Abstract
Correlating the electrical performance of photovoltaic modules to the spatially resolved photoluminescence, electroluminescence, and dark lock-in thermography (DLIT) images is an important long-Term goal for developing solar cell technology. These images offer highly sophisticated and detailed information about the spatial distribution and (if imaged at successive time intervals) temporal degradation of local series and shunt resistances. There have been extensive studies to correlate these imaging techniques to local characteristics at the cell level. However, it has been difficult to extract and quantify module-level information from the techniques. In this study, we interpret module current-voltage (I-V) measurements along with corresponding DLIT images within a module-scale simulation framework, demonstrating that series resistance degradation of the module I-V characteristics, in this case, can be attributed to solder bond failures. Our simulations highlight how current crowding associated with a failed solder joint (or a section of the solder pad) translates to the characteristic point-like (asymmetric doublet) heating pattern in neighboring solder joints (or the neighboring regions of the solder pad). The correlation between series resistance and solder joint degradation could inform expedited diagnosis of field degradation of solar modules.
Original language | American English |
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Article number | 9139421 |
Pages (from-to) | 1409-1416 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2011-2012 IEEE.
NREL Publication Number
- NREL/JA-5K00-76185
Keywords
- Characterization
- dark lock-in thermography (DLIT)
- hotspots
- power dissipation
- series resistance
- solder bond failure