Photovoltaic installations are becoming more and more popular.

DISTEK is providing necessary equipments for test, control and maintenance of single and three phase photovoltaic systems, energy analysis conforming current standards.

While the costs of components are decreasing and their performance is significantly booming up, the photovoltaic installations are very common either on buildings’ roofs or installed on the ground. The problems involved in the installation of photovoltaic systems, however, are to be solved in terms of safety, testing and maintenance requiring specific solutions.

The photovoltaic installation is an electrical system under all respects and its safety must be certified in compliance with the regulations in force. As the photovoltaic modules are installed outdoors and directly irradiated by the sun, they are subject to extreme environmental conditions such as hot weather in summer, frost in winter, rain and hail etc. All this makes safety testing even more necessary. Safety is not to be neglected in the assembly and maintenance of a photovoltaic installation. The regulations in force state that quality marks and certification on components are not enough and that an instrumental measurement is required.

Go to product page: Single and Three-Phase Systems Photo Voltaic Analyzer HT Italia Solar200

To apply for special tariffs the electricity user needs to provide a test certificate along with sundry documents. This document certifies that the installation ensures a minimum efficiency level. It is therefore necessary to employ measuring instruments bringing about significant practical problems. In a typical building installation modules are usually placed on the roof and the inverter is often in the basement. Such a condition is critical because, to test the equipment both electrical and en-vironmental parameters are to be measured simultaneously even though very far from each other. Only the use of suitable equip-ment can grant correct measurements carried out in a suitable, fast and convenient way.

Go to product page: Power Quality Analyzer for Single and Three Phase Photovoltaic Systems HT Italia Solar300N

Go to product page: Multifunction Instrument for Testing & Veryfying Single Phase Photovoltaic Installations HT Italia Solar I-V

The outdoor installation, with consequent exposure to extreme environmental conditions, can lead to a rapid deterioration of the modules as well as a sharp decrease in the performance of the whole photovoltaic installation. The energy produced and the consequent economic benefit can be reduced considerably. It should be advisable therefore to periodically check the installation comparing the performance of the modules as specified by their manufacturer. By measuring the module I-V feature and comparing it with the rating you can assess whether they are granting adequate performances, whether any decrease falls within the natural performance decay, or whether one or more modules are faulty. In this case you can pinpoint the damaged modules and promptly replace them.

Go to product page: Multifunction Instrument for Verification of I-V Characteristic of Photovoltaic Strings HT I-V400

Go to product page: Multifunction Instrument for Testing & Veryfying Single Phase Photovoltaic Installations HT Italia Solar I-V

Photovoltaic modules partially convert solar radiation into electric power. The efficiency of photovoltaic modules is strongly affected by several factors such as:

- operating temperature of modules;

- manufacturing technology of modules;

- angles at which solar radiation hits the modules’ surface;

- spectral composition of solar radiation; etc.

It is obvious that, to properly evaluate the performance of the photovoltaic modules under test, it is necessary to measure the solar radiation which they are subject to by means of a transducer with features similar to the modules’ ones. Using a sensor with a different manufacturing technology could lead to inconsistent measurements of solar radiation, and consequently to incorrect measurements of the modules under test. For this reason HT photovoltaic testers are provided with the reference cell HT304 as standard accessory. HT304 is featured as follows:

- it is provided with a built-in temperature sensor allowing compensation of the measured values;

- it is provided with two sensors made of monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon respectively to better suit the manufacturing technology of the modules to be tested;

- it better reflects the close correlation of the modules under test with the solar radiation incidence angle as well as with its spectrum composition;

- it grants a quick response the same as the photovoltaic modules.

This last feature is crucial in case of measurements taken under conditions of variable cloudiness.