International Journal of Power and Energy Research

Effect of Local Shunting on the Electrical Mismatch Losses in Industrial Silicon Photovoltaic Modules

Download PDF (696 KB) PP. 1 - 15 Pub. Date: January 26, 2018

DOI: 10.22606/ijper.2018.21001

Author(s)

Somasundaran Pannientakandi^*
Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
Rajesh Gupta
Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India
Shilpi Manjoli
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Government Engineering College, Kozhikode, India

Abstract

The paper presents the results of investigation on the influence of an ohmic shunt located at various spatial positions on the photovoltaic module performance by distributed diode model based simulations. By systematically varying the parameters such as the resistance of the shunt, proximity to the finger and busbar metallization, area of the shunt, irradiance and number of shunted cells in the module, a deep insight about the impact of the shunt on the module electrical performance have been obtained. Further, influence of spatial location of shunts has been studied by assuming a shunted region of same area and severity at different positions in the photovoltaic module, based on the proposed simulation approach. The study revealed novel insights about significance of spatial locations of shunts and the proximity of finger and busbar metallization. In general, it was found that the proximity to the busbar and finger metallization and the shunt position holds the key to the impact the shunt will have on the photovoltaic module performance in addition to the resistance of shunt itself. Quantum of loss due to the presence of finger or busbar metallization in close proximity of shunt location has been revealed by the proposed approach. This understanding can enable to gain an improved performance of the photovoltaic cell and module, by implementing the approach at the cell production level.

Keywords

PV module characterization, shunts, electrical mismatch loss, performance degradation.

References

[1] M. Barbato, M. Meneghini, A. Cester, G. Mura, E. Zanoni, and G. Meneghesso, “Influence of shunt resistance on the performance of an illuminated string of solar cells: theory, simulation, and experimental analysis”, IEEE Trans. Device and Materials Reliability, vol. 14(4), pp. 942-950, 2014.

[2] Y.P. Botchak Mouafi, A.S. Zuschlag, P.-Y. Pichon, J.M. Fritz, A. Schonecker, and G. Hahn, “Novel RGS materials with high fill factors and no material-induced shunts with record solar cell efficiencies exceeding 16%”, Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cells, vol.146, pp. 25-34, 2016.

[3] D. Chithambaranadhan, V. Veeramuthu, Q. Nguyen, T. C. Lommasson, R. Goldberg, and T. Bostr?m, “Efficiency improvement in nonprime crystalline Silicon solar cells by chemical isolation of shunts under front metallization”, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, vol. 5(1), pp. 206-211, 2015.

[4] A. Compagnin, M. Meneghini, M. Barbato, V. Gilberto, A. Cester, M. Vanzi, G. Mura, E. Zanoni, and G. Meneghesso, “Thermal and electrical investigation of the reverse bias degradation of silicon solar cells”, Microelectronics Reliability, vol. 53, pp. 1809-1813, 2013.

[5] S. Dongaonkar, S. Loser, E.J. Sheets, K. Zaunbrecher, R. Agrawal, T.J. Marks , and M.A. Alam, “Universal statistics of parasitic shunt formation in solar cells, and its implications for cell to module efficiency gap”, Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 6, pp. 782-787, 2013.

[6] M. Fortes, E. Comesana, J. A. Rodriguez, P. Otero, and A.J. Garcia-Loureiro, “Impact of series and shunt resistances in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells”, Sol. Energy , vol. 100, pp.114-123, 2014.

[7] D. Giaffreda, P. Magnone, M. Meneghini, M. Barbato, G. Meneghesso, E. Zanoni, E. Sangiorgi, and C. Fiegna, “Local shunting in multicrystalline Silicon solar cells: distributed electrical simulations and experiments”, IEEE J. Photovoltaics, vol. 4(1), pp. 40- 47, 2014.

[8] H. Guthrey, S. Johnston , D.N. Weiss, S. Grover, K. Jones, A. Blosse, and M. Al-Jassim, “Three- dimensional minority- carrier collection channels at shunt locations in silicon solar cells”, Sol. Energy , vol. 135, pp. 163-168, 2016.

