Carlos Meza
@hs-anhalt.de
Professor
Hochschule Anhalt
RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS
Control and Systems Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Roxane Bruhwyler, Hugo Sánchez, Carlos Meza, Frédéric Lebeau, Pascal Brunet, Gabriel Dabadie, Sebastian Dittmann, Ralph Gottschalg, and Juan Jose Negroni
Elsevier BV
Gustavo Adolfo Gómez-Ramírez, Carlos Meza, Gonzalo Mora-Jiménez, José Rodrigo Rojas Morales, and Luis García-Santander
MDPI AG
Over the past few decades, Central American countries have seen a steady increase in their energy needs. Luckily, the region has abundant renewable energy resources and, as a result, has been busy constructing wind and photovoltaic power facilities. However, while these renewable sources are promising, they come with some risks—mainly, their variable power generation can pose a challenge to the interconnected regional system. This paper explores the current state of the Central American power system and the obstacles it faces as it strives to transition to a more environmentally-friendly energy system. To do so, the authors employed power flow analysis and transient stability studies, which were conducted using ETAP (Electrical Transient Analyzer Program) to model and simulate the power system. Their study revealed that the Central American power system is at risk of instability, and they suggest that integrating ancillary services and storage solutions could strengthen its resilience. Additionally, the authors advocate for the development of microgrids, energy management, and sustainable decarbonization plans. Lastly, the authors emphasize the importance of short-, medium-, and long-term power planning to make better decisions.
Hugo Sánchez, Juan Jose Negroni, Carlos Meza, Sebastian Dittmann, and Ralph Gottschalg
IEEE
The pressing need to decarbonize electricity generation has spurred the imperative integration of renewable energy sources. Among these, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has emerged as a highly viable alternative. However, the limited flexibility in energy distribution to the grid presents a hurdle for increasing the share of photovoltaic energy in the power matrix. Consequently, developing inventive and adaptable ways to include PV in the grid becomes pivotal in expediting the transition toward a low-carbon power generation model. Notably, Chile plays a significant role in advancing solar energy integration. Nevertheless, curtailments have been increased in the final years, with diminished PV energy production. To tackle this challenge, the vertical bifacial photovoltaic (VBPV) configuration emerges as a groundbreaking approach. Its ability to stagger generation peaks across two distinct time-frames throughout the day introduces enhanced grid integration flexibility. This study presents a computational analysis of the potential of VBPV layouts within the Chilean context alongside an exploration of the associated opportunities and obstacles.
Luis Diego Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza-Benavides
Universidad de Antioquia
The study of the efficiency of photovoltaic modules in outdoor conditions allows determining their correct operation and to detect abnormal behavior. Most efficiency models developed use experimental data that are difficult to obtain as they require specialized equipment and a long measurement time under laboratory conditions to identify or adjust the model parameters. In this article, we propose a linear equation that estimates the efficiency of photovoltaic modules using irradiance and back panel temperatura measurements as input variables. The main contribution is that the parameters of the proposed model can be obtained directly from the reference information (IEC61853-1 power values) without any data regression. The proposed model was validated using experimental data obtained from three different climatic zones during a whole year. The model shows the best fit to the data of four analyzed models, and its normalized root mean square deviation for all photovoltaic modules is less than 3.6%; this dispersion could be explained by the fact that the outdoor data have an uncertainty of around 3.0%
Victor Chavarría-Fernández, Daniel Rojas-Valverde, Randall Gutiérrez-Vargas, Carlos Meza, and Miguel Méndez-Solano
Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
The increasing trend and projection for the use of wearable sensors technology in the general population have led to the development of different inertial measurement units (IMU) to monitor activity and motion variables during exercise or sports. This study aims to systematize the practical experience of developing an inertial measurement device to quantify external load in real time for runners. This article shows the installed capacity of Costa Rican higher education institutions to integrate existing sensors available in the international market in a single device to program it and use it for different sport science purposes. Two scientific laboratories joined resources and integrated an interdisciplinary team composed of exercise physiologists, sports scientists, physiotherapists, and electromechanical engineers who globally faced the challenge of creating SafeRun IMU. In this case, an IMU was constructed with great success, capable of quantifying external load variables controlled from a mobile device in real-time. The results showed an acceptable agreement and reliability of the data extracted from the IMU. The information collected from this IMU could be used to control and quantify external load to develop or redirect exercise programming and prescription and prevent overuse injuries or physical overload conditions. This device differs from other existing ones due to its small size and portability, which benefits its commercialization and massification.
