Generally, PV (photovoltaic) modules are known as devices which are used semi-permanently for more than 20 years, but the electrical performance and lifespan of PV modules can be significantly degraded due to various environmental factors. Thus, a proper evaluation method for aging phenomenon of PV modules is required. Although there already are methods which compare adjusted PV output power based on STC (standard test condition) with initial PV module specification, or perform direct comparison by conducting the test under STC, there are issues with objectivity or efficiency in the existing evaluation method of aging phenomenon due to the data distortion while adjusting measured data or difficulties in implementation. Therefore, in order to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantage of the existing evaluation method for deterioration in PV modules and evaluate the aging characteristics of PV modules based on on-site measurement data in an accurate and efficient manner, this paper implements a test device for aging diagnosis to measure and collect actual data from a PV module section, and presents a modeling of data analysis for aging phenomenon with MATLAB S/W in order to minimize the variability of PV output, communication error, delay, etc. Furthermore, this paper confirms the usefulness of the presented test device for aging diagnosis of the PV modules which is accurately evaluated by considering on-site measurement of PV output power by season.

According to the green growth and carbon-neutral policy in Korea, the installation of large-capacity ESSs is rapidly being increased, but a total number of 50 ESS fire cases have occurred since the end of 2023. ESSs are typically composed of series-parallel connections with numerous Li-ion batteries, and when the temperature of a deteriorated cell increases due to thermal, electrical, and mechanical stress, thermal runaway can occur due to additional heat generated by an internal chemical reaction. Here, an internal chemical reaction in a Li-ion battery results in the different characteristics on the decomposition reaction and heat release depending on the operation conditions in the ESS, such as the rising temperature rate, convective heat transfer coefficient, and C-rate of charging and discharging. Therefore, this paper presents mathematical equations and modeling of thermal runaway, composed of the heating device section, heat release section by chemical reaction, chemical reaction section at the SEI layer, chemical reaction section between the negative and positive electrodes and solvents, and chemical reaction section at the electrolyte by itself, based on MATLAB/SIMULINK (2022), which were validated by a thermal runaway test device. From the simulation and test results based on the proposed simulation modeling and test device according to the operation conditions in ESSs, it was found that the proposed modeling is an effective and reliable tool to evaluate the processing characteristics of thermal runaway because the occurrence time intervals and maximum temperatures had almost the same values in both the test device and simulation modeling. Accordingly, it was confirmed that the rising temperature rate and the convective heat transfer coefficient were more critical in the thermal runaway than the C-rate of charging and discharging.

This paper deals with the operation method of an intelligent fault isolation device (IFID), which can detect and estimate faults in rapid and accurate ways considering the slope characteristics of fault currents with distribution line constants. Namely, the proposed operation method in IFID calculates the slope of the fault current with distribution line constants, and reduces its operation time by comparing the calculated slope value to the setting value to detect and evaluate the fault condition. Moreover, this paper implements the DC 400 V, 10 kW scaled IFID consisting of hardware (H/W) and software (S/W) sections based on the proposed operation method. The H/W section is composed of main and current limit switches, a current limit resistor, voltage and current sensors, and switching mode power supply (SMPS). Also, the S/W section consists of a control board and code composer studio (CCS) to calculate the slope characteristics of the fault current and control the semiconductor device. From the test results based on the proposed operation method, it was found that the IFID considering the slope characteristics of fault currents can detect and evaluate the fault condition and limit the fault current faster than the existing method to consider the fault current only.