IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v78y2017icp1117-1151.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Nondestructive inspection, testing and evaluation for Si-based, thin film and multi-junction solar cells: An overview

Author

Listed:
  • Du, Bolun
  • Yang, Ruizhen
  • He, Yunze
  • Wang, Feng
  • Huang, Shoudao

Abstract

Solar energy is one of the fastest growing renewable energy resources. It is extremely important to improve the reliability and availability of solar energy systems and to further reduce the operation and maintenance (O&M) cost. Solar cells and modules are considered as one of the most critical components in solar energy system because they convert solar energy into electricity. Flaws and damages are inevitable during either the fabrication or the service life of a solar cell or module. Thus, nondestructive inspection, testing and evaluation (NDI, NDT& NDE) for solar cells and modules are required in both manufacturing quality control and in-service inspection. In this work, a fully, in-depth and comprehensive review of NDT&E techniques for Si-based, thin film and multi-junction solar is reported based on an orderly and concise literature survey. Firstly, the developments and case comparison studies of electromagnetic, sonic and ultrasonic, optical, thermal, near-infrared, terahertz and mechanical test NDT&E for Si-based solar cells especially in the last three years are reviewed in detail. Next, the developments of NDT&E methods for film and multi-junction solar cells are also reviewed. After that, the strengths and limitations of these NDI and NDT techniques are concluded through comparison studies. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to compare 7 kinds of NDT methods which include photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL), illuminated lock-in thermography (ILIT), dark lock-in thermography (DLIT), resonance ultrasonic vibration (RUV), optical NDT and lamb wave air coupled ultrasonic testing (LAV-UT). In addition, the development tendencies for solar cell and related NDT&E are predicted. This work will serve as a guide for performance testing, failure analysis, quality control and health monitoring of Si-based cells, thin film and multi-junction solar cells and play an important role in solar energy safety control and cost saving.

