No abstract

No abstract

The spatial characterization of laser-induced plasmas, including their temperature, electron density, and relative atom density, has been carried out by emission spectroscopy. The plasmas were generated with iron samples in air and argon at atmospheric pressure. An imaging spectrometer equipped with an intensified CCD detector procured spectra with spatial resolution. The plasma characterization was made at three temporal gates (2-3, 5-6, and 9-11 micros) to permit the plasma's evolution to be studied. A deconvolution procedure was developed to transform the measured intensity, integrated along the line of sight, into the radial distribution of emissivity. Temperature and electron density distributions were obtained under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium and Stark broadening of the emission lines. The relative atom density distributions in the plasma of the Fe atoms arising from the sample and of the Ar atoms arising from the ambient gas were determined and evidenced an important interaction between the plasma and the surrounding atmosphere.

The optical transmittance of encapsulation materials is a key characteristic for their use in photovoltaic (PV) modules. Changes in transmittance with time in the field affect module performance, which may impact product warranties. Transmittance is important in product development, module manufacturing, and field power production (both immediate and long-term). Therefore, an international standard (IEC 62788-1-4) has recently been proposed by the Encapsulation Task-Group within the Working Group 2 (WG2) of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee 82 (TC82) for the quantification of the optical performance of PV encapsulation materials. Existing standards, such as ASTM E903, are general and more appropriately applied to concentrated solar power than to PV. Starting from the optical transmittance measurement, the solar-weighted transmittance of photon irradiance, yellowness index (which may be used in aging studies to assess durability), an d ultraviolet (UV) cut-off wavelength may all be determined using the proposed standard. The details of the proposed test are described. The results of a round-robin experiment (for five materials) conducted at seven laboratories to validate the test procedure using representative materials are also presented. For example, the Encapsulation Group actively explored the measurement requirements (wavelength range and resolution), the requirements for the spectrophotometer (including the integrating sphere and instrument accessories, such as a depolarizer), specimen requirements (choice of glass-superstrate and -substrate), and data analysis (relative to the light that may be used in the PV application). The round-robin experiment identified both intra- and inter-laboratory instrument precision and bias for five encapsulation materials (encompassing a range of transmittance and haze-formation characteristics)