Ideally, an insulation system must be capable of electrically insulating the active components of a machine or device subjected to high voltages. However, due to the presence of polluting agents or imperfections inside or on the surface of the insulation, small current pulses called partial discharges (PDs) are common, which partially short-circuit the insulation and cause it to lose its insulating properties, and thus its insulation capacity, over time. In some cases, measurements of this phenomenon are limited by the type of sensor used; if it is not adequate, it can distort the obtained results, which can lead to a misdiagnosis of the state of the device. The inductive loop sensor has experimentally been demonstrated to be capable of properly measuring different types of PDs. However, because of its current design, there are several practical limitations on its use in real devices or environments. An example is the presence of a primary conductor located at a fixed distance from the sensor, through which PD pulses must flow for the sensor to capture them. In this article, the sensor’s behavior is studied at different separation distances from the line through which the PD pulses flow. In addition, the measuring capacity of the sensor is tested by removing the presence of the primary conductor and placing the sensor directly over the line through which the PD pulses of a real device flow.

Solar simulators have been widely used to characterize the performance of solar photovoltaics cells, which typically have a size of 156 × 156 mm². In order to amplify the testing area, a flexible optimal design method for solar simulators is presented in this study. In this work, 20 quartz tungsten halogen lamps are used with a light filter composed of a mixture of distilled water and cyan ink. The methodology includes the measurements of the irradiance nonuniformities, spectral profile, and explores the effects of light filters on the primary light source used. During this stage, the power source of the lights should be selected, where direct current is usually assumed. As soon as the primary light source is characterized by its corresponding model, a layout is defined by optimizing the nonuniformity of the irradiance. The constructed solar simulator presents a spectral match of 1.69%, a spatial nonuniformity of irradiance of 1.66%, and a temporal instability of irradiance lower than 0.1%. In addition, the current‐voltage curves are compared under indoor and outdoor test showing a root‐mean‐squared error lower than 3%. A class CAA solar simulator is achieved according to the International Electrotechnical Commission and American Society for Testing and Materials standards over an area of 270 × 270 mm², suitable for testing small size solar photovoltaic modules.

The new PV technologies, such as bifacial modules, bring the challenge of analyzing the response of numerical models and their fit to actual measurements. Thus, this study explores various models available in the literature for simulating the IV curve behavior of bifacial photovoltaic modules. The analysis contains traditional models, such as single and double-diode models, and empirical or analytical methodologies. Therefore, this paper proposes and implements a model performance assessment framework. This framework aims to establish a common basis for comparison and verify the applicability of each model by contrasting it with experimental data under controlled conditions of irradiance and temperature. The study utilizes bifacial modules of PERC+, HJT, and n-PERT technologies, tracing IV curves using a high-precision A+A+A+ solar simulator and conducting two sets of laboratory illumination measurements: single-sided and double-sided. In the first case, each face of the module is illuminated separately, while in the latter, the incident frontal illuminating light is reflected on a reflective surface. Experimental data obtained from these measurements are used to evaluate three different approximations for bifacial IV curve models in the case of double-sided illumination. The employed model for single-sided illumination is a single-diode model. The evaluation of various models revealed that shadowing from frames and junction boxes contributes to an increase in the error of modeled IV curves. However, among the three evaluated bifacial electrical models, one exhibited superior performance, with current errors approaching approximately $20\%$. To mitigate this discrepancy, a proposed methodology highlighted the significance of accurately estimating $I_{\mathrm{o}}$, suggesting its potential to reduce errors. This research provides a foundation for comparing electrical models to identify their strengths and limitations, paving the way for the development of more accurate modeling approaches tailored to bifacial modules. The insights gained from this study are crucial for enhancing the precision of IV curve predictions under various illumination conditions, which is essential for optimizing bifacial module performance in real-world applications.

This study proposes a calculation methodology that determines the optimal boundary parameters of the single-diode photovoltaic model. It allows the calculation of the single-diode photovoltaic model when no reference parameter boundaries are available. The differential evolution algorithm, integrated with a step-by-step boundary definition module, is used to calculate the optimal parameters of the single-diode photovoltaic model, improving the performance of the classic algorithm compared with other studies. The solution is validated by comparing the results with well-established algorithms described in the state-of-the-art, and by estimating the five important points (cardinal points) of an IV curve, namely short-circuit, maximum power, and open circuit points, using a database composed of 100 solar photovoltaic modules. The results show that an optimal set of parameter boundaries enables the differential evolution algorithm to minimize the error of the estimated cardinal points. Moreover, the proposed calculus methodology is capable of producing high-performance response photovoltaic models for different technologies and rated powers.