Nondestructive characterization of solar PV cells defects by means of electroluminescence, infrared thermography, I–V curves and visual tests: Experimental study and comparison

Sara Gallardo-Saavedra, Luis Hernández-Callejo, María del Carmen Alonso-García, José Domingo Santos, José Ignacio Morales-Aragonés, Víctor Alonso-Gómez, Ángel Moretón-Fernández, Miguel Ángel González-Rebollo and Oscar Martínez-Sacristán

Energy, 2020, vol. 205, issue C

Abstract: Photovoltaic (PV) modules are the core of every PV system, representing the power generation and their operation will affect the overall plant performance. It is one of the elements within a PV site with the higher failure appearance, being essential their proper operation to produce reliable, efficient and safety energy. Quantitative analysis and characterization of manufacturing, soldering and breaking PV defects is performed by a combination of electroluminescence (EL), infrared thermography (IRT), electrical current voltage (I–V) curves and visual inspection. Equivalent-circuit model characterization and microscope inspection are also performed as additional techniques when they contribute to the defects characterization. A 60-cells polycrystalline module has been ad hoc manufactured for this research, with different defective and non-defective cells. All cells are accessible from the backside of the module and the module includes similar kinds of defects in the same bypass string. This paper characterizes different defects of PV modules to control, mitigate or eliminate their influence and being able to do a quality assessment of a whole PV module, relating the individual cells performance with the combination of defective and non-defective cells within the module strings, with the objective of determining their interaction and mismatch effects, apart from their discrete performance.

Keywords: PV defects; PV characterization; Cold-spot; Manufacturing PV defects; Soldering PV defects; Breaking PV defects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:205:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220310379

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117930

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