Connecting the Loose Ends!!
The name Hensel stands for its reputation and quality in the Solar Industry when it comes to reliable solutions on the DC side in any capacity solar plant. Hensel has always been ahead in introducing safe product solutions conforming to the International standards. With an experience of being a reliable supplier to over 350MW of Solar PV projects, we constantly strive to design and supply products that offer optimum safety to the solar power plants. In todays article, we introduce a product that intends to take care of the real issues at site with regards to Combiner Boxes, be it a simple Array Junction box or the smart String monitoring Box.
Foreword :
India so far has been able to add 2.08GW of Solar Power as per confirmed reports in October 2013. Although behind the schedule of Target 20GW by 2020, this has been a great success story for the Power Industry in India.
With such a high capacity of Power added and to be added more in the future, it is all the more important to understand some of the innovative product solutions that can improve the efficiency of the Solar Power plant.
Practical Experience :
One of the most common problems with regards to Solar PV plants are the fire incidents on the DC side. Most of these plants operate with a high system Voltage of 1000V DC, and with such a high DC voltage, a small ignition can prove to be very damaging.
The Cause :
One of the common culprit which influences sparks or these events of fire is the Loose connection, especially inside the PV Generator junction Boxes. You might have used the best of components like the PV modules, the Combiner Boxes and the Inverters, but if there is a fire due to loose connection, nothing can help.
PV Generator Junction Boxes, popular termed as Combiner Boxes are generally factory fitted with the right torque and many a times are Plug and Play devices. However, during installation, the right torque cannot be guaranteed as site conditions are different. As a result, over a period of time, loose connections cannot be avoided. A large solar farm has hundreds and thousands of such boxes and it becomes very difficult to check each and every box for such issues.
Loose connections subsequently cause heating and over heating cause fire events and result of this can be real damaging to the health of the Power plants. The project manager has really no clue as to what might have gone wrong and quality time gets spent on investigating the root cause. Many a times, fingers are pointed on a probable lightning surge or connecting reverse polarity of string cables, or wrong design or faulty components inside the Box. The remains of the burnt Box or the PV modules do not reveal the real story. An arc in the DC power plant is just like an arc of the Welding Electrode and hence loose connections inside combiner boxes should be taken seriously.
A look inside the Combiner Box that is commonly used with String Fuses, a Surge Voltage protection Device, and a DC Disconnect Switch, will explain the number of weak points that can be influenced by Loose Connections. The more number of String inputs, the more probability of having the loose connections inside. On top, components like Fuses are to be used on both Polarities and subsequently the output of these fuses are to be summed up again on a bus bar.
Predominantly, this Bus bar also has tap offs and outputs from the fuses are connected to them using a nut-bolt arrangement. The summed output is carried ahead to the next protective devices, like SPD and Isolators or Disconnect Switches.
In short, in the conventional Combiner Boxes, there exist a lot of weak links that can influence loose connection which can subsequently become a big headache in future. In view of the same, it is now important to check if there is any possibility to avoid so many weak links inside the combiner Boxes. Question is to find if these loose connections can be avoided.
The Solution :
Hensel now introduce to you Bus Mounted Devices inside our Combiner Boxes.
We offer Woehner Bus mounted Fuses that are rated for 1000VDC which will eliminate a lot of cabling internally. These fuse bases have inputs to connect the incoming string cables however the output is via the base which is internally connected to the bus bar through its conducting base. These fuses are directly mounted on the Bus Bars instead of a Din Rail and since there are no tap offs on the bus bar, there is no possibility of loose connections.The Bus mounted fuses have unique housing which ensures a natural gap between adjacent fuses and thereby provides a better heat ventilation / dissipation.
The summed output of the fuses can be taken directly from the bus bar via special terminals that are also direct Bus mounted.These terminals are clamped directly on the bus bar and the uniqueness is that one can shift the terminals at any place on the bus if there are any cable bending issues inside the box.
Hensel can also offer a complete Bus mounted system for devices other than the DC fuses. The advantage of is that there is minimum wiring inside the combiner boxes, a better heat dissipation and a reliable operation as chances of loose connections are almost none.
This unique smart combiner box of Hensel uses the unique Woehner, Germany make bus adapter system. All the components are directly mounted on the adapters that are snap fitted on the conducting two pole bus bar.
These solutions are now available for any combiner box on the DC side, be it a simple Array Junction Box or String Monitoring Boxes and for any number of inputs.
With such innovative products in the offering, the quality and safety of the power plant will remain intact thereby increasing the overall efficiency.
