Impact of humidity on current parameters of solar cells

Abstract

In this research, impacts of relative humidity on current parameters of solar cells are investigated. An experimental methodology is considered in the research. Outdoor tests are carried out for two different cell technologies, monocrystalline (m-Si) and polycrystalline silicon solar cell (p-Si), under various humidity conditions. Current-voltage (I-V) and power-voltage (P-V) characteristics are achieved simultaneously for each sample, and the relationship between the short circuit current (Isc) and relative humidity is discussed. During the tests, cell temperature of m-Si and p-Si sample is measured to be in the range of 22.9-36.1 and 21.2-38.9 oC, respectively. It is unequivocally reported in literature that current parameters are not noticeably affected by the rise in cell temperature up to 20 oC. Therefore, any deviation from the linearity between solar intensity level (G) and Isc is attributed to the impact of relative humidity. The tests repeated for low and moderate solar intensity levels (257-482 W/m2) reveal that the linear relationship between G and Isc is maintained for different humidity levels. In this respect, the impact of humidity level on current parameters of solar cells is found to be insignificant