Suggested Citation

  • Du, Bolun & Yang, Ruizhen & He, Yunze & Wang, Feng & Huang, Shoudao, 2017. "Nondestructive inspection, testing and evaluation for Si-based, thin film and multi-junction solar cells: An overview," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 1117-1151.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:78:y:2017:i:c:p:1117-1151
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032117306536
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cotfas, D.T. & Cotfas, P.A. & Kaplanis, S., 2016. "Methods and techniques to determine the dynamic parameters of solar cells: Review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 213-221.
    2. Habibi, Mehran & Zabihi, Fatemeh & Ahmadian-Yazdi, Mohammad Reza & Eslamian, Morteza, 2016. "Progress in emerging solution-processed thin film solar cells – Part II: Perovskite solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1012-1031.
    3. Wang, Qin & Xie, Yu & Soltani-Kordshuli, Firuze & Eslamian, Morteza, 2016. "Progress in emerging solution-processed thin film solar cells – Part I: Polymer solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 347-361.
    4. Wang, Jen-Cheng & Shieh, Jyh-Cherng & Su, Yu-Li & Kuo, Kun-Chang & Chang, Yen-Wei & Liang, Yu-Ting & Chou, Jui-Jen & Liao, Kuo-Chi & Jiang, Joe-Air, 2011. "A novel method for the determination of dynamic resistance for photovoltaic modules," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(10), pages 5968-5974.
    5. Cotfas, D.T. & Cotfas, P.A. & Kaplanis, S., 2013. "Methods to determine the dc parameters of solar cells: A critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 588-596.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gallardo-Saavedra, Sara & Hernández-Callejo, Luis & Alonso-García, María del Carmen & Santos, José Domingo & Morales-Aragonés, José Ignacio & Alonso-Gómez, Víctor & Moretón-Fernández, Ángel & González, 2020. "Nondestructive characterization of solar PV cells defects by means of electroluminescence, infrared thermography, I–V curves and visual tests: Experimental study and comparison," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    2. Waqar Akram, M. & Li, Guiqiang & Jin, Yi & Chen, Xiao, 2022. "Failures of Photovoltaic modules and their Detection: A Review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    3. Kristina Kilikevičienė & Jonas Matijošius & Artūras Kilikevičius & Mindaugas Jurevičius & Vytautas Makarskas & Jacek Caban & Andrzej Marczuk, 2019. "Research of the Energy Losses of Photovoltaic (PV) Modules after Hail Simulation Using a Newly-Created Testbed," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Zheng, Chuanxiao & Lu, Hao & Zhao, Wenjun, 2024. "Research of dust removal performance and power output characteristics on photovoltaic panels by longitudinal high-speed airflow," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    5. PraveenKumar, Seepana & Agyekum, Ephraim Bonah & Kumar, Abhinav & Velkin, Vladimir Ivanovich, 2023. "Performance evaluation with low-cost aluminum reflectors and phase change material integrated to solar PV modules using natural air convection: An experimental investigation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    6. Krishna, G.Sai & Moger, Tukaram, 2019. "Enhancement of maximum power output through reconfiguration techniques under non-uniform irradiance conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    7. Bakdi, Azzeddine & Bounoua, Wahiba & Mekhilef, Saad & Halabi, Laith M., 2019. "Nonparametric Kullback-divergence-PCA for intelligent mismatch detection and power quality monitoring in grid-connected rooftop PV," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Waqar Akram, M. & Li, Guiqiang & Jin, Yi & Chen, Xiao, 2022. "Failures of Photovoltaic modules and their Detection: A Review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 313(C).
    2. Freier, Daria & Ramirez-Iniguez, Roberto & Jafry, Tahseen & Muhammad-Sukki, Firdaus & Gamio, Carlos, 2018. "A review of optical concentrators for portable solar photovoltaic systems for developing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 957-968.
    3. Wali, Qamar & Elumalai, Naveen Kumar & Iqbal, Yaseen & Uddin, Ashraf & Jose, Rajan, 2018. "Tandem perovskite solar cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 89-110.
    4. Cotfas, D.T. & Cotfas, P.A. & Kaplanis, S., 2016. "Methods and techniques to determine the dynamic parameters of solar cells: Review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 213-221.
    5. Petru Adrian Cotfas & Daniel Tudor Cotfas & Paul Nicolae Borza & Dezso Sera & Remus Teodorescu, 2018. "Solar Cell Capacitance Determination Based on an RLC Resonant Circuit," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Chatzisideris, Marios D. & Ohms, Pernille K. & Espinosa, Nieves & Krebs, Frederik C. & Laurent, Alexis, 2019. "Economic and environmental performances of organic photovoltaics with battery storage for residential self-consumption," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    7. Gracia-Amillo, Ana M. & Bardizza, Giorgio & Salis, Elena & Huld, Thomas & Dunlop, Ewan D., 2018. "Energy-based metric for analysis of organic PV devices in comparison with conventional industrial technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 76-89.
    8. Popoola, Idris K. & Gondal, Mohammed A. & Qahtan, Talal F., 2018. "Recent progress in flexible perovskite solar cells: Materials, mechanical tolerance and stability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 3127-3151.
    9. Almonacid, Florencia & Rodrigo, Pedro & Fernández, Eduardo F., 2016. "Determination of the current–voltage characteristics of concentrator systems by using different adapted conventional techniques," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 146-160.
    10. Kahoul, Nabil & Chenni, Rachid & Cheghib, Hocine & Mekhilef, Saad, 2017. "Evaluating the reliability of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules in harsh environment," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 66-72.
    11. Muhsen, Dhiaa Halboot & Khatib, Tamer & Nagi, Farrukh, 2017. "A review of photovoltaic water pumping system designing methods, control strategies and field performance," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P1), pages 70-86.
    12. Jordehi, A. Rezaee, 2016. "Parameter estimation of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 354-371.
    13. Santiago Pindado & Javier Cubas & Elena Roibás-Millán & Francisco Bugallo-Siegel & Félix Sorribes-Palmer, 2018. "Assessment of Explicit Models for Different Photovoltaic Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-22, May.
    14. Kolesnik, Sergei & Sitbon, Moshe & Gadelovits, Shlomo & Suntio, Teuvo & Kuperman, Alon, 2015. "Interfacing renewable energy sources for maximum power transfer—Part II: Dynamics," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1771-1783.
    15. Humada, Ali M. & Hojabri, Mojgan & Mekhilef, Saad & Hamada, Hussein M., 2016. "Solar cell parameters extraction based on single and double-diode models: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 494-509.
    16. Tihomir Betti & Ante Kristić & Ivan Marasović & Vesna Pekić, 2024. "Accuracy of Simscape Solar Cell Block for Modeling a Partially Shaded Photovoltaic Module," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-19, May.
    17. Jiang, Joe-Air & Wang, Jen-Cheng & Kuo, Kun-Chang & Su, Yu-Li & Shieh, Jyh-Cherng & Chou, Jui-Jen, 2012. "Analysis of the junction temperature and thermal characteristics of photovoltaic modules under various operation conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 292-301.
    18. Muangkote, Nipotepat & Sunat, Khamron & Chiewchanwattana, Sirapat & Kaiwinit, Sirilak, 2019. "An advanced onlooker-ranking-based adaptive differential evolution to extract the parameters of solar cell models," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1129-1147.
    19. Pindado, Santiago & Cubas, Javier, 2017. "Simple mathematical approach to solar cell/panel behavior based on datasheet information," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 729-738.
    20. Nader Anani & Haider Ibrahim, 2020. "Performance Evaluation of Analytical Methods for Parameters Extraction of Photovoltaic Generators," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-25, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:78:y:2017:i:c:p:1117-1151. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.