Gi-Hwan Kang

Optimal Design of PV Module with Bypass Diode to Reduce Degradation due to Reverse Excess Current

In this paper, we present an economical and practical standard to install a bypass diode in a thin-film PV module. This method helps to reduce heat generation and to prevent module degradation due to excess current from reverse bias. The experimental results confirm that for different numbers of solar cells, there is a relation between the excess reverse current and the degradation of solar cells in a-Si:H modules. The optimal number of solar cells that can be connected per bypass diode could be obtained through an analysis of the results to effectively suppress the degradation and to reduce the heat generated by the module. This technique could be expanded for use in high power crystalline Si PV modules.

Operation Characteristics of Bypass Diode for PV Module

In this paper, an I-V characteristics of bypass diode has been studied by counting the shading effect in photovoltaic module. The shadow induces hot spot phenomenon in PV module due to the increase of resistance in the current path. Two different types of PV module with and without bypass diode were fabricated to expect maximum output power with an increasing shading rate of 5 % on the solar cell. Temperature distribution is also detected by shading the whole solar cell for the outdoor test. From the result, the bypass diode works properly over 60 % of shading per cell with constant output power. Maximum power generation in case of solar cell being totally shaded with bypass diode decreases 41.3 % compared with the one under STC(Standard Test Condition). On the other hand, the maximum output power of the module without bypass diode gradually decreases by showing hot spot phenomenon with the increase of shading ratio on the cell and finally indicates 95.5 % of power loss compared with the output under STC. Finally the module temperature measured increases around higher than that under STC due to hot-spots which come from the condition without bypass diode. It has been therefore one of the main reasons for degrading the PV module and shortening the durability of the PV system.

Consideration of Electrical Properties in Field-aged Photovoltaic Module

In this paper, degradation in field-aged PV modules including degradation of interconnect, discoloration of encapsulant and hot spot have been observed and analyzed. From the results, photovoltaic module installed for 6 years shows around 16 % drop of electrical properties due to the interconnect degradation and PV module passed 18 years has been found to drop of around 20 % mainly by the encapsulant discoloration. Furthermore the difference between low and high temperature of PV array at hot spot goes up to 3 and it leads to interconnect degradation. On the other hands, the temperature difference was observed to be around 15 at the encapsulant discoloration spot of PV array.

A Study on the Optimization of CP Based Low-temperature Tabbing Process for Fabrication of Thin c-Si Solar Cell Module

Thin crystalline silicon (C-Si) solar cell is expected to be a low price energy source by decreasing the consumption of Si. However, thin c-Si solar cell entails the bowing and crack issues in high temperature manufacturing process. Thus, the conventional tabbing process, based on high temperature soldering (> 250°C), has difficulties for applying to thin c-Si solar cell modules. In this paper, a conductive paste (CP) based interconnection process has been proposed to fabricate thin c-Si solar cell modules with high production yield, instead of existing soldering materials. To optimize the process condition for CP based interconnection, we compared the performance and stability of modules fabricated under various lamination temperature (120, 150, and 175°C). The power from CP based module is similar to that with conventional tabbing process, as modules are fabricated. However, the output of CP based module laminated at 120°C decreases significantly (14.1% for Damp heat and 6.1% for thermal cycle) in harsh condition, while the output drops only in 3% in the samples process at 150°C, 175°C. The peel test indicates that the unstable performance of sample laminated at 120°C is attributed to weak adhesion strength (1.7 N) between cell and ribbon compared to other cases (2.7 N). As a result, optimized lamination temperature for CP based module process is 150°C, considering stability and energy consumption during the fabrication.

Study on Improving Surface Structure with Changing RF Power Conditions in RIE (reactive ion etching)

A textured front surface is required in high efficiency silicon solar cells to reduce reflectance and to improve light trapping. Wet etching with alkaline solution is usually applied for mono crystalline silicon solar cells. However, alkali texturing method is not appropriate for multi-crystalline silicon wafers due to grain boundary of random crystallographic orientation. Accordingly, acid texturing method is generally used for multi-crystalline silicon wafers to reduce the surface reflectance. To reduce reflectivity of multi-crystalline silicon wafers, double texturing method with combination of acid and reactive ion etching is an attractive technical solution. In this paper, we have studied to optimize RIE condition by different RF power condition (100, 150, 200, 250, 300 W).

