Arc faults in photovoltaic systems
Christian Strobl
Innovation & Technology
E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH
Altdorf, Germany
Abstract—In photovoltaic systems a large amount of
electrical connectors has been used in the combination of
serial and parallel structures of the modules. Due to the
high DC voltages and the aging of the systems, long-lasting
arc faults can occur which may cause serious fires.
As an initial step to develop sensor-devices for detecting arc
faults in photovoltaic systems, a test set-up consisting of
several modules, a solar inverter, and a unit for creating
artificial arc faults was installed.
The analysis of the measured signals in time and frequency
domain showed the following:
Parallel arcing involves significant changes in the current
at the primary side of the converter and is therefore easily
detectable.
Series arc faults, however, can usually not be detected by a
low frequency analysis of current and voltage signals due to
the specific characteristic curve of the photovoltaic modules,
the control-concept of the converter for maximum power
tracking, and possibly changing solar irradiance. Sensors
and methods considering the higher spectral components of
the arc effects are necessary.
Keywords-photovoltaics; solar panels; solar inverters; DC
arc; arc fault detection
I. PHOTOVOLTAICS – A GROWTH MARKET
The global photovoltaic market has grown over the past
year, despite financial and economic crisis. Worldwide,
7.2 GW of solar power had been installed in 2009
according to data of the European Photovoltaic Industry
Association (EPIA). The photovoltaic power has
increased to a total of more than 22 GW. This year, the
photovoltaic market is expected to grow at least by 40
percent. If there will be a continuing strong political
support for PV, the annual newly installed capacity in
2014 could increase to 30 GW. With a newly installed
capacity of about 3 GW last year Germany has been the
world's largest photovoltaic market followed by Italy
with an augmentation of about 700 MW.
Outside Europe the strongest photovoltaic markets are
Japan and the USA, both with a newly installed capacity
of about 480 MW in 2009. In the next five years also
China and India will gain more importance, as there are
already numerous photovoltaic projects in a planning
stage. Very promising future markets are also seen in
Canada, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco and South
Africa [1].
In Europe, through the amendment of the Renewable
Energies Act (EEG), the course is set for the
978-1-4244-8177-4/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE
Peter Meckler
Innovation & Technology
E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH
Altdorf, Germany
development of renewable energies and a
decentralization of power generation [2]. By 2020 the
proportion of renewable energy in electricity generation
will increase to 20 % also by government support
programs. Germany hopes that a variety of positive
signals is sent by the extension of renewable energies,
especially a significant contribution to the binding
agreed Kyoto Protocol [3]. The government aid is
discussed controversially [4], but nevertheless the
Integrated Energy and Climatic Program IEKP of the
German government sets higher goals. The percentage of
renewable energies shall be 25 to 30 % [5]. The US
government plans to double the quota of renewable
energies. The economy stimulation package of President
Barack Obama offers strong financial support [6]. Until
2010, in the USA as well as in China, about 15 % of the
energy shall be generated by alternative sources [7]. As
mentioned above, Japan is one of the big future PV
markets. Promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Industry
and Trade (METI), pure DC-power-grids are tested
(Sendai Project). Worldwide there are many efforts set
in place to substitute fossil fuels by alternative
technologies. The utilization of wind and solar energies
will play main roles.
The first standard for Arc Fault Detection Devices
(AFDD) had been ANSI/UL1699 implemented in US for
house installations 10 years ago [8]. Based on the work
done in this committee, an aerospace standard SAE AS
5692 [9] for specific airborne requirements has been
developed. Meantime it had become obvious, that PV-
systems are a source of potential arc faults causing fire
because they use high DC voltages and are subjected to
extreme environmental conditions. Therefore the
necessity to detect arcs and to disconnect them in case of
fault in PV-systems had been identified. At the moment,
an arc fault paragraph is added to UL 1699 and planned
to be integrated into the NEC-P04, article 690. On the
international side the IEC committee 23E, WG2 is
working on AFDD-standards.
II. POSSIBLE OCCURRENCE OF ARC FAULTS IN
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
Due to high voltages, long time weathering of cables and
an aging of electronic components the occurrence of arc
faults might increase, when solar power plants become
older. Also animal bites may play a role, if the cabling is
easily accessible. Long-lasting arc faults may set the
insulation and the surroundings on fire. Especially
regarding rooftop systems this may be dangerous not
only for the inhabitants, but also for the firemen, if the
cabling is still energized by the sunlit modules.
Possible arc faults in the DC circuit might be itemized
for more or less realistic locations of occurrence:
- parallel to solar inverter,
- in series to solar inverter,
- in series to panels in one string (= typically up to
approx. 20 panels in series), Fig. 2 Solar Inverter, arc fault device and measuring equipment
- bridging one or more panels,
- connection plugs between parallel strings,
- from one string to another,
- to ground,
- inside panel or inside its connection box.
There are some more possible locations in large plants,
where several parallel strings are connected in specific
DC connection boxes.
Some work already has been done describing and
detecting these fault effects [13, 20]. In [15] a method to Fig. 3 Arc in gap between electrodes
avoid arc faults by using capacitors parallel to each panel
is discussed. Other authors examine the probability of
failure of electronic components [21, 22]. Specialists of
professional fire brigades develop methods to minimize
collateral damage in case of faults and induced fire [19].
The detection of arc faults in solar power plants is quite
different from aerospace and automotive applications
(see [10], [16] and [18]): The source voltage is varying,
but the load – the solar inverter – is constant. In this
context the specific characteristic curve of solar panels
plays an important role for arc fault occurrence, their
detection and switching strategies.

