Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 202 (2020) 163540

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Optik
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijleo

Original research article

Research on the effect of encapsulation material on anti-PID

T
performance of 1500 V solar module
Wang Qi
Jiangsu Sunport Power Corp., Ltd., Nanjing, 210000, China

A R T IC LE I N F O ABS TRA CT

Keywords: Low cost and high efficiency has always been the goal of the photovoltaic (PV, solar) industry.
Solar module With the continuous development of the solar industry, the scale of the solar plant also gradually
1500 V bias expanded. Increasing the system voltage can increase the number of solar module in series and
Anti-PID effect reduce the use of inverters, to reduce the cost of the PV system. However, the increase of system
Poly olefin
voltage will increase the risk of PID (potential-induced-degradation) phenomenon of solar
PV glass
modules, resulting in the decline of solar module power and affecting power generation effi-
ciency. Therefore, to study and solve the anti-PID effect problem of solar modules under high
system voltage can effectively improve the income of PV plants. In this paper, the influence of
solar module encapsulation materials such as glass, EVA and backsheet on the anti-PID perfor-
mance of solar module under the condition of 1500 V voltage is systematically studied. It is found
that the increase of voltage has significant and continuous PID effect on the crystalline silicon
solar module. Compared with different encapsulations, it is concluded that the selection of
polyolefin (PO) material as encapsulation film can effectively mitigate the PID effect of con-
ventional solar module under high voltage pressure. The double-glass solar module with glass
replacing the backsheet was further investigated, and it was found that the double-glass solar
module still had significant anti-PID performance under 1500 V bias.

Potential induced attenuation (PID) is one of the most important factors affecting the reliability of photovoltaic modules, which
has attracted much attention in recent years. It is generally believed that the generation of PID problem is due to the long-term high
voltage effect of the solar modules. It makes the solar cell to the encapsulation material, and then through the glass, metal frame and
the earth to form a leakage current channel, so that a large number of negative charges accumulate on the surface of the solar cells.
These negative charges will attract positive charges to the surface of the solar cells, forming recombination center, directly affecting
the performance of solar cells, such as short-circuit current and open-circuit voltage. Finally it leads to power performance of solar
modules degrade greatly [1,2].
At present, from solar cell and silicon wafer side, the anti-PID performance of solar module can be improved by changing the
resistivity of silicon wafer, the ratio of N/Si, thickness and uniformity of anti-reflective layer on solar cell surface [3,4]. From module
side, adding anti-PID coating on glass surface, optimizing the content of VA in EVA and the proportion of various additives can be
used [5]. However, with the increasing scale of photovoltaic power plants, higher system voltage is needed to increase the number of
solar modules in series and reduce the use of inverters to save the cost of the overall photovoltaic system. The increase of system
voltage may lead to a greater chance of generating PID phenomenon of solar modules. Therefore, this paper mainly studies the PID
effect of solar modules under 1500 V bias voltage in view of 1500 V system voltage conditions; and further studies the effect of using
different encapsulation materials and encapsulation methods to slow down or suppress the PID phenomenon under 1500 V voltage.

E-mail address: qi.wang@sunportpower.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijleo.2019.163540
Received 7 July 2019; Accepted 3 October 2019
0030-4026/ © 2019 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.
Q. Wang Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 202 (2020) 163540

1. Experiment

1.1. Experimental materials and instruments

1.1.1. Experimental materials

Poly-crystalline solar cell prepared by the same silicon wafer process from the same manufacturer;
Non-anti-PID EVA film 0#, anti-PID EVA film 1#, polyolefin PO film 2#;
Partial discharge voltage 1000v and 1500 V backsheet (water vapor through rate and other parameters are the same);
1000v and 1500 V junction boxes and cables;
Ultra-white coated glass, tempered glass, tin-coated ribbon and etc.

