Low-Cost High-Sensitive Suns–[Formula Omitted] Measurement Instrument to Characterize c-Si Solar Cells

• Published in: IEEE transactions on instrumentation and measurement Vol. 69; no. 9; p. 6429
• Main Authors: Ortega, Pablo R, Pinol, Juan M, Martin, Isidro, Orpella, Albert, Masmitja, Gerard, Lopez, Gema, Ros, Eloi, Voz, Cristobal, Puigdollers, Joaquim, Alcubilla, Ramon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) 01-01-2020
• Subjects: Data buses; Flash lamps; Luminous intensity; Open circuit voltage; Personal computers; Photodiodes; Photovoltaic cells; Silicon; Solar cells; Universal Serial Bus
• ISSN: 0018-9456; 1557-9662
• DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2020.2967136

Measuring open-circuit voltage ([Formula Omitted]) versus light intensity (Suns) in solar cells permits the access of cell performance without the series resistance effect. This article shows the implementation of a Suns–[Formula Omitted] measurement system that consists of an off-the-shelf photograph flash lamp, a digital oscilloscope, and a specifically designed photodetector board with three silicon photodiodes that covers a light intensity measurement range from 10−5 to 102 suns. The whole system is controlled via universal serial bus (USB) ports from a personal computer allowing the measurement of cell characteristics (pseudo-dark and pseudo-light current density–voltage curves, as well as the pseudo fill factor and pseudo efficiency) automatically in a very short time.