Environmental Influence on Module Delamination Rate

Journal Article · Thu Dec 13 00:00:00 EST 2018 · IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2018.2877436· OSTI ID:1490996

Bosco, Nick S. ^[1]; Tracy, Jared ^[2]; Dauskardt, Reinhold ^[2]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
2. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)

Here, this study begins to investigate the role of environmental factors, such as temperature and humidity, on the delamination kinetics of the ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)/silicon-photovoltaic (Si-PV) cell interface. A fracture mechanics approach based on a single cantilever beam technique is employed to measure the delamination rate as a function of applied driving force. To glean insight into the mechanisms of bonding and degradation at this interface, and the effect of manufacturing variability and quality, we consider a high-quality pristine EVA and two EVAs formulated with reduced amounts of its adhesion promoter, silane. Results indicate that a bulk change in the viscoelastic properties of the EVA dominates the delamination kinetics at high driving forces and low humidity and the effect of a chemical reaction only becomes apparent at higher humidity and lower driving forces. These findings suggest that only interfacial phenomenon of susceptible, degraded material may have to be considered to adequately model PV module delamination failure.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1490996
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5K00-70830; MainId:22000; UUID:c84ecef6-3ffd-e711-9c12-2c44fd93e385; MainAdminID:10476
• Journal Information: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics, Journal Name: IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 9; ISSN 2156-3381
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
accelerated aging
adhesive strength
delamination
materials reliability
photovoltaic cells