1.2. Experiment procedure

The samples Q0 and Q1-a for 1000V system voltage module were prepared by using 0#, 1# encapsulation film. The samples Q1-b
and Q2 for 1500 V system voltage module were prepared by using 1#, 2# encapsulation film. The sample Q3 of dual-glass module for
1500 V system voltage was prepared by using 2# encapsulation film.
Firstly, comparing Q0, Q1-a and Q1-b to investigate the solar module PID phenomenon under 1500 V voltage; secondly, com-
paring the anti-PID performance of solar modules with different encapsulation film under 1500 V system voltage; finally, comparing
the anti-PID performance of 1500 V dual-glass module under different encapsulation film of Q3 and Q2.

1.3. Testing method of anti-PID performance

Test chamber environment: 85℃ (temperature), 85% (relative humidity), negative 1000 V and 1500 V DC voltage were applied
between the cables and the frame; EL image and module power were tested at 48 h interval until the power degradation was more
than 5% compared with the initial power of the module.

2. Result and discussion

2.1. Effect of 1500 V bias on the anti-PID performance of solar modules

Table 1 lists the data of the effect of increasing system bias on the anti-PID performance of solar module. Q0 is the module sample
of common encapsulation mode, Q1-a and Q1-b are the anti-PID conventional module samples encapsulated by anti-PID EVA film.
Comparing the data of Q0 and Q1-a, it can be seen that the power attenuation value of conventional modules after 96 h is reduced
from 9.97% to 1.06% under 1000 V bias voltage. That is to say, under the existing encapsulation materials, the power attenuation
value of conventional modules after 96 h is reduced effectively. It can satisfy the requirement of anti-PID performance of modules
under 1000 V system voltage condition well. But with the increase of bias voltage to 1500v, it can be seen from the comparative data
of Q1-a and B that the power attenuation of modules is more than 5% after 48 h of the PID test, and the power attenuation after 96 h
has been very serious, with a power decrease of 39.89%.
Under specific temperature and humidity conditions, the increase of the potential difference between the photovoltaic module
frame and the solar cell accelerates the migration rate of Na ions to the surface of the solar cell, further reduces the activity of the
excitation zone of the solar cell, resulting in an accelerated decrease in the power of the solar cell [6]. The voltage condition of 1500 V
system will greatly accelerate the occurrence of power attenuation of module PID. However, for modules, humidity is also one of the
important factors inducing the generation of PID. In order to reduce the degree of water vapor entering the modules, we use
polyolefin with low water permeability to replace EVA as encapsulation film and glass with impervious backsheet material to replace
EVA as two encapsulation modes, and investigate the change of encapsulation mode to the anti-PID performance of modules under
1500 V specific high-pressure conditions (Fig. 1).

Table 1
Power change under different bias voltage.
Sample Voc(V) Isc(A) Pmax(W) Vmp(V) Imp(A) Degradation(%)

Q0 Initial 36.96 9.03 254.27 30.452 8.350 –

1000v, 48h 37.35 8.92 251.53 30.528 8.239 −1.08%
1000v, 96h 37.00 8.92 228.92 29.726 7.701 −9.97%
Q1-a Initial 37.06 9.05 255.89 30.521 8.384 –
1000v, 48h 37.43 8.94 254.40 30.766 8.269 −0.58%
1000v, 96h 37.30 8.89 253.18 30.626 8.267 −1.06%
Q1-b Initial 37.89 8.97 255.29 30.568 8.351 –
1500v, 48h 37.55 9.12 231.63 29.904 7.746 −9.12%
1500v, 96h 36.14 9.01 153.46 25.062 6.123 −39.89%

2
Q. Wang Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 202 (2020) 163540

Fig. 1. EL Change.

