Thermal Aging of Photovoltaic Cables Based Cross-Linked Polyolefin (XLPO) Insulation

Abstract

Photovoltaic and wind turbine energy systems have a pivotal role to meet the growth in power demand. The power generated from the renewable energy sources has main advantages of the absence of harmful emissions and infinite availability. The integration of photovoltaic systems into the power grid is expected to increase with the continuous reduction in the capital cost of these systems. The photovoltaic systems are exposed to extreme ambient conditions such as solar radiations, wind, humidity and thermal stresses. Cables in the photovoltaic systems are of great importance since they provide the link between the main components of the photovoltaic systems so, the reliability, efficiency and lifetime of the photovoltaic systems affected greatly by the functionality of these cables. This research presents a study of the insulation condition of Cross-Linked Polyolefin insulation based photovoltaic cable samples exposed to elevated temperature of 120 ℃ for four cycles. The analysis based on the measurement of the insulation capacitance, insulation resistance and the dissipation factor or tangent delta after each cycle as a function of frequency ranged from 100 Hz to 500 kHz. The results showed that the capacitance had a slight change with increasing the ageing period while the insulation resistance and the dissipation factor were more affected.