NEXUS PV System Design Proposal

Appalachian State University

Christian Houpe

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I] Introduction
This is a design for a photovoltaic array that provides electricity to 20x 40 Greenhouse that is
currently being used to conduct research on greenhouse heating using renewable energies and
biomass waste streams in Boone, North Carolina. The system includes 8, 96 cell, 195 watt PV modules
that charge 16, 12V, 225 Amp hour, Trojan batteries. The modules were a gift to NEXUS from REI. The
NEXUS array is 1,632 watts providing roughly 7,344 watts a day.

II] Solar array

a] Module Description
This array uses 8 Sanyo Electric, monocrystalline, 96 cell, 195 Watt modules that were given
to NEXUS from REI. The array sits on the red metal roof the east headhouse facing directly south with
minimal shading. I used a 5% backside irradiation contribution factor
to account for the sunlight that is reflected off the roof into bifacial
pv cells. This module has the following electrical characteristics:

Table 1: Sanyo Electric HIP-195DA3 module electrical specifications

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Table 2: Sanyo Electric HIP-195DA3 Module mechanical specifications

Table 3: Sanyo Electric HIP-195DA3 Module Safety specifications

a) Array Description
The array is composed of 8, 195watt bifacial monocrystalline photovoltaic modules with a 5%
backside irradiation contribution bringing the modules wattage to 204W. NEXUS is rocking a 1,632
watt array that produces roughly 7,344 watts a day.

204 8
| || | = 1,632

Because these modules are the not the normal 12 or 24 volts, the panels were not wired into
a nominal voltage on the roof. NEXUS has four series strings of two panels each. Each module has a
Voc of 68.9V with a 5% contribution factor bringing each series string voltage to 172.2Volts when
multiplied by the 1.23 temperature factor required by the NEC.
68.9 1.23 2
| || || | = 169.5

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 Each module has a short circuit current or Isc of 3.92 Amps, the NEC requires us to multiply
the Isc by 1.25 when sizing OCPD, and 1.56 when sizing wires. Bringing the Isc to 4.9Amps for OCPD
sizing & 6.1 Amps for wire sizing.
3.92 1.25
: | || | = 4.9

3.92 1.56
: | || | = 6.1

Because the four series strings modules are wired in parallel we must size the OCPD to
handle 19.6Amps and the wires must be sized to handle 24.4Amps coming out of the combiner box.

4.9 4
: | || | = 19.6

6.1 4
: | || | = 24.4

We have a 1.63 Kw array producing 1,560 watts for every hour of full sun at NEXUS. Boone
receives 4.5 hours of full sun per day on average allowing our system to produce 7,020 watts a day.

1,632 4.5
| || | = 7,344
/

The PV array is wired as such:

Figure 1: PV array wiring schematic

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III] Battery Bank
The battery bank inside the greenhouse is composed of 16 Trojan T-105 deep-cycle lead acid
batteries. They are 6 volt batteries containing 225 amp hours each. There are four series strings
consisting of 6V batteries bringing the battery bank voltage to 24V.

4 6 24
| || |=
/ /

Each series string is wired in parallel to the others increasing the amperage of the battery
bank. Each battery is rated for 225 amp hours, with four series strings our battery bank has 900 Amp
hours.

225 4 900
| || |=

This means our battery bank can provide 900 Amp hours at 24 Volts giving us 21,600
watts/hour or 21.6 Kwh.

900 24
| || | = 21,600

The battery bank has the following characteristics:

Battery Model T-105-RE
Battery Volts 6V
Battery Capacity (A-H) 225A-H
Number of Batteries 16
Number of Batteries per Series String 4
Number of Series Strings 4
Battery Bank Voltage 24V
Battery Bank Amp Hours 900 Amp hours
Battery Bank Capacity 21.6 Kwh
Table 3: Characteristics of NEXUS Battery Bank

A) Batteries

The following drawing shows the battery banks wiring:

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 Drawing 2: Battery Bank wiring

IV] OCPD & Wire Sizing

The amperage of the system must never exceed the ampacity of the wire gauge being used,
to prevent fire hazards. This happens by carefully selecting wire sizes that can handle the system
amperage at its maximum production potential and selecting over current protection devices that
dont exceed the ampacity of the wire. But the OCPD also should not limit the system by tripping or
blowing, so measures must be taken to insure the devices also can handle the amperage of the
system at its maximum production potential. This system uses Midnite solar 150V rated DC din rail
mounted circuit breakers that are rated for continuous duty. The charts below from the National
Electric Code give an amperage rating for each wire size to ensure wires never over heated, the first
table is for wires running through conduit or inside an electrical box, and the second is for wires in
an open air environment, and the third is a list of temperature correction factors used to find the
ampacity of wires at higher temperatures.

