Comparison of different DC Arc spectra — Derivation of proposals for the development of an international arc fault detector standard

Abstract

The number of German PV installations reach in early 2013 1.4 million systems. On the basis of recent research which was carried out within a 3 year R&D-project of TÜV Rheinland with Fraunhofer ISE and several industry partners, around 75 cases were found where a PV system caused a fire through arc faults or hot spots. Out of these known incidents, 65 cases caused major damage whereas 10 faults lead to total loss of the system and building [1]. These numbers display that fire incidents caused by e.g. arc faults are a minority, but every case reveals that latent risks exist when defective installation or products are applied. This work focuses on the qualification of different arc noise spectra which displays a variety of characteristics depending on the electrode contacts, contact materials, implied PV solar simulator, PV array or whether the arc was ignited in a short circuit or being in series with a load resistor or even the inverter.