MONITOREO DEL DESEMPEÑO DEL INVERSOR QUE CONFORMA EL PRIMER SISTEMA FOTOVOLTAICO INTERCONECTADO DE COLOMBIA, USANDO INSTRUMENTACION VIRTUAL.

This article presents results obtained from the performance monitoring of the inverter, part of the first Colombian interconnected photovoltaic system (PVS), which was installed and in operation since June 2003, at the Physics Department of the Universidad National de Colombia, Bogotá Campus; the PVS is constituted of a 980 Wp photovoltaic generator and a 1000 VA inverter. Data acquisition and analysis equipment was developed from virtual instrumentation capable of permanent monitoring parameters yielding information on the performance of the inverter (current and d.c voltage generated by the photovoltaic array, current and a.c voltage at inverter output, inverter efficiency, irradiance and ambient temperature measurements) and on the PVS efficiency. This equipment was developed by using hardware made up of Field Point modules and a NI-6024E data acquisition board, along with LabVIEW 7.1 graphic programming software. The results obtained, from a three-month monitoring, indicate the viability of the installation and operation of the interconnected to the local electric grid photovoltaic systems, as embedded systems capable of supporting the power supplied by the distribution grid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]