Journal Article

A Novel Deep Stack-Based Ensemble Learning Approach for Fault Detection and Classification in Photovoltaic Arrays

Wang, Fei-Yue, Lodhi, Ehtisham, Zhu, Lingjian, Xiong, Gang, Khan, M. Adil, Tamir, Tariku Sinshaw, Rehman, Waheed Ur

2023

Overview

The widespread adoption of green energy resources worldwide, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems to generate green and renewable power, has prompted safety and reliability concerns. One of these concerns is fault diagnostics, which is needed to manage the reliability and output of PV systems. Severe PV faults make detecting faults challenging because of drastic weather circumstances. This research article presents a novel deep stack-based ensemble learning (DSEL) approach for diagnosing PV array faults. The DSEL approach compromises three deep-learning models, namely, deep neural network, long short-term memory, and Bi-directional long short-term memory, as base learners for diagnosing PV faults. To better analyze PV arrays, we use multinomial logistic regression as a meta-learner to combine the predictions of base learners. This study considers open circuits, short circuits, partial shading, bridge, degradation faults, and incorporation of the MPPT algorithm. The DSEL algorithm offers reliable, precise, and accurate PV-fault diagnostics for noiseless and noisy data. The proposed DSEL approach is quantitatively examined and compared to eight prior machine-learning and deep-learning-based PV-fault classification methodologies by using a simulated dataset. The findings show that the proposed approach outperforms other techniques, achieving 98.62% accuracy for fault detection with noiseless data and 94.87% accuracy with noisy data. The study revealed that the DSEL algorithm retains a strong generalization potential for detecting PV faults while enhancing prediction accuracy. Hence, the proposed DSEL algorithm detects and categorizes PV array faults more efficiently, reliably, and accurately.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Accuracy / Algorithms / Alternative energy sources / Arrays / Artificial intelligence / Artificial neural networks / Classification / Clean energy / Comparative analysis / data collection / Deep learning / diagnostic techniques / Energy resources / Energy sources / Ensemble learning / fault classification / Fault detection / Fault diagnosis / Fault location (Engineering) / Faults / Green energy / green energy potentials and development / green energy resources / Learning / Long short-term memory / Machine learning / Methods / Neural networks / Photovoltaic cells / Photovoltaics / prediction / regression analysis / Reliability / Remote sensing / Renewable energy / renewable energy sources / Short circuits / Signal processing / weather