PV Station Electrical Fire Protection Solution

Primary Causes of Fires at PV Stations

PV systems have high DC-side voltage and long wiring, presenting distinctive electrical fire risks:

• DC arcing: loose joints and aged cables readily produce DC arcs, whose sustained high temperature ignites surrounding materials
• Harsh outdoors: inverters and combiner boxes face long-term sun and rain, accelerating insulation aging
• Live DC: even at night when shut down, modules still carry DC voltage, raising the risk of suppression work
• Wide distribution: dispersed station groups make centralized monitoring and rapid response difficult

Inverters, DC combiner boxes, and array DC cable joints are the three key locations for electrical fires at PV stations. Traditional fire protection relies mainly on smoke detection, which detects DC-side arcing late, creating a need for protection that suppresses fires locally and actively while monitoring DC anomalies.

Solution Overview

This solution uses the AFCP composite agile fire-control patch as the core protection layer, combined with EAPD device DC-side monitoring and the ICOP platform's unified management of station groups, forming a PV electrical active-protection system of "patch suppression — device monitoring — platform management."

Overall approach: Cover the surfaces of core live equipment such as inverters and combiner boxes with AFCP patches; they actively release a clean extinguishing agent upon high temperature. EAPD devices focus on monitoring DC-side temperature and arc anomalies, giving active early warning before ignition. The ICOP platform connects dispersed station groups to a central control center into one online network. Working together, they help suppress station electrical fires at the source.

Typical Protection Points

Core Product Configuration

AFCP Composite Agile Fire-Control Patch

Apply and protect—address electrical fires at the source:

• Active suppression: affixed to inverter and combiner surfaces, releases a clean extinguishing agent upon high temperature
• Strong conformability: flexible patches fit irregular heated surfaces such as inverters and combiner boxes
• No secondary damage: the clean agent is non-conductive and residue-free, causing no harm to precision power electronics
• Weather-adapted: suited to the long-term outdoor operating environment of electrical equipment

EAPD Electrical Active Protection Device (DC Monitoring)

Very early warning, actively suppressing before ignition; focuses on DC-side temperature and arc anomalies, reporting anomalies to the central control center.

ICOP Intelligent Integrated Operations Platform (Station-Group Management)

Connects dispersed station groups to the central control center as one online network, with visualized risks and tiered alerts, supporting centralized O&M of PV stations.

Key Technical Parameters

Protection method	Patch active suppression + device DC monitoring + platform management
Extinguishing agent	AFCP clean extinguishing agent (non-conductive, residue-free)
Monitoring focus	EAPD very-early DC-side temperature/arc anomaly monitoring
Deployment form	Patch maintenance-free; EAPD wall-mounted; ICOP cloud/local deployment
Applicable equipment	Inverters, combiner boxes, box transformers, storage containers, and other PV electrical equipment
Unified management	ICOP connected to central control center, centralized monitoring of multiple station groups

Benefits After Implementation

Extended Applications

This solution also applies to commercial and industrial distributed PV, agrivoltaics, and PV carports. The logic is consistent—patch coverage for inverters and combiner equipment, EAPD DC-side monitoring, and ICOP station-group management. It can also be paired with AFCP-D liquid-shield coating to cover irregular narrow gaps and blind spots.

Standards & Compliance

The technical approach references design codes for PV station electrical fire protection and the AFCP series enterprise standards. It uses a clean non-conductive extinguishing agent suited to active protection of live DC-side PV equipment. Combined with EAPD devices and the ICOP platform, it aligns with the "monitoring — warning — local suppression" direction of electrical active protection.