Photoluminescence for Defect Detection on Full-Sized Photovoltaic Modules

Doll B, Hepp J, Hoffmann M, Schuler R, Buerhop-Lutz C, Peters IM, Hauch J, Maier A, Brabec C (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)

DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2021.3099739

Abstract

Cost-effective, fast, and nondestructive on-site characterization of photovoltaic plants is required to determine countermeasures against power loss, defects, or safety problems. Methods with small impact on the operation and a high throughput, such as infrared thermography (IR), or methods with high resolution for detailed defect information, such as electroluminescence (EL) imaging, are expedient. To combine high resolution and high throughput, we propose to use photoluminescence (PL) as an outdoor characterization method for full-sized module imaging. With PL imaging as with IR imaging, no electrical contact is necessary, yet image resolution is on par with EL images. Our outdoor PL setup features an excitation source with 18 broadband, white, high power, chip on board LEDs coupled with low-cost short pass filters. This setup is suitable for indium gallium arsenide and silicon detectors. Here, we compare the visibility of common defects, including short-circuited bypass diodes, cracks, potential induced degradation, snail trails, ethylene-vinyl acetate degradation, and interconnection failures, in PL images to that in state-of-the-art imaging techniques IR, EL, and ultraviolet fluorescence. We find that out of these seven defects, five can be detected well, cell cracks under certain conditions, and interconnection failures not at all. We discuss how different techniques are complementary to enable better defect detection.

Authors with CRIS profile

Bernd Doll Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Johannes Hepp Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Mathis Hoffmann Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Jens Hauch
Andreas Maier Lehrstuhl für Informatik 5 (Mustererkennung) Christoph Brabec Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET)

Related research project(s)

Laboranalyse von Degradationsmechanismen unter beschleunigter Alterung und Entwicklung geeigneter feldtauglicher bildgebender Detektionsverfahren und Entwicklung und Evaluation eines Algorithmus zur Fehlerdetektion und Prognostizierung der Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit (iPV4.0) Laboranalyse von Degradationsmechanismen unter beschleunigter Alterung und Entwicklung geeigneter feldtauglicher bildgebender Detektionsverfahren und Entwicklung und Evaluation eines Algorithmus zur Fehlerdetektion und Prognostizierung der Ausfallwahrscheinlichkeit (iPV4.0) Aug. 1, 2018 - July 31, 2021

Involved external institutions

Forschungszentrum Jülich / Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) DE Germany (DE) IBC SOLAR AG DE Germany (DE) Helmholtz-Institut Erlangen-Nürnberg für Erneuerbare Energien (HI-ERN) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Doll, B., Hepp, J., Hoffmann, M., Schuler, R., Buerhop-Lutz, C., Peters, I.M.,... Brabec, C. (2021). Photoluminescence for Defect Detection on Full-Sized Photovoltaic Modules. IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/JPHOTOV.2021.3099739

MLA:

Doll, Bernd, et al. "Photoluminescence for Defect Detection on Full-Sized Photovoltaic Modules." IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics (2021).

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