Renewable Energy

Solar cell
Efficiency Issues of Solar cell
 Photovoltaic (PV) Scheme
• Highly purified silicon (Si) from sand, quartz, etc. is “doped” with intentional
impurities at controlled concentrations to produce a p-n junction
– p-n junctions are common and useful: diodes, CCDs, photodiodes, transistors
• A photon incident on the p-n junction liberates an electron
– photon disappears, any excess energy goes into kinetic energy of electron (heat)
– electron wanders around drunkenly, and might stumble into “depletion region”
where electric field exists (electrons, being negative, move against field arrows)
– electric field sweeps electron across the junction, constituting a current
– more photons  more electrons  more current  more power
photon of light
Si doped with
electric field n-type silicon
phosphorous, e.g.

Si doped with
boron, e.g.
p-type silicon liberated electron

2
 Provide a circuit for the electron flow
• Without a path for the electrons to flow out, charge
would build up and end up canceling electric field
– must provide a way out
– direct through external load
current flow

external load

– PV cell acts like a battery

3
 Generic photovoltaic cell
• Simplest equivalent circuit for a photovoltaic cell
– Consists of diode parallel with ideal current source. Ideal current source
delivers current in proportion to solar flux to which it is exposed.

A simple equivalent circuit for a PV cell consists of a current

source driven by sunlight in parallel with a real diode.
• 2 conditions for actual PV and its equivalent circuit:
– Current flows when the terminals are shorted together, short-circuit current, I SC
– Voltage across terminal when the leads are left open, open-circuit voltage, V OC.
• Voltage and current equation are:
I  I SC  I d
I  I SC  I 0 (e qV / kT  1)
• When the leads from PV cell are left open, I=0 and we can find VOC:
kT I 
VOC  In SC  1 
q  I0 
• At 250C, these above equation becomes:
I 
I  I SC  I 0 (e 38.9V
 1) VOC  0.0257 In SC  1 
 I0 
• In both equations, ISC is directly proportional to solar insolation (radiation),
which means that we can easily plot sets of PV I-V curves for varying
sunlight.
• 2 important parameters for PV are short-circuit current and open-
circuit voltage.
 Photovoltaic I-V characteristic curve
• Figure below show I-V relationship for a PV cell when it is dark (no
illumination) and light (illuminated). The dark curve is just diode curve
turned upside-down. The light curve is the dark curve plus ISC.
 Example 1

• Consider a 100-cm2 PV cell with reverse

current,I0=10-12 A/cm2. In full sun, it produces ISC
of 40mA/cm2 at 250C. Find VOC at full sun and
again for 50% sunlight. Plot the results.
 Solution example 1
• The reverse saturation current,
I0=10-12 A/cm2 x 100cm2 = 1x10-10A.
• At full sun, ISC =0.040A/cm2 x 100cm2= 4.0A.
• VOC is:
 I SC   4 
VOC 
 0.0257 In 
 1   0.0257 In 10  1   0.627V
 I0   10 

• Since short-current current is proportional solar intensity, at

half sun ISC=2A and VOC is:
 I SC   2 
VOC  0.0257 In  1   0.0257 In 10  1   0.610V
 I0   10 
• Plotting the result
Effect of Series and Shunt
Resistance
• Figure below shows a PV equivalent circuit including parallel
leakage resistance, Rp. The ideal ISC deliver current to diode, Rp
and load:
V
I  ( I SC  I d ) 
Rp
• From the equation, at any given voltage, the parallel leakage
resistance causes load current for the ideal model to be
decreased by V/Rp as shown in graph below.
• An equivalent circuit with series resistance, Rs shown below.

• Analysis part of the circuit.

I  I SC  I d  I SC  I 0 (e qVd / kT  1)
• And then add the impact of Rs,

• To give Vd  V  IR S

  q(V  IR S )  
I  I SC  I 0 exp   1
  kT  
• Adding series resistance to the PV equivalent circuit causes
the voltage at any given current to shift to the left by ΔV=IRS.
• Finally, PV equivalent circuit including both series
and parallel resistance.

