APPLICATION OF POLYMER POSISTOR NANOCOMPOSITES IN SYSTEMS FOR PROTECTING PHOTOVOLTAIC COMPONENTS OF SOLAR ARRAYS FROM ELECTRICAL OVERLOADS
Authors: Tonkoshkur Alexander , Ivanchenko Alexander , Nakashydze Liliya , Lyashkov Alexander , Gomilko Igor 
Published: August 2021

The experience of operating solar arrays indicates the need to solve the problem of creating effective and reliable switching elements to block defective and damaged photovoltaic cells. Available methods of solving this problem (for example, the use of transistor switches, electronic systems, etc.) either do not completely solve it, or are expensive. The tasks of increasing the reliability and efficiency of switching elements, preventing the destruction of photovoltaic cells which occurs during heating by dark current ("hot spots" and fire hazardous situations) are relevant. Recently, one of the promising solutions of this problem is the use of additional devices for isolating inactive (shaded or defective) areas of both separate photovoltaic cells and their modules. These devices are PPTC (polymeric positive temperature coefficient) resettable fuses of PolySwitch type, which are polymer composites with nanoscale carbon fillers. The basic functional property of PPTC fuse is an abrupt increase in electrical resistance by several orders of magnitude when a temperature is reached and a return to the initial high conductive state when the temperature drops. The advantages of such structures based on polymer composites with nanocarbon fillers include: – close to the metal resistance to the switching temperature and to the resistance of the insulator above the specified temperature; – possibility of realization in the form of discrete elements and continuous film-tapes (that is important at the decision of problems of realization of isolation of defective local area of the separate photovoltaic cell); – reaction in the form of temporary isolation of separate components of the solar array to increase their temperature. The research results are presented and the concept of overload protection by using resettable fuses based on polymer nanocomposite materials with nanocarbon fillers is substantiated in this paper. In particular, the expediency of series connection of PolySwitch fuses to photovoltaic modules with parallel connection of their strings is shown to prevent an abnormal situation, namely, a complete loss of electrical energy generated by such a string, which can occur when one of its modules is short-circuited. The circuit solutions in the form of combined structure based on layers of a varistor ceramics and a posistor polymer nanocomposite with carbon filler being in thermal contact are investigated. The prospect of its use to protect photovoltaic cells with a high reverse resistance from overvoltage is established. The problem of protection against local overheating in photovoltaic cells (or their parallel connections) by physical and technological methods, in particular, by creating photovoltaic cells with a built-in layer based on a posistor composite being in thermal contact with it, is analyzed. In general, the described results represent a new direction in the field of improving photovoltaic systems, in particular, in terms of increasing their efficiency, operating time and reliability by using solid-state devices based on polymer posistor nanocomposites and varistor ceramics as means of their protection from electrical and thermal overloads. Keywords: SOLAR ARRAY, PHOTOVOLTAIC MODULE, PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL, ELECTRIC OVERLOAD, POLYMER POSISTOR NANOCOMPOSITE, HOT SPOT, VARISTOR CERAMICS