Leonardo Cardinale-Villalobos, Carlos Meza, Abel Méndez-Porras, and Luis D. Murillo-Soto
MDPI AG
This paper compares multiple techniques to detect suboptimal conditions in the PV system. Detection of suboptimal conditions in the PV system is required to achieve optimal photovoltaic (PV) systems. Therefore, maintenance managers need to choose the most suitable techniques objectively. However, there is a lack of objective information comparing the effectiveness of the methods. This article calculates and compares the effectiveness of Infrared thermography (IRT), visual inspection (VI), and electrical analysis (EA) in detecting soiling, partial shadows, and electrical faults experimentally. The results showed that the VI was the best at detecting soiling and partial shading with 100% of effectiveness. IRT and EA had an effectiveness of 78% and 73%, respectively, detecting the three types of conditions under study. It was not possible to achieve maximum detection using only one of the techniques, but that VI must be combined with IR or EA. This research represents a significant contribution by achieving an objective comparison between techniques for detecting suboptimal conditions, being very useful to guide PV system maintainers and designers of fault detection techniques.
Luis Diego Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
MDPI AG
PV modules may experience degradation conditions that affect their power efficiency and affect the rest of the PV array. Based on the literature review, this paper links the parameter variation on a PV module with the six most common degradation faults, namely, series resistance degradation, optical homogeneous degradation, optical heterogeneous degradation, potential induced degradation, micro-cracks, and light-induced degradation. A Monte Carlo-based numerical simulation was used to study the effect of the faults mentioned above in the voltage of the modules in a PV array with one faulty module. A simple expression to identify faults was derived based on the obtained results. The simplicity of this expression allows integrating the fault detection technique in low-cost electronic circuits embedded in a PV module, optimizer, or microinverter.
Gustavo A. Gomez-Ramirez, Isaac A. Luevano-Reyes, Gonzalo Mora-Jimenez, Luis Garcia-Santander, Markel Zubiaga Laskano, and Carlos Meza
IEEE
Decarbonising the energy system requires greater electrification leading to higher power demand and better and more reliable power services. These demands are challenging to meet in weak power grids where significant transmission losses are present, and the system is not very reliable. Photovoltaic (PV) installations combined with storage can relieve congestion in the industrial distribution system, improve load voltage profiles, and increase availability. If implemented on a large scale, a PV and storage system can directly impact demand management on power transmission, providing other benefits, such as increasing the capacity to absorb many renewable energies. The present paper analyses a real case in the Honduran power system. The case consists of a mining facility that requires a relatively large amount of power consumed at a constant rate, i.e., 24/7. Due to frequent blackouts, the facility is often powered by a privately owned fossil fuel-based plant. In this regard, this paper analyses the effect of a PV and storage system when it is used to substitute the fossil fuel-based power plant. The simulation results show more than 80% reduction in the distribution lines losses and an improvement in the voltage stability. Consequently, the results showed that storage could be a potential solution to response demand management and improve the electrical system performance.
Hugo Sanchez, Sebastian Dittmann, Carlos Meza, and Ralph Gottschalg
IEEE
Albedo, or the ground reflectance irradiance, is one of the crucial variables in the energy estimation for bifacial photovoltaic modules due to the modules' ability to collect electricity from both front and rear sides. There are several modeling tools for the energy estimation of these modules. Our paper reports on the comparison of on two available energy estimation models with view factor and ray tracing and compares the estimated data with actual measured values. For a one-year data gathered at the Anhalt Photovoltaic Performance and Lifetime Laboratory (APOLLO) in Bernburg, Germany, the view factor model-based algorithm for a bifacial module is more accurate when predicting PV energy yield. Furthermore, an albedo sensitivity analysis concludes that the tested Ray-tracing algorithm overestimates bifacial PV energy for large albedo values. However, the tested modeling methods follow the measured data trend with a deviation between −8 % to 6 %.
Dalberth Corrales, Leonardo Cardinale-Villalobos, Carlos Meza, and Luis Diego Murillo-Soto
Springer International Publishing
Luis D. Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
MDPI AG
This work proposes an automated reconfiguration system to manage two types of faults in any position inside the solar arrays. The faults studied are the short-circuit to ground and the open wires in the string. These faults were selected because they severely affect power production. By identifying the affected panels and isolating the faulty one, it is possible to recover part of the power loss. Among other types of faults that the system can detect and locate are: diode short-circuit, internal open-circuit, and the degradation of the internal parasitic serial resistance. The reconfiguration system can detect, locate the above faults, and switch the distributed commutators to recover most of the power loss. Moreover, the system can return automatically to the previous state when the fault has been repaired. A SIMULINK model has been built to prove this automatic system, and a simulated numerical experiment has been executed to test the system response to the faults mentioned. The results show that the recovery of power is more than 90%, and the diagnosis accuracy and sensitivity are both 100% for this numerical experiment.
