Vacuum 64 (2002) 33–36

A method to determine the solar cell series resistance from a

single I–V. Characteristic curve considering its shunt
resistanceFnew approach
M.K. El-Adawi1*, I.A. Al-Nuaim
Physics Department, Faculty of Science for Girls P.O. Box 838, Dammam 31113, Saudi Arabia

Received 5 February 2001; accepted 20 April 2001

Abstract

The general solar cell I–V equation, considering the current through its shunt resistance, is treated. A relation for Rs
is obtained. This relation makes it possible to utilise a single I–V curve to evaluate Rs : The maximum power is also
considered. The variation of the junction voltage Vj with Rs is clarified. Computations of Rs and comparison with
published data are given. r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar cell parameters; Solar cell

1. Introduction i. The two curves are considered at two

The series resistance Rs of a solar cell is an
important parameter that affects its efficiency.
There are various methods for the measurement
of such a resistance [1–5]. Either illuminated or
dark curves are used in such trials. In the present
paper, a method is suggested to find Rs utilizing a
single I–V curve considering the current in its
shunt resistance which was not taken into account
in Singh and Singh [5].
The present trial is also preferable than the two
I–V curves method introduced by wolf and
Rauschenbach [2] because:
*Corresponding author.
E-mail address: math@danah.com (M.K. El-Adawi).
1
On leave: Faculty of Education, Vice Dean, Physics
Department, Ain Shams University, Helliopolis, Cairo, Egypt.
different light level intensities, which means
different operating conditions.
ii. The term expressing the current through the
shunt resistance is written, as V=RSH rather
than V þ IRs =RSH which may affect the final
results.
2. The basic equations
The standard expression for the current density
in the solar cell for the steady state I–V cha-
racteristics at a uniform illumination is generally
described by an equation of the form [2,6,7]
V þ IRs
I ¼ Iph  I0 ½exp lðV þ IRs Þ  1  > 0;
RSH
ð1Þ

0042-207X/01/$ - see front matter r 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 2 - 2 0 7 X ( 0 1 ) 0 0 3 7 0 - 0
34 M.K. El-Adawi, I.A. Al-Nuaim / Vacuum 64 (2002) 33–36

where Iph is the light generated current density, I0 or as

is the reverse saturation current density, Rs and  
dp
RSH the series and shunt resistances, l ¼ q=AkT; is ¼ 0; ð11Þ
dI max p
written in terms of the thermal voltage, kT=q and
A is the diode ideality factor. which is equivalent to the condition:
Eq. (1) is commonly referred to as the single    
dV V
exponential model where all parameters except V ¼ : ð12Þ
dI max p I max p
and I are constants.
Eq. (1) is subjected to the condition: Applying the condition (11) to Eq. (9) and
At I ¼ 0; V ¼ Voc : ð2Þ taking into consideration the expression for V as
given in Eq. (6) one gets:
This gives the relation  
1 RSH þ Rs
V m  Im  Im Rs ¼ 0:
V l RSH ½Iph þ I0  Im   Im Rs
RSH ¼
oc : ð3Þ
Iph  I0 elVoc  1 ð13Þ

Eq. (1) can be rearranged to be in the form: Eq. (13) can be rewritten in the form:
 
Vm 1 RSH þ Rs
RSH ½I  Iph  I0  þ IRs ¼ I0 RSH elðVþIRs Þ  V: Rs ¼  ð14Þ
Im l RSH ½Iph þ I0  Im   Im Rs
ð4Þ
Vm 1 1
If we accept the approximation: ‘Lim Rs ¼ ¼
Im l ½Iph þ I0  Im  ð15Þ
I0 RSH elðVþIRs Þ bV; ð5Þ RSH -N:

which is valid only for positive values of voltages The expression (15) for Rs is exactly the same as
not too close to zero. that obtained in [5] for the approximation I0 5Iph
Thus, for V one gets the relation: [5].
    The relation (15) makes it possible to determine
1 RSH Iph þ I0  I  IRs
V ¼ ln  IRs : ð6Þ Rs from one I–V characteristic curve.
l I0 RSH
Also Eq. (14) can be rearranged in the form:
Again applying condition (2) to Eq. (6) one gets aR2s þ bRs þ c ¼ 0; ð16Þ
for Voc the relation:
  which is a quadratic equation having two roots.
1 Iph þ I0 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Voc ¼ ln ; ð7Þ
l I0 b7 b2  4ac
Rs ¼ ; ð17Þ
2a
which is the familiar formula for Voc in the
literatures [8]. where,
The power q
a ¼ lIm ; l ¼ ; ð18Þ
AkT
P ¼ IV: ð8Þ
b ¼ ½1 þ lVm þ lRSH ðIph þ I0  Im Þ; ð19Þ
And the condition for maximum power output can
be written in the form  
Vm
  c ¼ RSH l ðIph þ I0  Im Þ  1 : ð20Þ
dp Im
¼ 0; ð9Þ
dV
To avoid the necessity to find Vmax p ; and Imax p
which is equivalent to the condition: by drawing a curve relating the power and the
    current or voltage, let us proceed as follows.
dI I
¼ ; ð10Þ Choose two points V1, I1 and V2,I2 on one I–V
dV max p V max p characteristic curve.
 M.K. El-Adawi, I.A. Al-Nuaim / Vacuum 64 (2002) 33–36 35

