Performance Evaluation of Photovoltaic Modules by Combined Damp Heat and Temperature Cycle Test

Hyeonwook Park, Wonshoup So and Woo Kyoung Kim
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Hyeonwook Park: School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea
Wonshoup So: School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea
Woo Kyoung Kim: School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, 280 Daehak-ro, Gyeongsan 38541, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: Standard damp heat (DH), temperature cycle (TC), and combined DH-TC tests were performed using monocrystalline Si 72-cell modules with a conventional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulant, and their module performance and electroluminescence images were investigated. During the DH test, a significant drop (~20%) in the maximum output power of the module was noticed, primarily because of the degradation of fill factor and an increase in series resistance at 5500 h of DH testing (DH5500), presumably due to the corrosion of metal electrodes by moisture ingress. Conversely, it was revealed that temperature cycling did not seriously degrade module performance until 1400 cycles. However, the combined DH5000-TC600 test suggested in this study, with a sequence of DH1000-TC200-DH1000-TC200-DH1000-TC200-DH2000, was confirmed to provide harsher conditions than the DH-only test by causing a 20% decrease in maximum output power ( Pmax ) after DH3000/TC400. Promisingly, we confirmed that the module with a polyolefin elastomer encapsulant showed better durability than the module with EVA even in the combined DH-TC test, showing a limited decrease in Pmax (~10%) even after the DH5500/TC600 test.

Keywords: damp heat; temperature cycle; ethylene vinyl acetate; polyolefin elastomer (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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