Simulated hail impacts on flexible photovoltaic laminates: testing and modelling

Corrado, Mauro; Infuso, Andrea; Paggi, Marco

doi:10.1007/s11012-016-0483-2

“…In the latter case, in fact, the Weibull curve should undergo a simple translation with respect to the reference ones, without any change in slope. Although the coating applied on the naturally weathered coated samples was not visibly damaged after weathering, hail and other contaminants impacts may have resulted in new and larger flaws on the surface of the glass samples (Jenkins and Mathey 1982;Corrado et al 2017). As a result, the dispersion of the defect population in naturally weathered coated glass increased, leading to a decrease in theβ value.…”

Section: Effect Of Natural Weatheringmentioning

confidence: 99%

A durable coating to prevent stress corrosion effects on the surface strength of annealed glass

Mariggiò

¹

,

Vacche

²

,

Bongiovanni

³

et al. 2021

Glass Struct Eng

Self Cite

4

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The durability of an innovative polymeric coating recently developed by the authors to prevent stress corrosion in annealed glass is herein examined. The coating, having functional graded properties through the thickness, is optimised to provide a very good adhesion with glass and an excellent hydrophobic behavior on the side exposed to the environment, thus creating a good barrier to humidity, which is the triggering agent for stress corrosion. Three scenarios are analysed in terms of ageing: (i) cyclic loading, accomplished by subjecting coated samples to repetitive loading; (ii) natural weathering, performed by exposing coated samples to atmospheric agents; (iii) artificial weathering, carried out by exposing coated specimens to fluorescent UV lamps, heat and water. The durability of the coating is assessed indirectly, on the base of its residual effectiveness in preventing stress corrosion, by comparing the bending strength, obtained with the coaxial double ring test, of aged coated glass specimens with that of un-coated and freshly coated specimens. The obtained results prove that the proposed formulation is almost insensitive to cyclic loading, maintains a very good performance in case of natural weathering, whereas is slightly more sensitive to artificial weathering.

show abstract

“…Micro-cracks can be formed at several stages: while cutting an ingot/crystal bar, during the production of a cell/module, during the transportation/installation and due to operating conditions [5]. PV modules are exposed to harsh outdoor conditions, sometimes characterised by deep thermal cycles, high wind speeds [6], snow loading [7,8] and hail impacts [9,10] that may cause the development of micro-cracks. The hailstone impact tests were simulated using a pneumatic gun on semi-flexible PV modules in [9], to observe that the plastic cover usually remains undamaged after the impact, while the solar cells exhibit cracks, whose extension depends on the substrate stiffness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…PV modules are exposed to harsh outdoor conditions, sometimes characterised by deep thermal cycles, high wind speeds [6], snow loading [7,8] and hail impacts [9,10] that may cause the development of micro-cracks. The hailstone impact tests were simulated using a pneumatic gun on semi-flexible PV modules in [9], to observe that the plastic cover usually remains undamaged after the impact, while the solar cells exhibit cracks, whose extension depends on the substrate stiffness. Finite element analysis and experimental studies were performed in [11], to evaluate the possible resonant frequencies of PV modules and their reaction in different weather conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current–voltage characteristics of silicon based solar cells in the presence of cracks: MD simulations

Siruvuri¹,

Budarapu²,

Paggi³

2021

Semicond. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The presence of micro-cracks in solar cells hinders the movement of charges leading to charge accumulation around the crack surfaces. Cracks grow during real-time operation and also new cracks will be formed, leading to further charge accumulation. In this study, the influence of cracks on the movement of charges and hence the current–voltage characteristics of silicon based solar cells is investigated through molecular dynamics simulations. Simulations are performed considering a domain of dimensions 260.64 Å × 222.63 Å × 43.44 Å with five different cases: (1) without any initial defects, (2) an edge crack, (3) a center crack, (4) two angled edge cracks and (5) two oblique cracks from a circular crack at the center of the domain, considering a time step of 1 fs. Charges of the atoms at a given time instant are estimated after charge equilibration. The electric current, voltage, and power are estimated based on the charges. As the crack starts propagating, the charge fluctuations of a group of atoms around the crack tip are observed to be in the range of − 9 × 10 − 3 e to − 6 × 10 − 3 e, where the highest fluctuation is noticed in case of angled edge cracks. The electric current for the same atoms is found to be fluctuating between −0.02 nA and −0.098 nA, peak fluctuations observed in the case of the edge crack. Similar ranges of charge and current without any initial crack are found to be: 0 × 10−3 e and 3 × 10−3 e, and 0 nA and 0.01 nA, respectively. This confirms that the presence of cracks can hinder the charge flow. Furthermore, the peak voltage estimated between two groups of charges: near and far away from the crack tip is found to be 1.24 × 10 − 22 V. Whereas, the peak voltage between two groups considered away from the crack tip is equal to 0.1 × 10 − 22 V, indicating that the potential difference is significant due to charge accumulation around the damaged areas. Moreover, the electric power associated with the group of atoms around the crack tip is observed to be fluctuating rapidly. The peak electrical power of the intact cell is estimated to be 2.14 nW, whereas it is dropped down to 31.93% in the presence of two inclined edge cracks. The electric power associated with a group of charges lying within the included region between two inclined cracks with a hole is observed to converge to zero, in agreement with the experimental observations in the literature.

show abstract

“…Some layers of photovoltaic modules are designed to generate electricity, while others protect the modules from environmental effects. Two types of photovoltaic modules are usually used [5]: (1) rigid plates with glass layers on the outside to ensure the rigidity and protection of the modules from mechanical loads; (2) semi-flexible plates that must be fixed to flat or curved surfaces with a protective polymer layer, which allows the PV module to have some flexibility. Since PV modules are installed outdoors, thermo-hygrometric cycles, wind gusts, snow, and hail are the main sources of damage and degradation over the estimated 25 years of operation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research of the Energy Losses of Photovoltaic (PV) Modules after Hail Simulation Using a Newly-Created Testbed

Kilikevičienė

¹

,

Matijošius

²

,

Kilikevičius

³

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The impact of hail ice cubes on composite structures (such as solar cells) causes actual defects. This article presents a series of tests, in which solar cell modules were exposed to hail simulation testbed balls, allowing to assess the following: the impact energy, which causes the major defects in solar cells; the formed micro-cracks in the structure of solar cells, resulting in the loss of power generated by a solar cell; and the solar cell parameters necessary for modelling. In addition, this article presents a digital analysis of hail simulation. Information received from the digital analysis was used to optimize the structure of solar cells in order to improve its resistance properties. The aim of this study was to present a simple method for experimental hail simulation. The proposed hail impact estimation method can be successfully applied to study the influence of the mechanical–dynamic impact of photovoltaic (PV) modules of different structures on the technical characteristics of these modules (structural stability, power generation, etc.). The study showed that PV modules are subjected to an irreversible effect of the excitation force (i.e., micro-cracking) and it can reduce the generated power by 2.33% to 4.83%.

show abstract

Simulated hail impacts on flexible photovoltaic laminates: testing and modelling

Cited by 26 publications

References 25 publications

A durable coating to prevent stress corrosion effects on the surface strength of annealed glass

A durable coating to prevent stress corrosion effects on the surface strength of annealed glass

Current–voltage characteristics of silicon based solar cells in the presence of cracks: MD simulations

Research of the Energy Losses of Photovoltaic (PV) Modules after Hail Simulation Using a Newly-Created Testbed

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About