Effect of cracks on spatially resolved c-Si solar cell parameters

Seigneur, Hubert; Ogutman, Kortan; Schneller, Eric; Davis, Kristopher O.; Schoenfeld, Winston V.

doi:10.1109/pvsc.2016.7749692

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…So far, various electrical signatures attributed to cell cracks have been reported, such as a possible decrease in I sc owing to the development of an inactive cell area [ 19 , 22 , 26 ], an increase in R s [ 19 – 27 ], and a reduction in R sh / R p [ 30 , 32 – 35 ]. The J 02 elevation, which reflects the increase in carrier recombination occurring at the p-n junction, has been clearly demonstrated at the PV cell level [ 28 – 31 ]; however, at the PV module level, it may not necessarily apply to all cell-crack modes (including microcracks) [ 26 , 61 , 65 ], as discussed above.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As thoroughly reviewed in [ 9 , 10 , 13 ], numerous electrical signatures attributed to cell cracks have been reported, such as the elevations of series resistance ( R s ) [ 19 – 27 ] and saturation current densities of the second diode ( J 02 ) in the two-diode model of the PV cell/module [ 28 – 31 ], reduction in the short-circuit current ( I sc ) [ 19 , 22 , 26 ], shunt resistance ( R sh ) [ 30 , 32 – 35 ], and fill factor (FF) [ 20 , 36 ], depending on the development of cell cracks. However, the extent of power loss in PV modules with cell cracks (particularly, with microcracks) is quite small.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Solar cell cracks within a photovoltaic module: Characterization by AC impedance spectroscopy

Tanahashi

Hsu²

2022

PLoS ONE

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Various cell crack modes (with or without electrically inactive cell areas) can be induced in crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells within a PV module through natural thermomechanical stressors such as strong winds, heavy snow, and large hailstones. Although degradation in the performance of PV modules by cell cracks has been reported occasionally, the mode-dependent evolutions in the electrical signatures of cracks have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we propose that the reduction of the time constant in the AC impedance spectra, which is caused by the elevation of minority-carrier recombination in the p–n junction of a PV cell, is a ubiquitous signature of cracked PV cells encapsulated in a commercially available PV module. Several other characteristics derived from the illuminated current-voltage (I–V) and dark I–V data significantly evolved only in PV cells with inactive cell areas. We also propose that the evaluation by carrier recombination is a crucial diagnostic technique for detecting all crack modes, including microcracks, in wafer-based PV modules.

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