Characterization of front contact degradation in monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules following damp heat exposure

Iqbal, Nafis; Colvin, Dylan J.; Schneller, Eric; Sakthivel, T.; Ristau, R. A.; Huey, Bryan D.; Yu, Ben X. J.; Jaubert, Jean-Nicolas; Curran, Alan J.; Wang, Menghong; Seal, Sudipta; French, Roger H.; Davis, Kristopher O.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2021.111468

Cited by 27 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Other analysis majorly focuses on the impacts of the degradation on solar cells. Contact failures of front contacts [115], and soldered bonds are used as basis for lifetime prediction of PV modules [116]. Surface corrosion on solar cell level can become noticeable as snail tracks [117].…”

Section: Corrosive Loadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerated aging tests vs field performance of PV modules

Weiß

Klimm²,

Kaaya

2022

Prog. Energy

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The market for Photovoltaic systems has experienced an enormous growth worldwide and will further grow over the coming decades. Investments in Photovoltaics became an important financial product with the special feature of very long contract durations. Typically operation of over 20 years is expected, during which generation of electricity and revenues are expected. Due to these long operational times, quality, durability, reliability, and degradation rates become crucial for the investment. PV modules are the dominating components in this regard since they prevail the investment. Accelerated ageing tests are in general used to ensure the quality of photovoltaic components. These tests are partly standardized, for PV mainly by IEC and are used for type approval or safety testing. Accelerated ageing tests are also adapted to specific needs and e g used for Quality Assurance (QA) of manufacturers or Service Life Prediction (SLP) by manufacturers or research institutes. All the efforts are taken to gain knowledge about the behaviour of PV modules in operation and thus the accelerated tests have to be related to normal operation. Since PV is used around the globe, the conditions vary significantly depending on the location of installation. In addition, the installation has severe influence on the operational conditions of PV modules. The papers attempt is to give an overview on the state of the art of accelerated testing and field performance analysis of PV modules with focus on developments over the last five to ten years. Developments are described and the status is analysed regarding the significance of tests including the latest developments and open scientific gaps related to the envisaged correlation of accelerated tests with field performance. The reader is enabled to differenciate between reliability testing and service life prediction. The understanding for a comprehensive approach of reliability testing including field evaluation data is develope

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Section: Corrosive Loadsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerated aging tests vs field performance of PV modules

Weiß

Klimm²,

Kaaya

2022

Prog. Energy

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“…Although the raw EVA materials are generally enhanced with chemical additives in the manufacturing process, they suffer from thermo-photo-oxidative degradation with prolonged exposure to harsh working environments. [22][23][24][25] The typical degradation of polymer chains composing the encapsulant EVA layer involves the loss of small molecules, such as acetic acid and protons, and consequent failure at the macromolecular level. As a result, the macromolecular changes lead to the deterioration of optical properties of the EVA layers, such as browning-yellowing and snail trails.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ethylene‐ co ‐vinyl acetate (EVA) is frequently used as the encapsulant material of PV modules due to its excellent physical characteristics and relatively low cost. Although the raw EVA materials are generally enhanced with chemical additives in the manufacturing process, they suffer from thermo‐photo‐oxidative degradation with prolonged exposure to harsh working environments 22–25 . The typical degradation of polymer chains composing the encapsulant EVA layer involves the loss of small molecules, such as acetic acid and protons, and consequent failure at the macromolecular level.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A multifield coupled thermo‐chemo‐mechanical theory for the reaction‐diffusion modeling in photovoltaics

Liu

Lenarda

Reinoso

et al. 2023

Numerical Meth Engineering

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A comprehensive coupled thermo-chemo-mechanical modeling framework is proposed in this work to study the reaction-diffusion phenomena taking place inside photovoltaics (PV). When exposed to hygrothermal conditions, the encapsulant ethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA) layers undergo chemical degradation that significantly influences the overall PV performance. Aiming at efficient thermo-mechanical modeling, the coupled displacement-temperature governing equations for the EVA layers are formulated, and its 3D finite element (FE) implementation is derived in detail. Subsequently, the chemical reaction-diffusion processes occurring in the EVA layers are described, and the corresponding numerical implementation is formulated with the consideration of spatial and temporal variation of diffusivity and chemical kinetic rates. Specifically, the thermo-mechanical solution accounting for the heat generation from chemical reactions is projected to the FE model of the reaction-diffusion system in order to determine the kinetic rates and diffusion coefficients for its subsequent analysis. The proposed modeling method is applied to simulate the evolution of reaction-diffusion species at different damp heat tests, and predictions show a very satisfactory agreement with the analytical solution and experimental electroluminescence images taken from the literature. Its capabilities to predict the spatio-temporal variation are demonstrated through the simulation of the humidity freeze test, where the cyclic temperature boundary condition is imposed. With this modeling framework, it is possible to evaluate the degradation of PV modules under varying environmental boundary conditions, thus providing a guideline to design new products tailored for specific climatic zones.

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“…In addition to the traditionally reported module performance parameters (e.g., efficiency,

J_{SC}

V_{SC}

FF

), other characteristics of the wafers and cells are extracted to decouple optical, recombination, and resistive losses. In particular, this work looks at how much of the power loss is due to changes in the aforementioned recombination losses versus other pertinent forms of degradation, like contact and interconnect degradation that can increase series resistance (

R_{normalS}

) [ 40–46 ] or discoloration of the encapsulation materials that can lower

J_{SC}

. [ 47–50 ]…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Degradation of Edge‐Defined Film‐Fed Silicon Glass–Glass Modules on Florida Rooftop After 22 Years

Colvin

Davis

2022

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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Thin silicon () adoption can provide significantly lower cost. Kerfless technologies provide thin wafers while preventing material from being wasted. Understanding how this family of processing influences module reliability is important. A set of four edge‐defined film‐fed growth (EFG) silicon modules from a ten‐module system in Florida is measured after 22 years of exposure. Power loss rates of 0.58–0.78% year−1 are measured for three modules, while a rate of 1.32% is measured for a module with severe delamination and corrosion. Short‐circuit current degrades between 10.7% and 13.1% for all modules. The losses are primarily optical and recombination based; however, series and shunt resistance effects play a non‐negligible role. Pre‐existing recombination losses exist but are exacerbated via degradation. Optical losses in short‐circuit current are due in part to encapsulant yellowing. Electroluminescence (EL) images display the effects of processing on bulk quality by clearly showing lines of alternating brightness along the wafer length. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article displaying suns– data, effective lifetime versus excess carrier density data, and module EL images for EFG silicon‐based modules.

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Characterization of front contact degradation in monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules following damp heat exposure

Cited by 27 publications

References 33 publications

Accelerated aging tests vs field performance of PV modules

Accelerated aging tests vs field performance of PV modules

A multifield coupled thermo‐chemo‐mechanical theory for the reaction‐diffusion modeling in photovoltaics

Degradation of Edge‐Defined Film‐Fed Silicon Glass–Glass Modules on Florida Rooftop After 22 Years

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