Journal of Electron Devices, Vol. 6, 2008, pp.

173-176 Journal of Electron Devices

www.jeldev.org
© JED [ISSN: 1682 -3427 ]

Effect of atmospheric parameters

on the silicon solar cells performance
M. Chegaar1, P. Mialhe2
1
L.O.C., Département de Physique, Université Ferhat Abbas, Sétif 19000 (Algérie)
2
ELIAUS, Université de Perpignan, 52 Avenue de Paul Alduy, 66860 Perpignan Cedex, France

Abstract-- In this paper, the global and diffuse solar radiation
incident on solar cells are simulated using a spectral
transmittance model, for varying atmospheric conditions on
the site of Algiers. The effect of changes in total intensity and
spectral distribution on the short circuit current and efficiency
of different kinds of solar cells (amorphous, monocrystalline
and multicrystalline) is examined. The results show a
reduction in the short circuit current due to increasing
turbidity. It is 4.41%, 4.79%, and 7.34% under global
radiation and for mono-crystalline, multicrystalline and
amorphous silicon cells respectively. However it increases
under diffuse radiation. Increasing water vapor in the
atmosphere leads to a reduction in the short circuit current of
4.57%, 4.4%, and 0.2% respectively for mono-crystalline,
multicrystalline and amorphous silicon under global radiation
and it is not influenced under diffuse radiation. The short
circuit current decreases with increasing air mass for the
different types of silicon solar cells. However, the efficiency
increases with increasing air mass for monocrystalline and
multicrystalline solar cells but it is the opposite for the
amorphous silicon solar cell.
Key Words- silicon, solar cell, spectral radiation, diffuse,
global.
I. INTRODUCTION
The most important parameters that describe the operating
The effect of the variations of the solar spectrum on the
performance of the different photovoltaic devices is not yet
quantified on a large scale because of the difficulty to obtain
spectral measurements. Therefore, it is rather important to
elaborate methods to estimate the influence of the varying
atmospheric conditions on the solar cells performance.
The main purpose of the following sections is to know
how silicon solar cells perform under global and diffuse solar
irradiance variations due to the variation of the air mass, water
vapor and turbidity using the spectral irradiance model
(Spectral2) [11] for clear skies.
The value of the photocurrent density Jsc with respect to a
spectral irradiance E(
λ ) can be computed from the measured
spectral response SR( λ ) using the following expression:
J sc = ∫ E( λ )SR( λ )dλ (1)
Fig. 1 shows the spectral response of the different types of
silicon solar cells considered in this work.
0,7
mono-si
0,6
Spectral Response (A/W)

condition of a solar cell are the total irradiance, the spectral 0,5

distribution of the irradiance and the temperature [1]-[10]. 0,4

multi-si
Usually the solar cell designers assess their devices by
0,3
evaluating the efficiency at standard reporting conditions
(SRC: illumination= 1000W/m2, temperature=25°C and AM 0,2 Amorphous
1.5 reference spectrum). However, these conditions practically 0,1
never occur during normal outdoor operation [1] as they do
0,0
not take into consideration the actual geographical and
meteorological conditions at the installation site. 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300
The solar irradiance at ground level varies in intensity and Wavelength (nm)
spectrum due to varying atmospheric parameters such as the
cloud cover, the turbidity, the water vapor content and the
zenith angle [7-10]. Fig. 1. Spectral response of different types of silicon solar
cells
M. Chegaar et al, Journal of Electron Devices, Vol. 6, 2008, pp. 173-176 174

II-TURBIDITY EFFECT
Fig. 2 shows the influence of turbidity on the different
7,6
considered solar cells. The output current is reduced but in Diffuse
Global
different proportion for each type of cell according to the 7,4

situation and shape of the spectral response. The reduction 7,2 (c)

in the short circuit current due to increasing turbidity is 7,0

4.41%, 4.79%, and 7.34% respectively for mono-

Efficiency (%)
6,8
crystalline, multicrystalline and amorphous silicon cells. 4,80
The current of the mono-crystalline silicon cell is subjected 4,78
Amorphous
to a larger reduction than that of multicrystalline because 4,76

the spectral response of mono-crystalline covers a larger 4,74

4,72
area than does multicrystalline. However, the spectral 4,70
response of the amorphous silicon cell is narrower than 4,68
both of the mono-crystalline and the multicrystalline but the 4,66
maximum of the spectral response is at the same 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5
wavelengths that are reduced by the turbidity, hence the Turbidity
percentage reduction in current is larger. A general
summary of results is presented in Table 1. Fig. 2. Efficiency as function of turbidity on a horizontal
surface under global and diffuse irradiance.
(a)- monocrystallline, (b)- multicrystalline, (c)- amorphous
silicon solar cell