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 A) Wires from Modules to Combiner Box
The modules come pre wired with #10AWG which can safely handle up to 55 Amps in a free air
environment according to table 310.15(B) (17) of the NEC, but the wires will be making a
connection in the combiner box that can reach temperatures of 141oF-158oF. To find the wires
true ampacity at this temperature I multiplied the rated amperage of 55 Amps by the
temperature correction factor of .58 and found the true ampacity was 31.9 Amps.

55 . 58
| || | = 31.9

The modules short circuit amperage or Isc for wire sizing is only 6.1 Amps and because there are
no parallel connections until the combiner box the amperage will never exceed 6.1 Amps which
is well under the maximum of 31.9 Amps.

B) OCPD in Combiner Box

Item code Brand name Model number Volts Amps
GENBRKDIN-15 Midnite Solar, Inc. MNEPV-15 150V 15A

The over current protection device inside the combiner box must not exceed the amperage
rating of the #10 gauge wire but must have a high enough ampacity that it does not limit the system.

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Number 10 gauge wire can safely handle up to 31.9 Amps at temperatures of 141oF-158oF, so our
OCPD can be no greater than 30 Amps. The modules have an Isc of 4.9 Amps when sizing OCPD at
maximum efficiency, so our OCPD cannot be less than 4.9Amps or they will trip at peak performance
and stop the flow of electricity to the batteries.

31.9 4.9
| |<| | = 15 20

C) Wires from Combiner Box to BOS Components

The wires running from the combiner box to the rest of the BOS components must be larger
because they have a higher current flowing through them due to the parallel connection inside the
combiner box. The wires are also in conduit running inside the greenhouse. The four series strings
will be wired together in parallel inside the combiner box multiplying the amperage of the system by
a factor of four.

6.1 4
| || | = 24.4

Number 8 AWG can handle 55 Amps inside of conduit based on table 310.15(B) (16) of the
NEC. The parallel connection will be in the combiner box that reaches temperatures of 158oF so its
ampacity will also have to be multiplied by the temperature correction factor of .58 to find its true
limit of 31.9 Amps, which is more than the required 24.4 Amps.

55 . 58
| || | = 31.9

D) OCPD Sizing for Charge Controller Wiring

Item code Brand name Model number Volts Amps
GENBRKDIN-30 MidniteSolar, MNEPV30 150V 30A
Inc.

The over current protection device in the DC junction box, before the charge controller, must
not exceed 31.9 Amps (#8 AWG max ampacity) while still being able to handle 19.6 Amps (system
max Isc for OCPD sizing). Because the four series strings will be wired in parallel inside the combiner
box the amperage will be multiplied by a factor of four, calling for a circuit breaker much larger than
the ones in the combiner box. The breaker must not exceed 31.9 Amps while allowing for 19.6 Amps
to flow through it, bringing me to a 30 Amp Breaker.
31.9 19.6
| |<| | = 30

55 . 58
| || | = 31.9

E) Wire Sizing After Charge Controller

The wires after the charge controller must be able to handle the maximum amperage of the
charge controllers output. This is a 1,632 watt system charging a 24Volt battery bank. The lowest

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voltage the MPPT charge controller will put out is 27.2 volts during its float stage of charging, making
the maximum amperage output of the charge controller 57.4A

1,632 27.2
| || | = 60

#4 AWG can handle 95 Amps inside of conduit based on table 310.15(B) (16) of the NEC. This
connection is made inside the DC junction box inside the greenhouse that is a semi conditioned
space. Temperatures do not exceed 140F allowing us to use a correction factor of .71. The ampacity
of 95 multiplied by the temperature correction factor of .71 brings its true ampacity to 67.5 Amps,
which is 7.5 amps more than what is required.

