A Study of the Electrical Output and Reliability Characteristics of the Crystalline Photovoltaic Module According to the Front Materials

Abstract

In recent years, various types of installations such as floating photovoltaic (PV) and agri-voltaic systems, and BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic system) have been implemented in PV systems and, accordingly, there is a growing demand for new PV designs and materials. In particular, in order to install a PV module in a building, it is important to reduce the weight of the module. The PV module in which low-iron, tempered glass is applied to the front surface, which is generally used, has excellent electrical output and reliability characteristics; however, it is heavy. In order to reduce the weight of the PV module, it is necessary to use a film or plastic-based material, as opposed to low-iron, tempered glass, on the front surface. However, if a material other than glass is used on the front of the PV module, various problems such as reduced electrical output and reduced reliability may occur. Therefore, in this paper, a PV module using a film instead of glass as the front surface was fabricated, and a characteristic analysis and reliability test were conducted. First, the transmittance and UV characteristics of each material were tested, and one-cell and 24-cell PV modules were fabricated and tested for electrical output and reliability. From the results, it was found that the transmittance and UV characteristics of the front material were excellent. In addition, the electrical output and reliability test results confirmed that the front-surface film was appropriate for use in a PV module.

The Influence of UV Light Exposure on the Reliability of Various Front Materials for Lightweight PV Module

“…The yellowing effect of PC after UV aging test has also been observed by Redjala, S., et al [25], whereas ETFE showed no discoloration, as could be seen through the naked eye. This similar observation was also noticed by another research group [26].…”

“…Another study showed a decrease in transmittance in PMMA of about 5% after UV exposure of 360 h [28]. The negligible decrease in transmittance of ETFE after UV exposure was already seen [26]. This shows that ETFE has superior UV characteristics as compared with other materials.…”

Most Searched Topics in the Scientific Literature on Failures in Photovoltaic Installations

“…A failure is a state in which a system fails to realize its expected function. The failure analysis of a PV installation requires the creation of a model of the installation [12]. A photovoltaic power plant usually consists of photovoltaic panels, an inverter, and the electronics and power electronics that control the plant [13].…”

Solar Photovoltaic Architecture and Agronomic Management in Agrivoltaic System: A Review

“…At the same time, solar radiation can also be converted to electricity using solar power systems. Solar systems are classified into two types: photovoltaic (PV) systems that convert sunlight directly to electricity using semiconductor materials [36,[76][77][78][79] and concentrated solar power (CSP) systems that convert sunlight to heat before using the heat to produce electricity [30,41,46,51,80]. Despite the fact that both processes need solar radiation to occur, the photosynthesis process is concerned more with the Photosynthesis Active Radiation (PAR) range [47,52,68,[81][82][83] while electrical energy generation is dependent on solar irradiance or light intensity [8,15,35,84,85].…”

“…These two systems are intended to offer a direct current or alternating current source for use with the utility grid, an independent storage system, or other electrical/electronic equipment [77,93,119,120]. Even though much of the photovoltaic system demand can be matched with aggressive building-integrated PV (BIPV) and rooftop PV [79,87,95,102], both systems cannot provide all the energy necessary, especially for regions with high population densities compared to land-based solar farms [8,95]. A solar farm is designed to generate enough energy [37] to power thousands of homes and business [9,121].…”