9,6 Diffuse
Global
(a) Table 1. Influence of turbidity on Jsc on the solstice summer
9,4
on a horizontal surface under global and diffuse irradiance
Turbidity Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2)
9,2
Efficiency (%)

mono-Si multi-Si a-Si

9,0 Monocrystalline Dif Glb Dif Glb Dif Glb
0,1 2,97 32,63 3,68 37,76 1,48 9,6
8,8
0,2 4,65 32,25 5,65 37,29 2,08 9,41
0,3 6,19 31,89 7,45 36,84 2,61 9,24
8,6
0,4 7,61 31,55 9,1 36,42 3,09 9,07
8,4 0,5 8,92 31,22 10,61 36,01 3,51 8,93
0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5
turbidity

I. WATER VAPOR EFFECT

19,6 The solar spectral irradiance is reduced by increasing water
Diffuse vapor in the atmosphere at larger wavelengths to which only
19,4 Global
mono-crystalline and multicrystalline silicon cells are
19,2
(b)
sensitive. Fig. 3 shows the efficiency as function of water
vapor on a horizontal surface for the different cells. The
19,0
reduction is less than in the case of turbidity because water
Efficiency (%)

18,8
Multicrystalline vapor affects only narrow spectral intervals and the spectral
responses at those wavelengths are weaker than the ones
18,6
affected by the turbidity. The reduction in the current (Table
18,4 2) is 4.57%, 4.4%, and 0.2% respectively for mono-
crystalline, multicrystalline and amorphous silicon cells.
18,2

18,0

0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5

Turbidity
M. Chegaar et al, Journal of Electron Devices, Vol. 6, 2008, pp. 173-176 175

9,5 Table 2. Influence of water vapor on Jsc on the solstice

Diffuse summer on a horizontal surface under global and diffuse
9,4
Global
9,3 irradiance
(a)
9,2 Water Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2)
9,1
Vapor mono-Si multi-Si a-Si
Efficiency (%)

Monocrystalline
9,0
Dif Glb Dif Glb Dif Glb
0,5 2,97 32,63 3,68 37,76 1,48 9,6
8,50
1 2,95 32,26 3,66 37,36 1,48 9,59
8,48 2 2,92 31,78 3,63 36,82 1,48 9,59
3 2,91 31,44 3,61 36,45 1,48 9,59
8,46 4 2,89 31,17 3,6 36,15 1,48 9,58
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5
Water Vapor (cm)
.

II. AIR MASS EFFECT

The variations of the short circuit current as a function of
18,7 the air mass are illustrated in Table 3. The short circuit current
Diffuse decreases with increasing air mass for the different types of
Global
18,6 silicon solar cells. However, the efficiency increases with
(b)
increasing air mass for monocrystalline and multicrystalline
18,5
solar cells but it is the opposite for the amorphous silicon solar
Efficiency (%)

18,4 cell. This is illustrated in Fig. 4.

Multicrystalline
18,3
9,4 Diffuse
9,3 Global
18,2

9,2 (a)
18,1 Monocrystalline
9,1
Efficiency (%)

18,0 9,0
0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5
8,9
Water Vapor (cm)
8,8

8,7

8,6
8,0 8,5
Diffuse
7,9 8,4
Global
1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5
7,8 (c)
Air Mass
7,7

7,6
Efficiency (%)

7,5 Amorphous
5,2

5,1
19,2 Diffuse
5,0
Global
19,0
4,9 (b)

4,8 18,8
Efficiency (%)

0,0 0,5 1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5 Multicrystalline
18,6
Water Vapor (cm)

18,4
Fig. 3. Efficiency as function of water vapor on a horizontal
surface under global and diffuse irradiance. 18,2

(a)- monocrystallline, (b)- multicrystalline, (c)- amorphous

18,0
silicon solar cell
1,0 1,5 2,0 2,5 3,0 3,5 4,0 4,5
Air Mass
M. Chegaar et al, Journal of Electron Devices, Vol. 6, 2008, pp. 173-176 176

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7,75

7,70
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7,65
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7,55
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Air Mass Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2) Jsc (mA cm-2)
mono-Si multi-Si a-Si
Dif Glb Dif Glb Dif Glb
1.031 2,97 32,63 3,68 37,76 1,48 9,6
1.058 2,94 31,71 3,65 36,69 1,47 9,31
1.148 2,87 29,02 3,55 33,56 1,43 8,48
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2.370 2,16 12,75 2,66 14,68 1,05 3,52
4.341 1,59 6,05 1,94 6,93 0,73 1,56

III. CONCLUSION
The global and diffuse solar irradiance incident on different
types of silicon solar cells are simulated using the spectral
transmittance model Spectral2 for varying atmospheric
conditions on the site of Algiers. The analysis shows that the
efficiency increases with increasing air mass and turbidity for
monocrystalline and multicrystalline solar cells but it is the
opposite for the amorphous silicon solar cell under global
irradiance, the effect is greater under diffuse irradiance. The
efficiency increases with increasing water vapor for the
different types of silicon solar cells under global irradiance
but it does not influence the cells parameters under diffuse
irradiance.