Crack initiation and growth in PV module interconnection

Majd, Alireza Eslami; Ekere, N.N.

doi:10.1016/j.solener.2020.06.036

Cited by 30 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The active area of the cracked cell may be forced to operate in reverse bias, eventually causing a hotspot failure. Moreover, cracks are subject to expansion and seeding more cracks, especially under environmental and mechanical stress factors like hot, cold, and windy climate conditions [117][118][119][120]. Consequently, they accelerate the ageing process, showing a higher degradation rate [15].…”

Section: Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Photovoltaic Module Failure and Degradation Mechanisms: Causes and Detection Techniques

Al Mahdi,

Leahy,

Alghoul

et al. 2024

Solar

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With the global increase in the deployment of photovoltaic (PV) modules in recent years, the need to explore and understand their reported failure mechanisms has become crucial. Despite PV modules being considered reliable devices, failures and extreme degradations often occur. Some degradations and failures within the normal range may be minor and not cause significant harm. Others may initially be mild but can rapidly deteriorate, leading to catastrophic accidents, particularly in harsh environments. This paper conducts a state-of-the-art literature review to examine PV failures, their types, and their root causes based on the components of PV modules (from protective glass to junction box). It outlines the hazardous consequences arising from PV module failures and describes the potential damage they can bring to the PV system. The literature reveals that each component is susceptible to specific types of failure, with some components deteriorating on their own and others impacting additional PV components, leading to more severe failures. Finally, this review briefly summarises PV failure detection techniques, emphasising the significance of electrical characterisation techniques and underlining the importance of considering more electrical parameters. Most importantly, this review identifies the most prevalent degradation processes, laying the foundation for further investigation by the PV research community through modelling and experimental studies. This allows for early detection by comparing PV performance when failures or degradation occur to prevent serious progression. It is worth noting that most of the studies included in this review primarily focus on detailing failures and degradation observed in PV operations, which can be attributed to various factors, including the manufacturing process and other external influences. Hence, they provide explanations of these failure mechanisms and causes but do not extensively explore corrective actions or propose solutions based on either laboratory experiments or real-world experience. Although, within this field of study, there are corresponding studies that have designed experiments to suggest preventive measures and potential solutions, an in-depth review of those studies is beyond the scope of this paper. However, this paper, in turn, serves as a valuable resource for scholars by confining PV failures to critically evaluate available studies for preventative measures and corrective actions.

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Section: Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Photovoltaic Module Failure and Degradation Mechanisms: Causes and Detection Techniques

Al Mahdi,

Leahy,

Alghoul

et al. 2024

Solar

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The active area of the cracked cell may be forced to operate in reverse bias, eventually causing a hotspot failure. Moreover, cracks are subject to expansion and emerging more cracks, especially under environmental and mechanical stress factors like hot, cold, and windy climate conditions [112][113][114][115]. Consequently, they accelerate the ageing process, showing a higher degradation rate [20].…”

Section: Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Photovoltaic Failure and Degradation Mechanisms

Al Mahdi,

Leahy,

Alghoul

et al. 2023

Preprint

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With the global increase of photovoltaic (PV) modules deployment in recent years, the need to explore and realize their reported failure mechanisms has become crucial. Despite PV modules being considered reliable devices, failures and extreme degradations often occur. Some degradations and failures can be minor and cause no critical harm if within the expected range. Others, may start mildly and then deteriorate faster to become catastrophic, especially in harsh environments. This paper conducts a state-of-the-art literature review to scan PV failures, types, and their root cause based on PV’s constructed components (from protective glass to junction-box). It outlines the hazardous consequences beyond PV module failures, describing what harm they can bring to the PV system. As we delve into the literature, it becomes clear that every component is vulnerable to certain types of failures; some can deteriorate within themselves, and others infect further PV components resulting in emerging more severe failures. In the end, the review briefly summarises PV failure detection techniques, emphasising electrical characterization techniques, and disclosing the need to engage more electrical parameters. Most importantly, this review can prepare the stage for the PV research community to identify the most prevalent degradation processes. This, in turn, encourages researchers to investigate them throughout modelling and experimental studies to forecast them at the early onset in order to protect the PV systems from hazardous malfunctions.

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“…Lead-free solder alloys are now mainly used in the industry as electrical interconnects to fulfill the safety and health regulation [6][7][8][9][10]. Eslami and Ekere discovered that the failure in the ribbon interconnection were associated to the thermal crack in the solar joint material's production process due to high temperature [11]. Geipel et al, Chen et al and Jabarullah et al investigated the microstructure and intermetallic growth of the solder joint's cross section for PV module interface [9,11,12].…”

Section: Interconnection Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Microstructure Evaluation of Photovoltaic Solar Panel’s Interconnection: A Review

Hamid

Zulkifli

2022

MSF

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This paper aims to review the methodologies used to conduct microstructure evaluation of the photovoltaic (PV) interconnection. This analysis is important to identify the microstructural properties of the interconnection for failure analysis purposes. The interconnection becomes a major concern towards the efficiency and reliability of PV technology. In this paper, the common techniques used for the interconnection technology such as soldering, conductive adhesive and ultrasonic were presented with the assessment method to identify the failure mode and failure mechanism at the bonding interface. The identification of the failure mode and failure mechanism through visual analysis and conformation of failure phenomenon was important to highlight the risks and develop the countermeasures. The evaluation of microstructure characterization techniques in the electronics and PV industry has been presented by identifying the outcomes of each technique with different reliability tests. The discoveries of failure analysis in the electronics industry were more matured and becomes the reference to the PV development. The outcomes from this review could be beneficial to improve the interconnection bond in the PV industry by eliminating or minimizing the failure through design modification at the earliest point in the development process.

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Crack initiation and growth in PV module interconnection

Cited by 30 publications

References 22 publications

A Review of Photovoltaic Module Failure and Degradation Mechanisms: Causes and Detection Techniques

A Review of Photovoltaic Module Failure and Degradation Mechanisms: Causes and Detection Techniques

A Review of Photovoltaic Failure and Degradation Mechanisms

Microstructure Evaluation of Photovoltaic Solar Panel’s Interconnection: A Review

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