[9] A.B. Phillips , R.R. Khanal , Z. Song , S.C. Watthage , K.R. Kormanyos , and M.J. Heben , “Simultaneous shunt protection and back contact formation for CdTe solar cells with single wall carbon nanotube layers”, Applied Physics Letters, vol.107, pp. 253901 (1-4), doi:10.1063/1.4938130, 2015.

[10] A. Johansson, R. Gottschalg, and D.G. Infield, “Modelling shading on amorphous silicon single and double junction modules”, 3rd World Conference on photovoltaic energy conversion, vol.2, pp. 1934-1937, 2003.

[11] A. Woyte, J. Nijs, and R. Belmans, “Partial shadowing of photovoltaic arrays with different system configurations: literature review and field test results”, Sol. Energy, vol. 74, pp. 217- 233, 2003.

[12] A. Hovestad , P.M.M.C. Bressers , R.M. Meertens , C.H. Frijters, and W.P. Voorthuijzen, “Electrochemical etching of molybdenum for shunt removal in thin film solar cells”, J. Appl. Electrochem. vol.45, pp.745-753, 2015.

[13] L. Zhang , H. Shen, Z. Yang, and J. Jin, “Shunt removal and patching for crystalline silicon solar cells using infrared imaging and laser cutting”. Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl., vol.18(1), pp. 54–60, 2010.

[14] M.D. Abbott, T. Trupke, H.P. Hartmann, R. Gupta, and O. Breitenstein, “Laser isolation of shunted regions in industrial solar cells”, Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl. vol.15, pp. 613-620, 2007.

[15] H.L Hao, S.H. Zhong, X. Zhang, and W.Z. Shen, “Optimization of shunt isolation processing for silicon solar cells via laser and chemical etching”, Applied Surface Science, vol. 311, pp. 870 – 875, 2014.

[16] S.E. Foss, B.R. Olaisen, E.S. Marstein, and A. Holt, “A new 2.5D distributed SPICE model of solar cells ”, In: Proceedings of 21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, pp. 430-434, 2006.

[17] B. Galiana, C. Algora, I. Rey-Stolle, and I. G. Vara, “A 3-D Model for concentrator solar cells based on distributed diode units”, IEEE Trans. Electronic Dev., vol. 52(12), pp. 2552- 2558, 2005.

[18] R. Gupta , O. Breitenstein , J. Zettner, and D. Karg , “In-line shunt detection in solar cells by fast lock-in infrared thermography”, In: Proceedings of 22nd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition. pp. 1975–1978, 2007.

[19] R. Gupta, P. Somasundaran, and D. K. Nandi, “Electrical simulation and characterization of shunts in solar cells”, J. Appl. Mechanics Mater., vol. 110-116, pp. 2453- 2457, 2012.

[20] P. Somasundaran, A. Sinha, and R. Gupta, “Simulation and characterization of spatial variation of shunts in industrial solar cells by PSpice and dark lock-in infrared thermography”, In: Proceedings of 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference, pp. 744-748, 2012.

[21] P. Somasundaran and R. Gupta, “Influence of local shunting on the electrical performance in industrial Silicon solar cells”, Sol. Energy, vol. 139, pp. 581-590, 2016.

[22] A. Zekry and A.Y. Al-Mazroo, “A distributed SPICE-model of a solar cell”, IEEE Trans. Electronic Dev. vol. 43(5), pp. 691-700, 1996.

[23] P. Somasundaran and R. Gupta, “Evaluation of shunt losses in industrial Silicon solar cells”, International Journal of Photoenergy, vol. 2016, 2016, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8029608.

[24] OrCAD PSPICE release 16.3. Cadence Design System Inc. (2011)

[25] P. Somasundaran, M. Shilpi and R. Gupta, “Evaluation of mismatch losses due to shunts in industrial Silicon photovoltaic modules”, In: Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Environment and Industrial Innovation, 2017, doi:10.1088/1755-1315/67/1/012013.

[26] J. Salinger, “Measurement of solar cell parameters with dark forward I-V characteristics,” Acta Polytechnica, vol. 46, pp. 25-27, 2006.

[27] F. W. Fecher, A. P. Romero, C. J. Brabec and C. Buerhop-Lutz, “Influence of shunt on the electrical behavior in thin film photovoltaic modules – A 2 D finite element simulation study ”, Sol. Energy, vol. 105, pp. 494- 504, 2014.