Preventive Maintenance of Solar PV Systems using wireless Real-Time Data Acquisition

Engineering notes

Engineering notes will be added by the Power for Solar editorial team.

Chinese explanation / 中文解读

中文解读待补充：本站会优先为光伏效率、钙钛矿太阳能电池、储能技术、太阳能热利用、BIPV、并网技术等高价值论文补充中文说明。

Original abstract

Abstract—Solar photovoltaic (SPV) power generation has become an indispensable component of modern renewable energy systems. Ensuring the reliable operation of SPV installations, particularly those deployed in remote or inaccessible locations, requires continuous monitoring of critical electrical and environmental parameters to facilitate timely preventive maintenance. To address this requirement, a cost-effective real-time energy monitoring system has been designed and developed specifically for SPV applications. The proposed system employs multiple sensors strategically installed at different stages of the photovoltaic system to acquire operational data, which are transmitted wirelessly through an RF XBEE communication network integrated with a low-cost PIC microcontroller. A custom graphical user interface (GUI) developed using Visual Basic enables users to observe live operating parameters on a server computer while simultaneously archiving instantaneous measurements for future analysis. The continuous data acquisition and storage capability supports rapid identification of abnormalities, including power fluctuations, performance degradation, and fault conditions, thereby minimizing manual intervention and improving system reliability. The wireless communication architecture offers a simple, scalable, and economical solution for remote monitoring applications. Compared with conventional monitoring approaches, the developed system addresses several practical limitations, including high implementation cost, restricted memory capacity, limited PC connectivity, inadequate software programming flexibility, and fewer analog sensor interfaces available in standard controllers. A comparative performance evaluation between the proposed monitoring platform and existing systems demonstrates its effectiveness and practicality. Furthermore, the XBEE modules were configured using XCTU software, and the wireless communication network was verified through simulation before being integrated with the experimental SPV setup, ensuring reliable system operation.

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