2.2. Effect of different encapsulation ways on the anti-PID performance of 1500 V solar modules

Table 2 lists the data of the effects of different encapsulation methods on the performance of module PID under 1500 V bias. Fig. 2
shows the changes of EL images of the two modules at different time. The power attenuation of Q2 and Q3 modules is less than 5%
after 96 h, and a small amount of EL blackening of battery wafers occurs in Q2, while Q3 modules have no obvious change. With the
increase of test time, the number of EL black wafers of Q2 modules increases gradually, and the power attenuation of Q2 modules is
more than 5% after 400 h. Compared with Q3 module, the power change is more stable. Only a small number of EL black sheets
appear after 600H test time, and the power attenuation is 0.89%. It shows excellent anti-PID performance. The reason is that
polyolefin PO material has low water vapor permeability (at the same temperature, the water vapor permeability of PO material is
11.4 g/m2/day, about one tenth of EVA). The unique molecular structure of polyolefin material does not produce acetic acid under
water vapor permeation, which reduces the probability of alkali ions on glass surface and hinders the occurrence of PID phenomenon.

Table 2
Power Change of Modules with Different Encapsulation Methods.
Sample Statue Voc(V) Isc(A) Pmax(W) Vmp(V) Imp(A) Power loss(%)

Q2 Initial 37.87 9.03 257.99 30.111 8.428 –

48h 37.94 9.03 251.08 30.034 8.360 −2.68%
96h 37.72 9.01 249.35 29.807 8.365 −3.35%
400h 37.75 9.01 243.53 29.314 8.308 −5.6%
Q3 Initial 37.79 8.84 250.32 30.652 8.167 –
48h 37.83 8.79 252.21 30.692 8.217 0.75%
96h 37.87 8.80 251.40 30.579 8.221 0.43%
600h 37.80 8.82 248.09 30.493 8.136 −0.89%

3
Q. Wang Optik - International Journal for Light and Electron Optics 202 (2020) 163540

Fig. 2. Trend Chart of Module Power Change.

Fig. 2 combines the data of Q1-b in Table 1, lists three different encapsulation modes under 1500 V voltage and the power trend
chart of different test periods. From the three comparison curves, it can be seen that the power of Q1-b module decreases most
obviously, the power of Q2 module decreases slowly after 144 h, while the power of Q3 double-glass module changes more smoothly.
Furthermore, the encapsulation method of PO instead of EVA can effectively reduce the PID power attenuation of conventional
modules under 1500 V high pressure. The double glass modules with 0-permeable toughened glass instead of without rim en-
capsulation advantages show long-term anti-PID advantages compared with conventional modules under high voltage conditions,
and have higher reliability.

3. Conclusion

It can be seen from this experiment that the power decrease remarkably due to PID problem when EVA is used as the en-
capsulation film of the conventional module under 1500 V bias voltage. Using PO (Poly Olefin) material with low WVTR (water vapor
through rate) instead of EVA as encapsulation film and impervious glass instead of backsheet can effectively improve the anti-PID
performance of solar module under 1500 V high voltage pressure. Moreover, the dual-glass module has long-term anti-PID char-
acteristics, up to 690 h testing time, power only decreased by 0.91%, which shows better anti-PID reliability.

References

[1] Swanson, et al., The Surface Polarization Effect in High-Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells, (2005).
[2] S. Pingel, et al., Potential induced degradation of solar cells and panels, 35th IEEE PV SC (2010).
[3] H. Mehlich, D. Decker, U. Scheit, M. uhlig, S. Frigge, M. Runge, et al., A New method for High resistance against potential induced degradation, 27th European
Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, (2012).
[4] H. Nagel, A. Metz, K. Wangemann, Crystalline Si solar cells and modules featuring excellent stability against potential induced, 26th EUPVSEC (2011).
[5] P. Hacke, K. Terwilliger, R. Smith, S. Glick, J. Pankow, et al., System voltage potential induced degradation mechanisms in PV modules and methods for test, 37th
IEEE PVSC (2011).
[6] H. Stephan, K. Michael, Influence of humidity and temperature on the potential induced degradation, 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and
Exhibition, (2012).