TY - JOUR
T1 - Monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic mitigation of potential-induced degradation using SiO2 thin film and +1000 V biasing
AU - Dhimish, Mahmoud
AU - Tyrrell, Andy
N1 - © 2021 Published by Elsevier. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Potential-induced degradation (PID) of photovoltaic (PV) modules is a severe form of degradation in PV modules, where power losses depend on the strength of the electric field, the relative humidity, and temperature. Therefore, understanding how PID influence the performance of PV modules is fundamental to reducing problems caused by such degradation. Previous studies have only considered single effects of PID; however, this work investigates the power losses and the development of hotspots in two different monocrystalline silicon PV modules. The origin of the hotpots is when the examined modules are being affected by severe PID, which results in cracks and materials deterioration. The first module is SiO2-free, and the second module contains this thin film layer. In addition, a PID mitigation procedure of +1000 V has been applied and its effect examined on the modules. The modules were examined under electroluminescence (EL) and thermal imaging. Following these PID experiments, it was found that the SiO2 layer is suitable for deploying commercial PV modules to prevent hotspots and PID. However, applying +1000 V PID mitigation does not necessarily improve the modules' performance after being affected by PID.
AB - Potential-induced degradation (PID) of photovoltaic (PV) modules is a severe form of degradation in PV modules, where power losses depend on the strength of the electric field, the relative humidity, and temperature. Therefore, understanding how PID influence the performance of PV modules is fundamental to reducing problems caused by such degradation. Previous studies have only considered single effects of PID; however, this work investigates the power losses and the development of hotspots in two different monocrystalline silicon PV modules. The origin of the hotpots is when the examined modules are being affected by severe PID, which results in cracks and materials deterioration. The first module is SiO2-free, and the second module contains this thin film layer. In addition, a PID mitigation procedure of +1000 V has been applied and its effect examined on the modules. The modules were examined under electroluminescence (EL) and thermal imaging. Following these PID experiments, it was found that the SiO2 layer is suitable for deploying commercial PV modules to prevent hotspots and PID. However, applying +1000 V PID mitigation does not necessarily improve the modules' performance after being affected by PID.
UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0030402622001371
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijleo.2022.168732
DO - 10.1016/j.ijleo.2022.168732
M3 - Article
SN - 0030-4026
VL - 255
JO - Optik
JF - Optik
M1 - 168732
ER -