefully and completely. It contains important hints to avoid
damage to persons or the measuring device. These hints are emphasized by a frame around the text and should
be paid attention to.
References in this document, which concern security matters, are indicated by a frame. Damages due to the
neglection of the references in this document are excluded from the warranty. No warranty at all is guaranteed
for consequential damages.
The program PVPM.disp requires a PC with hard disk and MS Windows NT or higher and a mouse pointing
device. The connection of the PVPM requires a USB serial interface.
The required free space on the hard disk before installing PVPM.disp is about 5 MB. Please be sure later on that
there is enough free space on the hard disk before storing measured data.
Attention: For the purpose of data security we would like to point out the importance of saving the database of
the program regularly on another data medium, so in the event of damage you will be able to continue
working without considerable data loss. Such a damage can not be excluded even under the present state-of-
the-art. Please do not restore single data files, but always the complete data back-up of the program,
otherwise you might cause malfunction, this in turn might lead to data loss! In case of doubt please contact
the distributor or the producer.
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Warnings Page 8
5 Warnings
To disregard the following information can lead to severe injury and even entail a peril to
life
CAUTION! Before starting up the e uipment please read this manual carefully!
NOTE: Danger of an electrical impact
Note: Measuring category I. Do not use this device in measuring categories II, III and IV.
Do not connect measuring inputs to ground.
This device may never be utilised close to inflammable gases.
Keep children and infants away from the measuring e uipment!
The measuring device may not be used in locations with intense dust exposure or high
humidity. No fluids may reach the interior of the measuring device.
At appearance of unusual sounds, the development of smell or smoke the device has got
to be switched of immediately, the circuit breaker and the current source have got to be
disconnected.
Before each measurement check the test leads for the power measurement for damages.
Never operate damaged test leads! If the conducting wires of the measuring device are
damaged they have to be replaced. Mending the wires is not admissible.
The current measurement input may only be attached to a limited source of direct current
(photovoltaic generator) with at most 20A (40A with PVPM2540C and PVPM1000C40)! The
connection of other sources can lead to demolition of the device and to danger of life!
For security reasons only ualified personal must establish the cable connection between
the PV generator and the PVPM security switch! The measurement should be carried out
or accompanied by ualified personal. Additional ualifications and laws (e.g. VDE 0100)
have to be observed, otherwise high currents and voltages involve danger of life!
The PVPM and all devices being part of it may be opened and repaired by authorized
ualified personal only. Before opening a case every cable connection must be
disconnected! Keep in mind that even with disconnected cables the may reside dangerous
high voltage inside the case!
The solar generator can generate very high tensions and currents, which can affect your
health when you do not handle with care!
!! VERY IMPORTANT !!
Never plug in or remove the cable connectors between solar generator and PVPM
before the solar generator is deactivated! A security switch added to the
measurement line allows the simultaneous disconnection and the safe connection
of measuring wires to the PVPM.
The PVPM will make a short circuit during measurement or due to wrong polarization, and
when you tear of a cable under this condition, a light arc can arise and can cause serious
damage to health and material! After the generator is deactivated you can remove the
cable connection without harm.
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Operation of the PVPM Page 9
6 Operation of the PVPM
6.1 Operating and connection elements
1. On/Off switch
. USB connector (mini B)
3. Connector for external power supply (16V, Adc)
4. Status lights
5. TFT colour graphic touch display
6. Combined irradiation and temperature input
7. Temperature measuring input Pt100
8. Four-wire measuring connector (voltage)
9. Four-wire measuring connector (current)
6.2 General Hints
The PVPM, as nearly all electronic measuring device, can only operate in a defined temperature range (see
appendix). That is why the PVPM should not be exposed to direct sunlight over a longer period of time. Keep the
device in a shady place or protect it from direct sunlight using a sunshade.
The standard version of the PVPM cannot be integrated into other devices or e.g. brackets. It is very important
that the air can move free around the case so that a proper cooling is guaranteed! Only if the PVPM is
completely out of operation (even no charging) it may be stacked.
Attention: Never loosen a measurement cable connection during a measurement! The considerable
dc tensions and currents can cause a light arc which may cause fire, serious injuries and even death!
(see chapter 4/5)
The front panel of the PVPM is rather rough, but you should handle it with care anyway. To avoid damage of the
front panel please take notice of the following hints:
•Do not touch the front panel with a sharp or pointed object. This could force scratches and might even
destroy the foil especially in the regions with switches in the back.
•Clean the surface with a soft and damp tissue. Do not use materials that can scratch, especially on the cover
of the display. A scratched display cover will dramatically affect the display quality.
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH

Operation of the PVPM Page 10
The case is water proofed (IP 67). Nevertheless do not expose the PVPM directly to influence of water, rain or
similar.
For a good measuring quality the sun irradiance during the measurement should be above 500 W/m .
Measurements are possible below this irradiance value, but less precise and meaningful. That is why these
results will be suppressed.
6.3 Connecting Peripheral Devices
For an I-V-curve measurement besides the PVPM the following components are necessary:
1. USB connection to operating PC (optional)
. External power supply (optional)
3. Irradiance reference sensor
4. Exernal RTD (Pt100) or short circuit adaptor
5. External security switch (see chapter 7) between power measurement cable and PVPM
6. 4-wire-measurement cable
The PVPM is equipped with the following input/output interfaces (you will find all interfaces besides the power
supply at the front panel, they are all marked):
Interface Function
Power supply At the front panel of the PVPM, input 16Vdc/ A, coaxial power connector
5.5x .1mm
Temperature (External) temperature sensor
Irradiance Combined sensor: irradiance + Pt1000 temperature
4-wire-measurement Voltage input (module under test)
Current input Current input (module under test)
PC Serial connection to PC (USB cable)
PVPM1000CX User Manual PV-Engineering GmbH