scholarly journals From 1 Sun to 10 Suns c-Si Cells by Optimizing Metal Grid, Metal Resistance, and Junction Depth

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikrant A. Chaudhari ◽  
Chetan S. Solanki

Use of a solar cell in concentrator PV technology requires reduction in its series resistance in order to minimize the resistive power losses. The present paper discusses a methodology of reducing the series resistance of a commercial c-Si solar cell for concentrator applications, in the range of 2 to 10 suns. Step by step optimization of commercial cell in terms of grid geometry, junction depth, and electroplating of the front metal contacts is proposed. A model of resistance network of solar cell is developed and used for the optimization. Efficiency of unoptimized commercial cell at 10 suns drops by 30% of its 1 sun value corresponding to resistive power loss of about 42%. The optimized cell with grid optimization, junction optimization, electroplating, and junction optimized with electroplated contacts cell gives resistive power loss of 20%, 16%, 11%, and 8%, respectively. An efficiency gain of 3% at 10 suns for fully optimized cell is estimated.

Author(s):  
M. Kasemann ◽  
L.M. Reindl ◽  
B. Michl ◽  
W. Warta ◽  
A. Schütt ◽  
...  

Abstract Conventional series resistance imaging methods require electrical contacts for current injection or extraction in order to generate lateral current flow in the solar cell. This paper presents a new method to generate lateral current flow in the solar cell without any electrical contacts. This reduces the sample handling complexity for inline application and allows for measurements on unfinished solar cell precursors.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Sergiu Spataru ◽  
Peter Hacke ◽  
Dezso Sera

An in-situ method is proposed for monitoring and estimating the power degradation of mc-Si photovoltaic (PV) modules undergoing thermo-mechanical degradation tests that primarily manifest through cell cracking, such as mechanical load tests, thermal cycling and humidity freeze tests. The method is based on in-situ measurement of the module’s dark current-voltage (I-V) characteristic curve during the stress test, as well as initial and final module flash testing on a Sun simulator. The method uses superposition of the dark I-V curve with final flash test module short-circuit current to account for shunt and junction recombination losses, as well as series resistance estimation from the in-situ measured dark I-Vs and final flash test measurements. The method is developed based on mc-Si standard modules undergoing several stages of thermo-mechanical stress testing and degradation, for which we investigate the impact of the degradation on the modules light I-V curve parameters, and equivalent solar cell model parameters. Experimental validation of the method on the modules tested shows good agreement between the in-situ estimated power degradation and the flash test measured power loss of the modules, of up to 4.31 % error (RMSE), as the modules experience primarily junction defect recombination and increased series resistance losses. However, the application of the method will be limited for modules experiencing extensive photo-current degradation or delamination, which are not well reflected in the dark I-V characteristic of the PV module.


Solar Energy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 1629-1633 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Jahanshah ◽  
K. Sopian ◽  
Y. Othman ◽  
H.R. Fallah

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