If you are interested to have more details or information, do write to us at info@hensel-electric.in
The name Hensel stands for its reputation and quality in the Solar Industry when it comes to reliable solutions on the DC side in any capacity solar plant. Hensel has always been ahead in introducing safe product solutions conforming to the International standards. With an experience of being a reliable supplier to over 350MW of Solar PV projects, we constantly strive to design and supply products that offer optimum safety to the solar power plants. In todays article, we introduce a product that intends to take care of the real issues at site with regards to Combiner Boxes, be it a simple Array Junction box or the smart String monitoring Box.
Foreword :
India so far has been able to add 2.08GW of Solar Power as per confirmed reports in October 2013. Although behind the schedule of Target 20GW by 2020, this has been a great success story for the Power Industry in India.
With such a high capacity of Power added and to be added more in the future, it is all the more important to understand some of the innovative product solutions that can improve the efficiency of the Solar Power plant.
Practical Experience :
One of the most common problems with regards to Solar PV plants are the fire incidents on the DC side. Most of these plants operate with a high system Voltage of 1000V DC, and with such a high DC voltage, a small ignition can prove to be very damaging.
The Cause :
One of the common culprit which influences sparks or these events of fire is the Loose connection, especially inside the PV Generator junction Boxes. You might have used the best of components like the PV modules, the Combiner Boxes and the Inverters, but if there is a fire due to loose connection, nothing can help.
PV Generator Junction Boxes, popular termed as Combiner Boxes are generally factory fitted with the right torque and many a times are Plug and Play devices. However, during installation, the right torque cannot be guaranteed as site conditions are different. As a result, over a period of time, loose connections cannot be avoided. A large solar farm has hundreds and thousands of such boxes and it becomes very difficult to check each and every box for such issues.
Loose connections subsequently cause heating and over heating cause fire events and result of this can be real damaging to the health of the Power plants. The project manager has really no clue as to what might have gone wrong and quality time gets spent on investigating the root cause. Many a times, fingers are pointed on a probable lightning surge or connecting reverse polarity of string cables, or wrong design or faulty components inside the Box. The remains of the burnt Box or the PV modules do not reveal the real story. An arc in the DC power plant is just like an arc of the Welding Electrode and hence loose connections inside combiner boxes should be taken seriously.
A look inside the Combiner Box that is commonly used with String Fuses, a Surge Voltage protection Device, and a DC Disconnect Switch, will explain the number of weak points that can be influenced by Loose Connections. The more number of String inputs, the more probability of having the loose connections inside. On top, components like Fuses are to be used on both Polarities and subsequently the output of these fuses are to be summed up again on a bus bar.
Predominantly, this Bus bar also has tap offs and outputs from the fuses are connected to them using a nut-bolt arrangement. The summed output is carried ahead to the next protective devices, like SPD and Isolators or Disconnect Switches.
In short, in the conventional Combiner Boxes, there exist a lot of weak links that can influence loose connection which can subsequently become a big headache in future. In view of the same, it is now important to check if there is any possibility to avoid so many weak links inside the combiner Boxes. Question is to find if these loose connections can be avoided.
The Solution :
Hensel now introduce to you Bus Mounted Devices inside our Combiner Boxes.
We offer Woehner Bus mounted Fuses that are rated for 1000VDC which will eliminate a lot of cabling internally. These fuse bases have inputs to connect the incoming string cables however the output is via the base which is internally connected to the bus bar through its conducting base. These fuses are directly mounted on the Bus Bars instead of a Din Rail and since there are no tap offs on the bus bar, there is no possibility of loose connections.The Bus mounted fuses have unique housing which ensures a natural gap between adjacent fuses and thereby provides a better heat ventilation / dissipation.
The summed output of the fuses can be taken directly from the bus bar via special terminals that are also direct Bus mounted.These terminals are clamped directly on the bus bar and the uniqueness is that one can shift the terminals at any place on the bus if there are any cable bending issues inside the box.
Hensel can also offer a complete Bus mounted system for devices other than the DC fuses. The advantage of is that there is minimum wiring inside the combiner boxes, a better heat dissipation and a reliable operation as chances of loose connections are almost none.
This unique smart combiner box of Hensel uses the unique Woehner, Germany make bus adapter system. All the components are directly mounted on the adapters that are snap fitted on the conducting two pole bus bar.
These solutions are now available for any combiner box on the DC side, be it a simple Array Junction Box or String Monitoring Boxes and for any number of inputs.
With such innovative products in the offering, the quality and safety of the power plant will remain intact thereby increasing the overall efficiency.
If you are interested to have more details or information, do write to us at info@hensel-electric.in
5 Comments
Excellent article, explains clearly, the main culprit that causes fire in junction boxes which cannot be identified in most of the cases. Another useful article from Mr. Kulkarni on PV domain
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