Detecting Faults in Solar Photovoltaic Power Systems

Solar Photovoltaic power systems utilize sun light to generate electric power. They have been replacing traditional fossil fuel-based power plants at an increasing rate. Recently, several unexpected fire incidents that damaged solar PV systems in US raised reliability, safety, and efficiency concerns. Subsequent investigations attributed the fire incidents to faults occurring within solar PV systems via accidental connections of parts of a system to ground.

These findings have stimulated academic and industrial research. However, there is still no concrete and comprehensive understanding of the conditions at which faults are undetectable. Moreover, there is no available approach that can detect all possible faults.

The proposals objective is to meet these gaps by: 1) investigating and developing a comprehensive understanding of the conditions at which faults in solar PV systems are undetected. 2) Developing new generalized techniques for detecting and locating faults in solar PV systems.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Students must have a GPA above 3.0 and a interest in research

July 2021 to June 2022

Dr. Yousef Mahmoud ymahmoud@kennesaw.edu