III. TEST SETUP FOR MEASURING ARC FAULTS Fig. 4 Six panels in series and solar inverter
IN A SOLAR POWER PLANT

At the E-T-A labs we built up a small solar power plant,

consisting of a series of six manually adjustable solar
panels (HS125-170W, MSK Corporation) and a solar
inverter with a low frequency transformer (Sunny Boy
1100, SMA). Furthermore, we included a precise shunt
resistor for current measurement, several probes for
voltage measurement and a device for creating arc faults
(alterable gap between electrodes up to several cm) at
different locations in the cabling (figs. 1-3).
The characteristics of a solar panel can be described with
its diode-like characteristic curve (current or power vs.
voltage), which depends on the solar irradiance and the
panel temperature.

Fig. 5 Characteristic curves and specific points of six panels in series

Fig. 1 Adjustable solar panels in the yard

At standard testing conditions (=STC: 25°C, 1000 W/m²,
defined spectrum) each of the used panels has an open
circuit voltage of 44.3 V and a short circuit current of
5.07 A. The maximum power point (=MPP) is at 36.8 V
and 4.62 A.
The six panels were connected in series (figs. 4-5), a
specific selection of the most important cases of arc
faults was chosen for the experiments. An installation
with two parallel strings with three panels each was not
possible due to the minimum input voltage of the solar
inverter of 139 V.

IV. PARALLEL ARC FAULTS

For analyzing an arc fault parallel to panels and solar
inverter, we added a resistor of 10 ȍ in series to the fault
to limit the current (fig. 6).
The total current ipa is measured by a coaxial-shunt. The Fig. 7 Parallel arc fault (a)
distribution of the current in ifa (through fault) and iiv
(through primary side of solar inverter) can be calculated
by the voltage measurements of upa and ufa.