• The equation for current and voltage is:

  q(V  IR S )    V  IR S 

I  I SC  I 0 exp   1   R
 kT    
 p 
 V  IR S 
I  I SC  I 0 e 38.9 (V  IRS

1 
 R
 at 25 0 C

 p 
• Series and parallel resistance in the PV equivalent circuit
decrease both voltage and current delivered. To improve cell
performance, high RP and low RS are needed.
PV Cell
 From cells to a module
• An individual cell produces only about 0.5-0.6V, so it is a rare
application of using just a single cell in any case.
• So, the basic building block for PV applications used is a
module consists of a number of pre-wired cells in series, all
encased in tough, weather-resistant packages.
• A typical module has 36 cells in series and often designated as
a ’12-V modules’. 72-cell modules referred as 24-V modules.
• Multiple modules can be wired in series to increase voltage and
in parallel to increase current, the product of which is power.
• Important element in PV system design is deciding how many
modules should be connected in series and how many in
parallel to deliver whatever energy is needed.
• Such combinations of modules are referred to as an array.
 PV Array
Components

oPV Cells
oModules
oArrays
 Layers of a Solar Module

Protection Layer: Usually made from glass, though in thin-film modules

this can also be transparent plastic.
Front Contact: The electric contact at the front, has to be transparent, as
otherwise, light would not get into the cell. Transparent Adhesive+
Antireflective coating is used here. Front contact is of Finger electrode
type.
Transparent conductive adhesives (TCAs) can enable conductivity between two
layers. As photon collected on cover glass, they need to be conducted on
Absorption layer efficiently to produce EHP pair. Anti reflective coatings on the
solar panels glass will improve the light transmittance and therefore increases the
overall efficiency of the PV module. Another advantage is that the glare from the
glass will be reduced. For the thin AR Coating, silicon nitride or titanium oxide is
used. When the anti reflection coating is left off, the cells will have a natural dark
grey color. A finger electrode is used on the top to make the electrical contact, so
that there is sufficient surface for the light to penetrate.
Absorption Material: The heart of the module is the layer where the
light is absorbed and converted into electric current. All materials
used are semiconductors. In many cells, this is just one material, in
most instances, silicon. However, in order to improve performance,
there could be multiple layers of different materials. In addition, all
layers are be doped. I.e. each layer is split further into an n-doped
and a p-doped zone.
Metal back contact: A conductor at the back completes the electric
circuitry.
Laminate Film: A laminate ensures that the structure is water-proof
and insolated from heat.
Back glass: This layer gives protection on the back side of the
module. It may be glass, it may also be made of aluminium or
plastic.
Connectors: Finally, the module is fitted with connectors and cables,
so it can be wired.
• When PV are wired in series, they carry the same current and
their voltages add as shown in figure below.
• To find overall module voltage, Vmodule is:
Vmod ule  n(Vd  IR S )
• For cell wired in series, their voltages at any given current
add. A typical module will have 36 cells.
 Example
A PV module is made up to 36 identical cells, all wired in series. With
1-sun insolation (1kW/m2), each cell has ISC=3.4A and at 250C its
I0=6x10-10 A. Rp=6.6Ω and Rs=0.005Ω.
a. Find the voltage, current and power delivered when the
junction voltage of each cell is 0.50V.
Using Vd=0.5V and the other data gives current:
Vd
I  I SC  I 0 (e 38.9Vd  1) 
RP
0.5
 3.4  6  10 10 (e 38.90.5  1)   3.16 A
6.6
Vmod ule  n(Vd  IR S )  36(0.5  3.16  0.005)  17.43V

P  Vmod ule I  17.43  3.16  55W

 From modules to arrays
• Arrays are made up of some combination of series and parallel
modules to increase power.
• For modules in series, I-V curves are added along the voltage
axis. So, at any given current (which flows through each of
modules), the total voltage is the sum of individual module
voltages.
• For modules in parallel, the same voltage is across each
module and the total current is the sum of the currents. At
any given voltage, I-V curve of parallel combination is the
sum of individual module current at that voltage.
• 2 ways to wire an array with 3 modules in series and 2
modules in parallel. Although I-V curves for arrays are the
same, 2 strings of each 3 modules (a) is preferred. The total I-
V curve of the array is shown in figure below.
 PV I-V curve under standard test conditions (STC)
• STC means a surface temperature of 25°C, Solar irradiation of 1
kW/m2 and A light spectrum that closely simulates sunlight: AM
1.5G
• A single PV module is connected to load as shown in figure below.
The load may be a dc motor driving a pump or a battery.
• Before load connected, module is in the sun will produce V OC but no
current will flow.
• If the terminals are shorted, ISC will flow but the output voltage is
zero.
• In both cases, no power is delivered by the module and no power
received by the load.
• When the load is connected, current and voltage will result and
power is delivered.
• To figure how much power, we have to consider I-V curve of the
module as well as I-V curve of the load.
• Figure below shows a generic I-V curve for PV module.
• At the two ends of I-V curve, the output power is zero since
either current or voltage is zero at that point.
• The maximum power point (MPP) is spotted near the knee of
I-V curve at which the product of current and voltage reaches
its maximum.
• The voltage and current at MPP is designated as VR and IR.
 Impacts of temperature and insolation on I-V curves

