Experimental set-up for testing MJ photovoltaic cells under ultra-high irradiance levels with temperature and spectrum control

Abstract

• An experimental indoor setup has been developed for test PV cells at +1000 suns. • The set-up is intended to experimental testing, not for cell model extraction. • Irradiance, spectrum and temperature are controlled and measured. • I-V curves at +1000 suns are reported under controlled temperature and spectrum. The interest in Ultra-High Concentrator Photovoltaic (UHCPV) devices has motivated the use of solar cells under ultra-high irradiance levels (+1000 suns). Temperature effects and variations in the spectrum of the incoming light on the solar cells need to be analysed to understand their performance under real operating conditions. In this work an experimental setup, based on an indoor multi-flash solar simulator, is presented. This arrangement allows high efficiency multi-junction solar cells to be characterized up to 1500 suns of irradiance under controlled conditions of temperature and spectrum. Also, different I-V curves obtained by varying each of these parameters separately are attached.