Gustavo A. Gomez-Ramirez, Isaac A. Luevano-Reyes, Carlos Meza, and Luis Garcia-Santander
IEEE
Storage has become a fast and accessible option to solve some power systems technical problems. Therefore, storage is becoming an important part of power planning. Consequently, storage utilisation is proposed in the following article to manage the demand response due to high losses in the power grid and to compensate directly in the loads. This article reviews literature in voltage regulation, stability control, reactive power support, and integration of renewable energies such as solar and wind applied to storage. It presents a simulation using ETAP software to analyse load and generation considering storage as power supplies in mass penetration. The result shows a significant contribution enhancing and reducing the congestion relief for transmission. It indicates satisfactory conditions for the massive use of storage as a measure to improve the reliability of the system, where it is reached to relieve the power system in 16.2 %. Finally, the results showed that the use of storage can be a short-term solution to enable sustained and planned growth of response demand.
Leonardo Cardinale-Villalobos, Carlos Meza, and Luis D. Murillo-Soto
Springer International Publishing
Luis D. Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
IEEE
Large photovoltaic installations present faults that can reduce significantly their power yield. For instance, a protection fuse can compromise the performance of the array making that several solar modules stop generating. This work presents a fault detection system based on efficiency measurements of a solar array and its comparison to an expected theoretical efficiency which serves as a threshold that was modeled as a plane using parameters that can be obtained from the manufacturer’s data-sheet or by software simulation. A set of experiments were executed in order to validate the proposed fault detection algorithm under short-circuit, open-circuit and partial shadowing faults. The results show that this method could detect short circuits in bypass diodes, open circuits in protection fuses and shadows in the array in small solar systems.
Ronny Zarate-Ferreto, Kaleb Alfaro-Badilla, Carlos Meza-Benavides, Carlos Salazar-Garcia, and Alfonso Chacon-Rodriguez
IEEE
This paper presents the hardware implementation of a linear estimation algorithm for the online monitoring of temperature-dependent parameters from photovoltaic (PV) systems. Such parameters are related to the optimal energy efficiency in PV panels, and the validity of the estimation algorithm has been verified in prior publications. The algorithm requires the sampling of high-frequency harmonics in the DC-DC converted voltage and current signals (in the order of several hundred kHz), which make their acquisition and processing unwieldy for typical small embedded systems, mainly if aiming at low latency, efficiency control loops for several panels. As such, the presented system provides with fast sampling (1Mbps per channel), fast processing, expandable parametric estimation, and online monitoring, using an Avnet ZedBoard Zynq SoC platform. Monitoring data from the system may be accessed via the Internet, and the low resources count of the implemented system opens the possibility for the incorporation of control algorithms running on hardware as well.
Luis Diego Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
Springer International Publishing
Luis D. Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
Springer International Publishing
Edgar Mauricio Brenes and Carlos Meza
IEEE
Microgrid represents a new paradigm in the power sector that offers more reliability and flexibility for electricity delivery. A microgrid consists of different types of power generation units, loads and energy storage systems that are controlled and coordinated. Smart power processing units play an important role in a microgrid. The present paper presents an application-specific instruction set processor for the study of power converters operating in isolated microgrids. The proposed processor has been developed in order to solve differential algebraic equations that describe the dynamical behavior of microgrid power processor. Due to the inherently parallelism of the proposed processor the simulation time is reduced considerably with respect to a general purpose processor.
E. Jiménez-Delgado, C. Meza, A. Méndez-Porras, and J. Alfaro-Velasco
Springer International Publishing
Luis D. Murillo-Soto and Carlos Meza
IEEE
In this paper a simple expression to calculate the efficiency as a function of the temperature and irradiance is presented. The proposed efficiency model has been validated and compared with other efficiency models reported in the scientific literature. Differently from the reported models, the proposed efficiency model only requires the data provided in the data sheet of photovoltaic modules and cells and it is not required to estimate parameters or perform measurements.
Luis D. Murillo-Soto, Geovanni Figueroa-Mata, and Carlos Meza
IEEE
One of the main concern of the maintenance operation in solar plants is the early identification of faults in solar panels. Several faults in solar panels reflects on the variation of its internal resistance. This work presents and validates a differential evolution algorithm that is capable of identifying the changes on the internal resistance of photo-voltaic (PV) modules under dark conditions. Such algorithm enables the automated test of PV modules during the night, when the identification operations do not affect the PV installation energy generation.
Miguel Hernandez-Rivera and Carlos Meza
IEEE
In this article it is presented a new algorithm for the tracking of the maximum power point (PMP) in a photovoltaic module. The algorithm Quadratic Adjustment with Vertex Convergence bases its functioning on successive calculations on vertexes of parabolas that will approximate to the point where the photovoltaic system outputs the maximum power. The convergence is reached when the vertex of the last calculated parabola coincides with the maximum power operating point. This method presents a better answer to other methods such as Open Voltage and Perturb and Observe. Its use is an alternative to the method of Incremental Conductance. The new algorithm presents, as an advantage over the other algorithms, a smoother track of the changes in the solar radiation which helps to avoid perturbations on the power output, allows to calculate directly the PMP and, define a collection of neighbor values with a quadratic equation around this point.