• Manufacturers often provide I-V curves that show how curves

shift as insolation and cell temperature changes.
• Figure below shows examples for Kyocera 120-W multicrystal-
silicon module. As insolation drops, ISC drops proportionally.
Decrease insolation also reduces VOC.
• As cell temperature increases, VOC decreases drastically
eventhough ISC increases slightly.
• Cell vary in temperature not only because ambient
temperature change, but also due to insolation on the cells
change.
• For crystalline silicon cells, VOC drop about 0.37%, ISC increases
by 0.05% and maximum power decrease by 0.5% for each
degree Celsius increase in temperature.
• Only a small fraction of insolation hitting a module is converted
to electricity and carried away, most of incident energy is
absorbed and converted to heat.
• Manufacturer often provide an indicator called NOCT (nominal
operating cell temperature) to account for changes in cell
performance with temperature.
• NOCT is cell temperature in a module when ambient is
200C,solar irradiation is 0.8kW/m2 and windspeed is 1m/s.
• To calculate for other ambient conditions, use:
 NOCT  20 0 
Tcell  Tamb     S
 0.8 
 Example
• Estimate cell temperature, VOC and maximum power output
for 150W, BP2150S module under condition of 1-sun
insolation and Tamb=300C. The module has a NOCT=470C and
S=1kW/m2.
• Solution:  NOCT  20 0  47  20
T T 
cell amb    S  30 
  1  64 0 C
 0.8  0.8

• From Table given, for this module at standard temperature,

VOC=42.8V. Since VOC drops by 0.37%/0C, the new VOC will be:
VOC  42.8[1  0.0037( 64  25)]  36.7V
• With maximum power expected to drop about 0.5%/0C, this
module will deliver:
P max  150  [1  0.005(64  25)]  121W
– Which is a significant drop of 19% from its rated power (150W).
 Shading impacts on I-V curves
• The output of PV module can be reduced
dramatically even when a small portion of it is
shaded.
• A single shaded cell can easily cut output power
by more than half.
• External diode is added by the system designer or
manufacturer to preserve the performance of PV
modules.
• The main purpose of diode is to mitigate the
impact of shading on PV I-V curves. Diode is
connected in parallel with modules or blocks of
cells within a module.
• In figure (a), all the cells are in the sun and since they are in
series, the same current flow through each of them.
• In figure (b), the top cell is shaded and its ISC is reduced to zero.
The voltage drop across Rp as current flow through it causes the
diode to be reverse-biased, Id=0. So, the entire current flowing
through the module must travel through both Rp and Rs in the
shaded cell on its way to the load. The top cell, instead of adding
to the output voltage actually reduces it.
• The output voltage of entire module, VSH with one cell shaded
will drop to:
V SH  Vn1  I ( R p  R S )
• With all n cells in the sun and carrying I, the output voltage is V,
so the voltage of the bottom n-1 cells will be:
 n 1
V n 1   V
 n 
• Combine both above equations:
 n 1
VSH   V  I ( RP  RS )
 n 
• The drop in voltage ΔV at any given I, caused by shaded cell, is
given by:
 1
V  V  V SH  V   1  V  I ( R P  R S )
 n
V
  I ( RP  RS )
n
• Since the parallel resistance, Rp is much greater than series
resistance, Rs simplifies to:
V
V   IR P
n

• At any given current, I-V curve for the module with one shaded
cell drops by ΔV. The huge impact can be seen by figure below.
Factors affecting Efficiency of
Solar Cell
• Transparency Loss
Major Loss Mechanism
• Excess Excitation Loss
• Reflection loss on Surface: A portion of the incident light that is
reflected from the surface of the solar cell is called reflection
losses. Losses as low as 3% for silicon cells have been reported.
• Incomplete Collection of EHPs
• Recombination Before Drift : An important loss is the
recombination of photo excited electron hole pair before drifting
by the depletion layer to create photocurrent. This is happened
due to short diffusion length compared to the thickness of the cell
structure or due to short life time of the carrier. This loss can be
kept to a minimum by using semiconductor with appropriate
properties especially long lifetime for the photogenerated carrier.
This can also be done by eliminating all unnecessary defects.
• Series and Shunt Resistance
 Thank You

2/5/21 Blood Pressure - Biomedical Signal Processing Page 22