Abstract
When cells in a crystalline silicon photovoltaic module crack, packaging materials hold the fragments together. Changes in module temperature cause cell fragments to move, allowing cracked metallization to lose and regain contact. We intentionally cracked cells in commercial PV modules and characterized the modules' temperature-dependent electroluminescence (EL) response. Here we show that (1) metallization makes contact across cracks in a way that is temperature dependent and (2) this contact is not a function of temperature, but is hysteretic. We expect that any electro-optical characterization made at a single temperature will be misleading as to the effects of cracked cells at different temperatures. And we expect that a single temperature sweep cannot fully characterize the temperature dependence of electro-optical performance of modules with cracked cells.
Original language | American English |
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Pages | 1691-1692 |
Number of pages | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 20 Jun 2021 |
Event | 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021 - Fort Lauderdale, United States Duration: 20 Jun 2021 → 25 Jun 2021 |
Conference
Conference | 48th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, PVSC 2021 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Fort Lauderdale |
Period | 20/06/21 → 25/06/21 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021 IEEE.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/CP-5K00-78991
Keywords
- characterization
- durability
- electroluminescence
- photovoltaic cells
- photovoltaic modules
- photovoltaics
- reliability
- solar energy