Besides, from Eq. (6) one gets

"   #
1 1 RSH Iph þ I0  I2  I2 Rs
Rs ¼ ln  
l ðI2  I1 Þ RSH Iph þ I0  I1  I1 Rs
 
V2  V1
 : ð21Þ
I2  I1
Accepting the approximation:
I2 R s
oIph þ I0  I2 ; ð22Þ
RSH
and a similar relation for I1 Rs =RSH ; Eq. (21) can
be rewritten in the form:
   
1 1 Iph þ I0  I2 V2  V1
Rs ¼ ln  :
l ðI2  I1 Þ Iph þ I0  I1 I2  I1
ð23Þ
Moreover, if one accepts that Io 5Iph [5], Io can
be dropped from Eq. (23), which then attains the
form: Fig. 1. I–V characteristic of a Silicon solar cell (CEL-192) for
    two light intensity levels: (A) 6 mW cm2, (B) 9 mW cm2 [5].
1 1 Iph  I2 V2  V1
Rs ¼ ln  : ð24Þ
l ðI2  I1 Þ Iph  I1 I2  I1 Two light intensity levels are indicated:
Eq. (23) represents a simple relation to estimate Rs 6 mW cm2 (curve A), 9 mW cm2 (curve B), the
from one I–V characteristic curve. Indeed, deter- same parameters are also taken for both curves
mination of Rs helps to find RSH and vice versa. namely T¼ 300 K; A ¼ 2:5 [1], kT=q¼ 0:025 V:
The junction voltage Vj can be expressed from Moreover, for curve A, Vmax p ¼ 0:4 V;
Eq. (6) in the form: Imax p ¼ 40:5 mA; Iph ¼ 50 mA: The last three para-
    meters are found for curve B to be Vmax p ¼ 0:4 V;
1 RSH Iph þ I0  I  IRs Imax p ¼ 56:6 mA; Iph ¼ 73:5 mA:
V þ IRs ¼ Vj ¼ ln :
l I0 RSH Since, for I0 5Iph our relation (15) to determine
ð25Þ Rs is the same as that in [5] one gets the same
results for Rs namely:
Thus, the variation of Vj with Rs can be expressed For curve A (6 mW cm2): Rs ¼ 3:298 O (=3.3 O
by the relation: [5]).
 
@Vj 1 I For curve B (9 mW cm2): Rs ¼ 3:3689 O
¼ : ð26Þ (=3.3 O [5]).
@Rs l RSH ½Iph þ I0  I  IRs
The value of Rs from both curves [5] is estimated
Eq. (26) may be useful to explain the observed according to Eq. (24) where
decrease of Rs with Vj since the negative sign
means that for Vj2 > Vj1 one has Rs2 oRs1 :
* For curve ‘‘A’’: V1=0.3 V, I1=47.257 mA,
V2=0.4 V, I2=40.5 mA, Iph=50 mA.
* For curve ‘‘B’’: V1=0.4 V, I1=56.6 mA,
V2=0.3 V, I2=67.445 mA, Iph=73.5 mA.
3. Computations
For curve ‘‘A’’ we get Rs ¼ 3:309 O:
As an illustrative example, the I–V character- For curve ‘‘B’’ we get Rs ¼ 3:305 O:
istic curves of a Silicon cell (CEL-192) published in On the other hand, for I0 ¼ 1:86  106 A [5]
[5] (Fig. 1) are considered. the value of RSH is computed according to Eq. (3),
36 M.K. El-Adawi, I.A. Al-Nuaim / Vacuum 64 (2002) 33–36

Table 1

Curve kT/q (v) Vmax (v) RSH (O) Iph (A) Imax (A) Rs (O) Rs (O)

A 0.025 0.4 12 0.05 0.0405 9.600 3.623

B 0.025 0.4 8.05 0.0735 0.0566 12.696 4.022

then the two roots of Rs according to Eq. (17) References

are computed. The obtained values for both
curves are shown in Table 1. Where for curve [1] Wolf M, Rauschenbach H. Adv. Energy Conversion
‘‘A’’: Rs=+3.62 O; for curve ‘‘B’’; Rs=+4.02 O. 1963;3:455.
[2] Rauschenbach H. Solar cell array design handbook. New
The negative values are excluded. York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1980. p. 56.
[3] Imamura MS, Portscheller. Proceedings of the eighth
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference. New York: IEEE,
4. Conclusions 1970. p. 102.
[4] Agarwal SK, Muralidharan R, Agarwal A, Tewary VK,
Jain SC. J. Phys. D 1981;14:1643.
1. A simple relation to estimate Rs from a single [5] Singh VN, Singh RP. J. Phys. D 1983;10:1823–5.
I–V solar cell characteristic curve is obtained. [6] Chakrabarty K, Singh SN. Solid-State Electron.
The method avoids further graphical manipula- 1996;39(4):577–81.
tion. [7] Oman DM, Dugan KM, Killian JL, Ceekala V, Ferekides
2. The interdependence between Rs and RSH, and CS, Morel DL. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 1999;58:
361–73.
the variation of the junction voltage Vj with Rs [8] Green MA. Solar cells operating principles technology and
are clarified. system applications. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall,
3. For 0oRSHoN, Rs ranges between (from 1982. p. 971 (Chapter 5).
Eq. (15))
   
Vm 1 Vm 1 1
þ pRs p  :
Im lIm Im l ½Iph þ I0  Im