An accelerated stress testing program for determining the reliability sensitivity of silicon solar cells to encapsulation and metallization systems

Conference · Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1982 · Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5379562

Lathrop, J W; Davis, C W; Royal, E

The use of accelerated testing methods in a program to determine the reliability attributes of terrestrial silicon solar cells is discussed. Different failure modes are to be expected when cells with and without encapsulation are subjected to accelerated testing and separate test schedules for each are described. Unencapsulated test cells having slight variations in metallization are used to illustrate how accelerated testing can highlight different diffusion related failure mechanisms. The usefulness of accelerated testing when applied to encapsulated cells is illustrated by results showing that moisture related degradation may be many times worse with some forms of encapsulation than with no encapsulation at all.

• Research Organization: Dept. of Elect. and Computer Engr., Clemson University, Clemson, SC
• OSTI ID: 5379562
• Report Number(s): CONF-820906-
• Journal Information: Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States), Conference: 16. IEEE photovoltaics specialists conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 28 Sep 1982
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
ENCAPSULATION
MECHANICAL TESTS
METALLOGRAPHY
STRESS ANALYSIS
STRESSES
BACKGROUND RADIATION
DIFFUSION
FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS
MOISTURE
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS TESTING
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
RADIATIONS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SYSTEM FAILURE ANALYSIS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
TESTING
140501* - Solar Energy Conversion- Photovoltaic Conversion