Three flat plates terrestrial (3FPT) module fabrication and testing

Abstract

The conventional module has many deficiencies during its long-term operation on environmental conditions. Examples of such deficiencies are cracked cells, interconnection failure and degradation of the electrical output power. Also, the module is not repairable, once one cell is degraded the module needs to be replaced. In this work the fabrication and testing of the 3FPT module is presented. The 3FPT module is a newly developed photovoltaic module structure, which overcomes the drawbacks of the conventially existing modules and uses commercially available materials in Egypt. The 3FPT module consists of three plates; the front cover, cells adhered to substrate and the back cover. A 0.065 m 2 photovoltaic module is fabricated using four single crystal cells each of 0.102 m diameter. The tests carried out on the 3FPT module after fabrication are X-ray radiography examination, illumination measurements, dark measurements, electrical isolation test, electrical performance test, non-destructive tests, environmental test, thermal cyclic test, humidity test, thermal shock test and cyclic pressure loading test. An experimental setup was arranged to gather actual temperature measurement data for the different 3FPT module encapsulation layers of interest. The temperature measurement data were recorded every half hour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during November and December of 1997 in the Cairo area. Also, an experimental setup is arranged to measure the transmissivity and reflectivity behavior for different front cover materials. The results of those tests and measurements leads to the optimum design criteria of the 3FPT module with simple fabrication technique and good performance.