In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing
Abstract
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,more »
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3]
- Technical Univ. of Denmark, Roskilde (Denmark)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Queensland Univ. of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD (Australia)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1769872
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5K00-79374
Journal ID: ISSN 1996-1073; MainId:33600;UUID:974fea2f-edfa-4728-ab42-ed756c53a725;MainAdminID:19859
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Energies
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 14; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 1996-1073
- Publisher:
- MDPI AG
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; photovoltaic modules; accelerated stress testing; in-situ monitoring; dark I-V curves; thermal cycling; mechanical loading; degradation monitoring
Citation Formats
Spataru, Sergiu, Hacke, Peter, and Sera, Dezso. In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.3390/en14010072.
Spataru, Sergiu, Hacke, Peter, & Sera, Dezso. In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing. United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010072
Spataru, Sergiu, Hacke, Peter, and Sera, Dezso. Fri .
"In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing". United States. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010072. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1769872.
@article{osti_1769872,
title = {In-Situ Measurement of Power Loss for Crystalline Silicon Modules Undergoing Thermal Cycling and Mechanical Loading Stress Testing},
author = {Spataru, Sergiu and Hacke, Peter and Sera, Dezso},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.3390/en14010072},
journal = {Energies},
number = 1,
volume = 14,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Dec 25 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Fri Dec 25 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
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