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Cross-characterization for imaging parasitic resistive losses in thin-film photovoltaic modules

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journal contribution
posted on 2016-09-22, 13:16 authored by Archana Sinha, Martin BlissMartin Bliss, Xiaofeng Wu, Subinoy Roy, Ralph Gottschalg, Rajesh Gupta
Thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules often suffer from a variety of parasitic resistive losses in transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and absorber layers that significantly affect the module electrical performance. This paper presents the holistic investigation of resistive effects due to TCO lateral sheet resistance and shunts in amorphous-silicon (a-Si) thin-film PV modules by simultaneous use of three different imaging techniques, electroluminescence (EL), lock-in thermography (LIT) and light beam induced current (LBIC), under different operating conditions. Results from individual techniques have been compared and analyzed for particular type of loss channel, and combination of these techniques has been used to obtain more detailed information for the identification and classification of these loss channels. EL and LIT techniques imaged the TCO lateral resistive effects with different spatial sensitivity across the cell width. For quantification purpose, a distributed diode modeling and simulation approach has been exploited to estimate TCO sheet resistance from EL intensity pattern and effect of cell width on module efficiency. For shunt investigation, LIT provided better localization of severe shunts, while EL and LBIC given good localization of weak shunts formed by the scratches. The impact of shunts on the photocurrent generation capability of individual cells has been assessed by li-LBIC technique. Results show that the cross-characterization by different imaging techniques provides additional information, which aids in identifying the nature and severity of loss channels with more certainty, along with their relative advantages and limitations in particular cases.

Funding

This work has been supported by a joint India–UK initiative in solar energy through a joint project “Stability and Performance of Photovoltaics” (STAPP) funded by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in India and Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme in UK (Contract No. EP/H040331/1).

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

Journal of Imaging

Volume

2

Issue

3

Pages

23 - 23

Citation

SINHA, A. ...et al., 2016. Cross-characterization for imaging parasitic resistive losses in thin-film photovoltaic modules. Journal of Imaging, 2(3), pp. 23-23.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by MDPI.

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/

Publication date

2016

Notes

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by MDPI under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

eISSN

2313-433X

Language

  • en