No abstract

Previously undiscovered failure modes in photovoltaic (PV) modules continue to emerge in field installations despite passing protocols for design qualification and quality assurance. Failure to detect these modes prior to widespread use could be attributed to the limitations of present‐day standard accelerated stress tests (ASTs), which are primarily designed to identify known degradation or failure modes at the time of development by applying simultaneous or sequential stress factors (usually two at most). Here, we introduce an accelerated testing method known as the combined‐accelerated stress test (C‐AST), which simultaneously combines multiple stress factors of the natural environment. Simultaneous combination of multiple stress factors allows for improved identification of failure modes with better ability to detect modes not known a priori. A demonstration experiment was conducted that reproduced the field‐observed cracking of polyamide‐ (PA‐) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)–based backsheet films, a failure mode that was not detected by current design qualification and quality assurance testing requirements. In this work, a two‐phase testing protocol was implemented. The first cycle (“Tropical”) is a predominantly high‐humidity and high‐temperature test designed to replicate harsh tropical climates. The second cycle (“Multi‐season”) was designed to replicate drier and more temperate conditions found in continental or desert climates. Testing was conducted on 2 × 2‐cell crystalline‐silicon cell miniature modules constructed with both ultraviolet (UV)–transmitting and UV‐blocking encapsulants. Cracking failures were observed within a cumulative 120 days of the Tropical condition for one of the PA‐based backsheets and after 84 days of Tropical cycle followed by 42 days of the Multi‐season cycle for the PVDF‐based backsheet, which are both consistent with failures seen in fielded modules. In addition to backsheet cracking, degradation modes were observed including solder/interconnect fatigue, various light‐induced degradation modes, backsheet delamination, discoloration, corrosion, and cell cracking. The ability to simultaneously apply multiple stress factors may allow many of the test sequences within the standardized design qualification procedure to be performed using a single test setup.

The polarization of photoluminescence (PL) was investigated on (11̄00) GaN grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. We found that the PL intensity and wavelength have polarization dependence parallel and perpendicular to the c axis. We quantitatively analyzed the dependence and found that, since the crystal field of wurtzite GaN along the c axis is strong enough to fix the |z〉 axis of p functions at the c axis, the difference in symmetry between three valence bands appears as the polarization anisotropy in radiative emission, even in bulk GaN.

SUMMARYA novel numerical scheme is developed by coupling the level set method with the adaptive mesh reÿnement in order to analyse moving interfaces economically and accurately. The ÿnite element method (FEM) is used to discretize the governing equations with the generalized simpliÿed marker and cell (GSMAC) scheme, and the cubic interpolated pseudo-particle (CIP) method is applied to the reinitialization of the level set function. The present adaptive mesh reÿnement is implemented in the quadrangular grid systems and easily embedded in the FEM-based algorithm. For the judgement on renewal of mesh, the level set function is adopted as an indicator, and the threshold is set at the boundary of the smoothing band. With this criterion, the variation of physical properties and the jump quantity on the free surface can be calculated accurately enough, while the computation cost is largely reduced as a whole. In order to prove the validity of the present scheme, two-dimensional numerical simulation is carried out in collapse of a water column, oscillation and movement of a drop under zero gravity. As a result, its e ectiveness and usefulness are clearly shown qualitatively and quantitatively. Among them, the movement of a drop due to the Marangoni e ect is ÿrst simulated e ciently with the present scheme.

We grew GaN crystals by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy on (111) and (100) MgAl2O4 substrates. We obtained a single-crystal GaN layer with a specular surface on the (111) substrate. The full width of half-maximum of the x-ray rocking curve for a 3.6 μm thick GaN layer was 310 s, comparable to the reported values for GaN on Al2O3 substrates. In the room-temperature photoluminescence, a band-edge emission at around 360 nm was dominant. A smooth cleaved (11̄00) facet of the GaN epitaxial layer was obtained, assisted by the inclined (100) cleavage of the (111) MgAl2O4 substrate. We intend this cleaved facet, which is normal to the surface, to be used as a cavity mirror in a laser diode.