Model of Cracked Solar Cell Metallization Leading to Permanent Module Power Loss

Käsewieter, Jörg; Haase, Felix; Köntges, Marc

doi:10.1109/jphotov.2015.2487829

Cited by 27 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…For a solar cell, this means that the metallic back and front contacts are interrupted and may cause electrically isolated areas. Köntges describes a strong increase of the resistance during bending for the metallic front and back contact . Unloading the module may lead to a closure of the gap at the crack.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of cell cracks in PV‐modules under field and laboratory conditions

Buerhop‐Lutz

Wirsching

Bemm

et al. 2017

Progress in Photovoltaics

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Damaged modules, especially with cell cracks, can be observed quite often in photovoltaicinstallations. Little knowledge exists about long-term stability of precracked modules at real operating conditions. Previous investigations and existing standards focus on the degradation of new, defect-free modules. This work highlights a twofold approach for life-time study of precracked modules: (1) outdoor exposure of 54 precracked modules for 1 year and (2) artificial stressing of 20 representative precracked modules with a novel load test setup simulating snow and wind loads. The outdoor exposure reveals that at moderate weather conditions, no changes were detectable, neither in electric performance nor in EL-images. However, the accelerated static load tests with stepwise increasing pressures point out that above a certain threshold, cracks grow.Below this threshold, formerly unseen cracks become visible at the loaded stage. In addition, modules with a smaller number of damaged cells have a stronger tendency to degrade further than modules with an already large number of cracked cells. Remarkably, the power output measured with a solar simulator after a stress test up to 2500 Pa (describing conservative proof conditions for severe snow loads according IEC 61215) remains unchanged for almost all modules.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of cell cracks in PV‐modules under field and laboratory conditions

Buerhop‐Lutz

Wirsching

Bemm

et al. 2017

Progress in Photovoltaics

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“…So that to comprehend the impact of solar cells micro cracks, J. Käsewieter et al [11] observed the influence of solar cells cracks on the performance of multiple PV cells using EL detection method. The outcome of this article proves that micro cracks at least reduces the output power of a PV cells by 2.5%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrafast High-Resolution Solar Cell Cracks Detection Process

Dhimish

Mather

2020

IEEE Trans. Ind. Inf.

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This paper presents the advancement of an ultrafast high-resolution cracks detection in solar cells manufacturing system. The aim of the developed process is to (i) improve the quality of the calibrated image taken by a low-cost conventional electroluminescent (EL) imaging setup, (ii) proposing a novel methodology to enhance the speed of the detection of the solar cell cracks, and finally (iii) develop a proper procedure to decide whether to accept or reject the solar cell due to the existence of the cracks. The proposed detection process has been validated on various cracked/free-crack solar cell samples, evidently it was found that the cracks type, size and orientation are more visible using the proposes method, while the speed of calibrating the EL images are in the range of 0.1s to 0.3s, excluding the EL imaging time.

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“…When cracks appear in a solar cell, the parts separated from the cell might not be totally disconnected, but the internal series resistance vary as a function of the distance between the cell parts and the number of cycles the module is deformed [4,5]. In the case of a total disconnection of a cell part, the current produced by the broken cell, and subsequently by all the cells connected in series with it, decreases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of cracks in multicrystalline silicon solar cells on PV module power - A simulation study based on field data

Morlier

Haase

Köntges

2015

2015 IEEE 42nd Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC)

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In this work we present a methodology to exploit the crack statistics of solar cells in PV modules assessed in field for simulating the power output of PV modules. The probability of crack and the type of crack depending on the position of the cell in the module are used to simulate a statistical distribution of modules constituted of cells represented by an extended two diodes model. The effect of crack resistance on the average performance of modules is determined and we show that cracks have a significative effect on module power when they show a resistance higher than 0.001 n. We compare the modelled resistances with resistances measured for cracks caused by mechanical loading tests. In the range of measured crack resistances, up to 5 to 10% of the modules lose up to 33% of their initial power.

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Model of Cracked Solar Cell Metallization Leading to Permanent Module Power Loss

Cited by 27 publications

References 7 publications

Evolution of cell cracks in PV‐modules under field and laboratory conditions

Evolution of cell cracks in PV‐modules under field and laboratory conditions

Ultrafast High-Resolution Solar Cell Cracks Detection Process

Impact of cracks in multicrystalline silicon solar cells on PV module power - A simulation study based on field data

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