TY - GEN
T1 - An evaluation of 27+ years old photovoltaic modules operated in a hot-desert climatic condition
AU - Yingtang, Tang
AU - Raghuraman, Bindhu
AU - Kuitche, Joseph
AU - TamizhMani, Govindasamy
AU - Backus, Charles E.
AU - Osterwald, Carl
PY - 2006/1/1
Y1 - 2006/1/1
N2 - Identification of failure mechanisms from the long-term field deployed modules is of great importance to the photovoltaic industry. This paper investigates the modules removed from a water pumping array operated over 27+ years in a hot-desert climatic condition, Arizona. Thirty-two modules were evaluated in this investigation. Each module is comprised of silicone rubber superstrate/encapsulant, mono-Si cells, fiberglass-like substrate, potted junction box and neoprene cable. Ten of these thirty-two modules were either non-functional or near non-functional with less than 30% of the original power. The other twenty-two functional modules showed an average power degradation of 1.08% per year over 27 years of operation. After the damp-heat (1000 hours of 85°C/85%RH), thermal cycling (two-hundred cycles of 90°C/-40°C) and hot-spot stress tests the modules lost about 11%, 9.8% and 3.5% of power, respectively.
AB - Identification of failure mechanisms from the long-term field deployed modules is of great importance to the photovoltaic industry. This paper investigates the modules removed from a water pumping array operated over 27+ years in a hot-desert climatic condition, Arizona. Thirty-two modules were evaluated in this investigation. Each module is comprised of silicone rubber superstrate/encapsulant, mono-Si cells, fiberglass-like substrate, potted junction box and neoprene cable. Ten of these thirty-two modules were either non-functional or near non-functional with less than 30% of the original power. The other twenty-two functional modules showed an average power degradation of 1.08% per year over 27 years of operation. After the damp-heat (1000 hours of 85°C/85%RH), thermal cycling (two-hundred cycles of 90°C/-40°C) and hot-spot stress tests the modules lost about 11%, 9.8% and 3.5% of power, respectively.
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U2 - 10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279929
DO - 10.1109/WCPEC.2006.279929
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:41749106642
SN - 1424400163
SN - 9781424400164
T3 - Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
SP - 2145
EP - 2147
BT - Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
PB - IEEE Computer Society
T2 - 2006 IEEE 4th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion, WCPEC-4
Y2 - 7 May 2006 through 12 May 2006
ER -