Fig. 6 Arc fault parallel to panels and solar inverter

As it can be seen in fig. 7, the capacitors of the primary
side of the inverter are discharged backwards via the
incipient arc for more than 2 s. An internal control
circuit prevents the primary voltage sinking under
approx. 100 V. The voltage of the arc ufa varies between
20 V and 50 V. At t § 4.15 s the capacitors are empty;
the inverter is powered down and the arc is fed only by
the panels. Approx. 1 s later after a rise of its voltage up
to 75 V the arc extinguishes.
Another experiment is shown in fig. 8. After the power-
down of the inverter, the arc can exist for a long time, if
the solar irradiation is high enough and the gap between
the electrodes of the arc is not growing. The arc voltage
varies slightly around 20 V.
This case of arc faults is easily detectable by a change of
the sign of the monitored primary current iiv of the solar
inverter. An additional sensor is not necessary.
If the primary current becomes negative because of a
parallel short circuit or a parallel arc fault, some modern
solar inverters initiate a controlled internal short circuit.
So the external fault is bridged and is prevented from
harming cabling and surroundings; a possible arc is
extinguished.
Fig. 8 Parallel arc fault (b)
V. SERIES ARC FAULTS
Arc faults with a presumably higher possibility of
occurrence are the series ones (fig. 9), they might be
located especially in aged plug connections.
A first experiment (a) at full sunlight with the inverter
working at the MPP shows a small decrease of the
current ipa and the voltage uiv at the primary side of the
inverter, when the arc occurs (first and second chart of
fig. 10). In a second experiment (b), after the emergence
of small cirrostratus clouds, the levels of ipa and uiv
nearly stay constant in principle (first and second chart
of fig. 11) with short time variations, especially towards
lower current and higher voltage magnitudes. In both
cases the arc voltages vary around approx. 25 V.
Often very slow MPP-tracking algorithms in solar
inverters keep the voltage constant at declining current,
when a cloud arrives after a long-lasting phase of full
sunlight. Only after a certain amount of seconds a new
MPP on the specific characteristic curve according to the
decreased solar irradiation and temperature is adjusted.
If, like in (b), an arc is occurring during this reaction
time, before the system has reached the new maximum
power point, the panels can compensate the additional
voltage of the arc completely with a negligible change in
current and are working at higher power.
This becomes quite obvious analyzing the characteristic
curves according to different solar irradiances and
temperatures in (a) and (b) for the panel voltage, current
and power in fig. 12, where the operating points without
and with series arcs are displayed with different colours:
In both experiments, the panel voltages are higher during
the arcs. In (a) the current and the power are smaller, in
(b) the panels can work at higher power during the arcs
keeping the current at nearly the same level.
Considering this effect of very small level changes in
many instances, an analysis of the primary voltage and
current measurements by the inverter for MPP-tracking
is not practicable for arc fault detection due to its low
sampling rate.
Comparing the spectrum of the current signal during a
series arc with the spectrum of an undisturbed section in
fig. 13 shows the broadband character of an arc (see also
[18]). The 100 Hz peak (doubled power line frequency),
its second harmonic as well as the switching frequency
of the inverter at 16 kHz and its harmonics up to 112
Fig. 10 Series arc fault (a)
kHz can be identified properly in both curves. The
narrow peaks at frequencies larger than 400 kHz were
verified as resonance effects of the measurement
equipment mainly.
Solar inverters of different types and technologies work
with switching frequencies from some kHz up to
approximately 100 kHz. At the E-T-A labs we used a
specific inductively coupled sensor developed for
aerospace applications, which allows analyzing a band of
higher frequencies up to 2 MHz in the current signal. As
it can be seen in figs. 10-11 (sensor voltage), the series
arc faults can be identified properly.

Fig. 9 Series arc fault

Fig. 11 Series arc fault (b)

 sinks down to zero (fig. 16). The arc is fed exclusively
by the bridged panels.
In both cases the high frequency sensor is very suitable
to detect occurring arc faults

Fig. 14 Arc fault bridging one, two or three of six panels

Fig. 12 Characteristic curves at the occurrence of series arc faults,
(a) at full sunlight; system is working at MPP, when arcs occur
(b) shortly after emergence of cirrostratus; system is not set to new
MPP yet, when arcs occur

