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Failure Analysis of Silicon Solar Cells in the Presence of Cracks: Correlated to Partial Shading

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Abstract

The performance of Silicon solar cells is effected by the presence of cracks which are inevitable. These cracks exist in different patterns in the cells. Any given particular pattern of cracks leads to formation of recombination centers and insulated areas. Furthermore, these crack patterns lead to the formation of hot spots leading to the temperature increase and failure of performance of solar cells. In this study, the failure of performance of solar module is analyzed considering different crack patterns leading to different amount of areas of insulation. However, this particular percentage of insulated area is correlated with the percentage of shaded area in the module due to obstruction of sun light falling on the cells. The performance of Silicon solar cells is implemented through a specialized lens known as the single-diode model. The impact of cracks is examined in terms of partial shading conditions and plots that unveil the power-voltage and current–voltage characteristics of the PV panels across various conditions are constructed using MATLAB/Simulink.

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Acknowledgments

S.D.V.S.S Varma Siruvuri is thankful to Dr. P.R. Budarapu and Manish Gupta of School of Mechanical Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar, India, for helping me to carry out this research.

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  1. Ad-Hoc Faculty, Mechanical Engineering Department, NIT Andhra Pradesh, Tadepalligudem, 534101, India

    S. D. V. S. S. Varma Siruvuri

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Siruvuri, S.D.V.S.S.V. Failure Analysis of Silicon Solar Cells in the Presence of Cracks: Correlated to Partial Shading. J Fail. Anal. and Preven. 23, 2511–2518 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01786-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11668-023-01786-6

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