Fault Coverage-Aware Metrics for Evaluating the Reliability Factor of Solar Tracking Systems

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical approach for determining the reliability of solar tracking systems based on three fault coverage-aware metrics which use system error data from hardware, software as well as in-circuit testing (ICT) techniques, to calculate a solar test factor (STF). Using Euler’s named constant, the solar reliability factor (SRF) is computed to define the robustness and availability of modern, high-performance solar tracking systems. The experimental cases which were run in the Mathcad software suite and the Python programming environment show that the fault coverage-aware metrics greatly change the test and reliability factor curve of solar tracking systems, achieving significantly reduced calculation steps and computation time.