Fig. 13 Spectrum of current signal without and with series arc fault

VI. ARC FAULTS BRIDGING ONE OR MORE

PANELS

A very typical location of a possible arc fault could be an

aged connection box at the back side of a solar panel. An
occurring arc fault might bridge this single panel.
Furthermore the less realistic case of three of six panels Fig. 15 Arc fault bridging one of six panels
bridged by an arc fault was analyzed (fig. 14).
In the first case arc faults are difficult to create and are
instable. They do not last very long and are of very low
energy (fig. 15). The reason for this is that the current
flowing through the group of five panels (approx. 2.75A)
nearly equals the current flowing through the single
panel (approx. 3 A, given by the arc voltage and by the
functional relationship of the characteristic curve). So
only a very low current (approx. 0.25 A) can flow
through the fault connection.
If three panels are bridged, the voltage at the remaining
three upa-ufa rises up to their open circuit voltage. The
current flowing through the primary side of the inverter

Fig. 16 Arc fault bridging three of six panels
VII. SWITCHING STRATEGIES IN CASE OF
DETECTED ARC FAULTS
If an arc fault is detected, a specific switching strategy
has to be applied:
Parallel arc faults can be extinguished by an internal
short circuit, series ones by opening the main DC switch
automatically. If a solar power plant has a structure of
parallel strings, each string is often equipped with its
own switch.
Arcs bridging one panel or a small number out of a
greater series of panels might show voltages and currents
at the inputs of the solar inverter similar to series arcs
(low and high frequencies). However, to extinguish arcs
bridging one panel or a small number of panels in the
string, it will be absolutely counterproductive to open the
main or the string switch. The previously low-energy arc
will then be fed by the whole energy generated by the
bridged panel or panels, as can be derived from the
results of chapter 6 and which has been proved by
experiments. Instead of that, an internal short circuit at
the primary side of the solar inverter will extinguish also
those panel-bridging arcs.
So it can be stated: The most secure general method to
extinguish all kinds of arcs is to short-circuit each panel
with a bypass separately and to open the main DC switch
next to the solar inverter, if a fault in a solar power plant
is detected. The switches in the connection boxes of all
panels should be activated by wireless communication.
Especially in case of fire this concept also offers the
advantage of a completely voltage-free solar power
plant.
VIII. CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
By analyzing different kinds of arc faults we obtained
following results:
• Parallel arc faults can be easily detected by low
frequency measurements. For the detection of series
arcs and arcs bridging a certain amount of panels, a
specific sensor analyzing higher frequencies is
needed.
• Only short-circuiting each panel and opening the
main DC switch at the same time will extinguish all
analyzed kinds of arcs.
The next steps in our future work will be:
• to test other types of solar inverters (with high
frequency transformers or without transformers).
• to adopt the arc fault sensor and its detection-
algorithm for these different types.
• to install a larger solar power plant with a multi-
string concept. Arcs at other locations will be tested,
possible cross-talk effects at the sensors will be
analyzed.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Prof. Dr. Heinrich
Häberlin from the Berner Fachhochschule, Switzerland,
for the discussions about arc faults, and Felix Braun, a
former student of the Georg-Simon-Ohm-Hochschule
Nürnberg, Germany, for the research at E-T-A labs
working on his diploma-thesis (see [11]).
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Christian Strobl
received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Electrical
Engineering from the University Erlangen-
Nürnberg, Germany, in 1995. From 1995 to
2004 he worked at the Institute of Robotics
and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace
Center at Oberpfaffenhofen. His research
areas covered force-torque-sensors, sensor-
fusion for robotic applications in industry
and space, as well as numerical simulations
in signal and system theory. In 2004 he
joined E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH in Altdorf, Germany,
and has been working on numerical simulations and algorithms
especially in the field of circuit breaker technologies and arc fault
analysis and detection for aerospace, automotive and photovoltaic
applications.

Peter Meckler
received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Electrical
Engineering from the University Erlangen-
Nürnberg, Germany, in 1980. He then joined
E-T-A Elektrotechnische Apparate GmbH in
Altdorf, Germany, as a Design Engineer for
circuit breakers. He was a project manager
for major aircraft projects such as RCCB
(Remote Controlled Circuit Breaker) and
AFCB (Arc Fault Circuit Breaker). For 4
years, he managed the certified E-T-A test
laboratory before he became Head of the Design Department in 1995.
In 2006 he became Head of the R&D department and is now
responsible for Innovation & Technology at E-T-A.