Masters student Fatima AL-Janahi presented her paper co-authored with PhD student Ms. Sawsan Shukri and undergraduate students Ms. L. Al-Huneidi, and Mr. A. Al-Shammary entitled “An Automated Testbed for PV Arcs Analysis” at the IEEE 4th International Conference on Smart Grid and Renewable Energy (SGRE2024) poster session in Doha, Qatar on January 8th, 2024. The project was directed by Mr. K. Abdulmawjood, Dr. J. J. Boutros, and Dr. R. S. Balog.

Arc faults are one of the leading causes of photovoltaic (PV) system failures and can ultimately result in electrical fires. Ensuring reliable arc fault detection is essential for maintaining the safe operation of PV systems. Electrical PV arcs are chaotic and challenging to characterize. Developing an effective arc fault detector is made possible by accurately characterizing arc faults. Therefore, a scientifically repeatable method is required to generate PV arcs within a controlled laboratory setting. A mechatronics arc generator is developed based on the pull-apart method described in the UL1699B standard. This paper describes improvements to a previous design that overcomes limitations identified in the prior design. A MATLAB-based data library filter application is designed to simplify and optimize the handling and filtering of the extensive arc data repository, ensuring its accessibility and usability for researchers and professionals.

This publication was made possible by grant # AICC02-0505-190022 and grant # UREP24-023-2-010 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the authors’ responsibility.