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MECHANICAL LOADS
We investigate the impact of the backsheet on cell interconnect ribbon and cell breakage in PV laminates. Standard
sized laminates with and without a backsheet are mechanically loaded in a 4 line bending setup. We detect cracks in
cells and cell interconnect ribbons by electroluminescence and measure cell crack widths and cell gap widths on
photographs taken during the loading. Crack and gap widths increase with increasing bending. In the laminate
without a backsheet the crack and gap widths increase by a factor of 1.7 to 3 more. The backsheet is under tensile
stress which is partly transferred to the cells keeping the cell and gap widths smaller. Since the crack resistance
increases with increasing crack width, insulated cell parts can occur at lower laminate loading in the laminate without
a backsheet. A larger change in cell gap width causes more plastic deformation of the cell interconnect ribbon which
leads to fatigue breakage after repeated load cycles. After the corrosion of the broken interface of the cell
interconnect ribbon, the laminates show a reduction in module efficiency of 10.3 % (without backsheet) and of 2.2 %
(with backsheet). This result emphasizes the importance of the mechanical properties of the backsheet.
Keywords: PV Module, Multicrystalline Silicon, Ribbons, Durability
Figure 6: a) Photograph of Laminate 1 at c = 0 m1 and Table I: Laminate efficiencies in unloaded status.
b) of Laminate 2 at c = 0.06 m1 after 100 load cycles.
The CIR of Laminate 1 is plastically deformed, but not Laminate 1 [%] Laminate 2 [%]
broken whereas the CIR in Laminate 2 is plastically Initial 13.6 13.6
deformed and shows a crack marked in the photograph. After 100th cycle 13.6 -
After DH 13.3 12.2
Figure 7 shows EL images of Laminate 2 in the unloaded
status. Figure 7a shows the Laminate after 100 load 4 SIMULATIONS
cycles and Figure 7b after exposing the laminate to To correlate the mechanical test in IEC 61215 for
1000 h DH. After 100 cycles the cells show a wind and snow load conditions to the load situation of
homogeneous EL intensity. The CIRs still have the initial our 4 line bending setup we compare the simulated
resistance. After the DH test 80 % of the cells show a mechanical stress in laminated solar cells of both
decreased EL-Intensity in at least 1/3 of the total cell mechanically simulated load tests. We use the finite
area. This is due to an increased series resistance of the element program Abaqus. We use the same laminate
CIRs. In Laminate 1 only 19 % of the cells have a geometries and material properties for both simulated
decreased EL-Intensity. tests (e.g. viscoelasticity for EVA) and neglect CIRs and
cell metallization. We simulate the mechanical properties
3.4 Output power of laminates time dependent.
We measure the output power of the laminates before For the IEC 61215 simulation we additionally use a
and after each procedure. Table I shows the efficiencies standard frame. We fix the frame at standard position (in
of Laminate 1 and Laminate 2 at each status. The initial the center of the longer half side). We simulate a
efficiency is the same for both laminates. It does not homogeneous wind load of 2400 Pa on the front side of
change after the 100 load cycles for Laminate 1. the module at 0 °C in different steps of 10, 1 or 0.1 s.
Unfortunately the measurement for Laminate 2 is Afterwards we increase the homogeneous load to
missing. But the EL image in Figure 7a suggests no 5400 Pa in a step of 24 h for the simulation of snow load.
significant resistive losses. After the DH test the We extract the max. first principle stress of the solar cells
efficiency decreases by 2.2 % in Laminate 1 but by neglecting stress peaks of the size of one mesh point. The
10.3 % in Laminate 2. results are shown in Figure 8. At 5400 Pa the maximum
deflection of the center of the module is 18.7 mm which
we observe for stiff frames experimentally.
Afterwards we simulate our 4 line bending setup also
with the same laminate model, without frame and with a 7 µm wide at curvatures from c = 0.05 m1. In average
temperature of 22 °C which are the test conditions. Here the crack width of 7 µm is reached at smaller curvatures
we correlate the curvature with the max. first principle in Laminate 1 than in Laminate 2. In these laminates the
stress of the solar cells depicted in Figure 8. crack does not cause any power loss since all cracks are
Figure 8 shows that comparable stresses in the silicon perpendicular to the busbars due to the stress in the
are present at 2400 Pa module load and a curvature direction of the busbars. But cracks in clamped and
between c = 0.023 m1 and c = 0.026 m1. The stresses framed modules have several directions. From the
are also comparable at 5400 Pa module load and a simulation result in Section 4 we know that curvatures of
curvature of c = 0.05 m1. The curvatures of the up to c = 0.05 m1 correspond to homogeneous loads of
corresponding loads are marked in Figures 3, 4 and 9. up to 5400 Pa in a clamped and framed module. However
the max. first principle stress is strongly dependent on the
exact module layout and material properties. Sander et al.
[5] published 90 MPa stress at 5400 Pa loading. This
stress corresponds to a curvature of c = 0.16 m1. This
means that the observed cracks would insulate cell parts
in a framed module under snow or even wind load
conditions. This effect will be observable at lower loads
when the BS of the module is mechanically weak, e.g.
after UV-degradation of the back sheet [9].