A Simulation of Photocurrent Loss by Reflectance of the Front Glass and EVA in the Photovoltaic Module

The solar cell is a device to convert light energy into electric, which supplies power to the external load when exposed to the incident light. The photocurrent and voltage occurred in the device are significant factors to decide the output power of solar cells. The crystalline silicon solar cell module has photocurrent loss due to light reflections on the glass and EVA(Ethylene Vinyl Acetate). These photocurrent loss would be a hinderance for high-efficiency solar cell module. In this paper, the quantitative analysis for the photocurrent losses in the 300-1200 wavelength region was performed. The simulation method with MATLAB was used to analyze the reflection on a front glass and EVA layer. To investigate the intensity of light that reached solar cells in PV(Photovoltaic) module, the reflectance and transmittance of PV modules was calculated using the Fresnel equations. The simulated photocurrent in each wavelength was compared with the output of real solar cells and the manufactured PV module to evaluate the reliability of simulation. As a result of the simulation, We proved that the optical loss largely occurred in wavelengths between 300 and 400 nm.

The Effect of PID Generation by Components of the PV Module

PID (potential induced degradation) of PV module is the degradation of module due to the high potential difference between the front surface of solar cells and ground when PV modules operate under high humidity and temperature conditions. PID is generally derived from the positive sodium ions in front glass that are accumulated on P-type solar cells. Therefore, some papers for the electrical characteristic of only front components as glass, EVA sheet, solar cell under PID generation condition were revealed. In this paper, we analyzed the different outputs of module with PID by considering the all parts of module including the back side elements such as glass, back sheet. Mini modules with one solar cell were fabricated with the various parts on front and back sided of module. To generate PID of module in a short time, the all modules were applied.1,000 V in , 85% RH. The outputs, dark IV curves and EL images of all modules before and after experiments were also measured to confirm the main components of module for PID generation. From the measured results, the outputs of all modules with front glass were remarkably reduced and the performances of modules with back and front glass were greatly deteriorated. We suggest that the obtained data could be used to reduce the PID phenomenon of diverse modules such as conventional module and BIPV (building integrated photovoltaic) module.

A Study on the Electrical Characteristics of Photovoltaic Module Depending on Micro-Crack Patterns of Crystalline Silicon Solar Cell

This study investigated the process of thermal-induced growth of micro-crack developed at the crystalline solar cell using EL image, determined the output characteristic according to the pattern of micro-crack, analyzed the I-V characteristic according to the pattern of crack growth, and predicted the output value using simulation. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to investigate the process of thermal-induced growth of micro-crack developed at the early stage of PV module completion using EL image, to analyze the resulting decrement of output and predict the output value using simulation. It was observed that the crack grew increasingly by the thermal condition, and accordingly the lowering of output was accelerated. The output values of crack patterns with various direction were predicted using simulation, resulting in close I-V curve with only around 4% of error rate. It is considered that it is possible to predict the electric characteristic of solar cell module using only pattern of micro-crack occurred at solar cell based on our results.

Electrical Characteristics of c-Si PV Module for the Spread of Natural Light Spectrum

Recently, characteristic research by the changes in the spectrum, one of the factors that influence analysis of maximum output power of PV module, has been studied. In this paper, a one-day intensity of solar irradiation, change of spectrums with time and electrical output for spectrums are analyzed. As a result, blue-rich wavelength compared with red-rich wavelength has large variation of solar irradiance with time, so we recognized that change of solar irradiance is dominated by variation of blue~rich wavelength. Also in same intensity of solar irradiance, electrical output in blue-rich wavelength was 3-8 % higher than one in red-rich wavelength.