95 . 71
| || | = 67.5

F) OCPD Sizing Between Charge Controller & Battery Bank

The circuit breaker between the charge controller and the battery bank must be greater than
the maximum amperage output of the charge controller (57.4A) but less than the ampacity of
#4AWG wire(67.5A)
67.5 57.4
| |<| | = 60

G) Main OCPD Between Inverter and Battery Bank

NEXUS has the Samlex PST-2000-24 2000 Watt, 24 Volt, pure sine wave inverter. This
inverters DC voltage input ranges from 21.4-33 Volts. To size the OCPD between the inverter and the
battery bank I divided the wattage of the inverter (2,000W) by the cutoff voltage of the inverter
(21.4V) and got a maximum AC amperage of 93.5A.

2,000 21.4
| || | = 93.5

I then divided the maximum AC Amps (93.5A) by the inverter efficiency (85%) to get the
maximum DC Amps (110A).
93.5 85%
| || | = 110

This mean the breaker size between the inverter and the battery bank must be greater than
the maximum potential amperage of the system at the inverters cutoff voltage(110A), but less than
the ampacity of #2 AWG wire in a free air environment (134.9A.)

190 . 71
| || | = 134.9

110 134.9
| |>| |

This brings me to the Midnite Solar 125 Amp main Breaker.

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 Item code Brand name Model number Volts Amps
GENBRKDIN- MidniteSolar, MNEPV125 150V 125A
125 Inc.

H) Wire Sizing Between Battery Bank & Inverter

The wires carrying electricity from the battery bank to the inverter are #2AWG which have an
ampacity of 134.9A, this is more than the needed 72.89A the battery bank would produce right
before the invert cuts off at 21.4 Volts.

1,560 21.4
| || | = 72.89

I) Wire Sizing of Battery Bank

The battery bank is wired in series and parallel with #2/0 AWG which has a rated ampacity of
195A. We will not have a load inside the greenhouse that will exceed 195 Amps at 120 Volts.

V] Charge Controller
NEXUS charges its battery bank with a Midnite Solar Classic 150 Max Power Point Tracking
charge controller we need to switch it out to a Midnite Solar Classic 200. When sizing charge
controllers you must make sure that the array voltage doesnt exceed the max operating voltage
of the controller. Our modules have a Voc of 68.9V that increases to 84.7V when you multiply it
by the voltage correction factor 0f 1.23 for Boones record low of -24F.
68.9 1.23
| || | = 84.7

Because we have four series strings comprised of two modules each with a Voc of 84.7 our
system voltage is 169.4V.
84.7 2
| || | = 169.4

The Midnite 150 could safely handle this voltage during hyper Voc mode but would not
charge the batteries at temperatures lower than 40F according to the Hyper VOC chart and voltage
correction factors. The Midnite Classic 200 MPPT can operate at our systems maximum voltage. This
charge controller is equipped with a ground fault detection device that shuts off current to the
batteries when amperage reaches unsafe levels. This charge controller can be adjusted to charge a
12, 24, 36, 48 or 72 Volt battery bank. The charge controller also has 32MB of data logging along with
ethernet and USB ports for downloading.

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 Midnite Solar Classic 200 MPPT Charge Controller
Item Code Volts in Max Current out Model Number

MIDCLASSIC200 200 V 70 A Classic 200

VI] Inverter
NEXUS uses a Samlex Solar 2,000 watt, pure sine wave inverter to convert or DC energy from
the battery bank into useable AC that flows to our outlets. This high efficiency DC-AC inverter
converts 24 Volts DC to 2000 Watts of pure sine-wave AC power at 120 Volts, 60 Hz. The unit comes
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with pin-type battery cable lugs. Features include overload protection, low battery alarm / shut
down, low idle power draw of less than 1 Amp. AC power is available from a NEMA-20R GFCI duplex
outlet on the front panel.

Samlex Solar 2000 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter

Model
Watts Voltage Input Output Voltage
Number

2,000 24 VDC 120 VDC PST-2000-24

VII] Batteries
NEXUS uses 16 Trojan T-105 6 volt deep-cycle batteries rated at 225 AH @ 20HR & 185 AH @ 5HR.
These batteries must be filled with distilled water and checked regularly to ensure water levels are
up to standards.

Trojan T-105-RE 6V, 225AH (20HR) Premium Line Flooded

Battery
Model
Item Code Volts Amp Hours
Number

TROT-105-RE 6V 225A-H T-105-RE

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