Solar cell

In a p-n junction, when the junction is formed, diffusion of the charge carriers takes
place.

This creates an electric field Ve across the junction. If electrical contacts are made
on either side through a conductor, then current flows through the conductor. If the
p-n junction continuously receives photon energy from solar radiation, then the
flow of current through the external circuit will be maintained. All such cells
generate direct current.
View of a solar cell

Normal configuration:
 The first solar cells*
Soon after, in 1883, the first solar cell panel was made by the New Yorker inventor Charles Fritts [7]. He coated selenium with
an extremely thin layer of gold, so it was transparent to light, and obtained an energy conversion efficiency between 1 and
2%.

Because the photovoltaic effect could not be understood, Fritts contacted a famous expert, Werner von Siemens, who
reproduced the effect and confirmed it [8].

These pioneers and their contemporaries had no deeper understanding of this effect and were—accordingly—unable to develop
solar cells further. In contrast, the effect of electromagnetic induction was discovered in 1831 by Michael Faraday and was well
understood. This led to the rapid development of electric generators run on coal-fired steam or water force—and became the
means to produce electric power on a large scale.
The positive and negative charges created by the absorption of photons are
drifted to the front and back of the solar cell.

The back end has a metallic cover to remove the charges to an electric load.

A metal grid aids extraction of charges from front end. The metal mesh covers the
front end which hardly occupies 5% of the area.

Each cell made using silicon is capable of supplying at 0.5 Volt. The current is
directly proportional to area of the cell.
 Current production

On this page you learn to estimate how much electric current can be maximally produced by absorption of sunlight.

It was mentioned on the previous page that light can pass on solely a fixed quantum of energy to an electron. Such a quantum is
very small and is carried by a photon. We can therefore consider light as a photon flux. To calculate the number of electrons
excited by sunlight, we assume that each absorbed photon excites a single electron.*

Because the energy of a photon is very small, we use the energy unit "electron volts" (eV), which is volts multiplied by the unit
charge q, which is 1.6 x 10–19 ampere seconds (A⋅s). A 40 watt light bulb hence requires the energy of about 1 x 1020 eV per
second. Fortunately, the solar spectrum gives us a huge number of photons per second Nph(E) over its energy range.

Let us assume that all the excited electrons make it to the contact. How much electric current is this? Current is charge per time that
flows through a given area. Every electron has unit charge q. To obtain the number of electrons, you can sum up all photons of the
solar spectrum with energy larger than Eg. Then, you obtain for the current:

This is called the generation current Jgen. In silicon, it is about 46 mA/cm2, i.e., there are about 1017 photons per cm2 per second
absorbed in a Si solar cell.
VOLTAGE
Current increases as the band gap decreases, as shown in the Figure 1. So, why don't we use semiconductor materials that have
a smaller band gap than silicon? The reason is that a solar cell must produce both a current and a voltage to deliver power. It is
like water flowing over a mill wheel: the power transferred to the mill wheel is higher if there is more water flowing (a larger
current), and if the water splashes onto the wheel from higher up (from a higher potential). A semiconductor with a smaller band
gap than Si delivers more current but also a smaller voltage (potential), and therefore may produce less power. This tradeoff can
be intuitively understood as follows.

Because the photons from the solar spectrum have an broad range of energy, the electrons are excited to a broad range of
energy states in the conduction band (see Figure 2). These excited electrons "bump" into the Si atoms (undergo phonon
interaction) and transfer part of their excess energy to the Si atoms. Very soon, most electrons settle in near the conduction
band edge (see lower figure, middle panel).

This process is called thermalization. It happens so fast that the electrons relax to the conduction band edge long before they
reach the contacts. A lot of energy is lost to heat in this way and, essentially, we can only extract the energy per electron
that is similar to the band gap.
In other words, the potential (voltage) between the two contacts is maximally about* as high as the gap energy. Hence, a
semiconductor material with a smaller band gap produces a smaller voltage.

Thermalization also happens in the valence band: when the electrons are excited to the conduction band, they leave holes behind
in the valence band, also in a broad range of states. The holes are "filled up" by electrons from higher up in the valence band,
until the holes settle in near the valence band edge.

The electrons do not stay at the conduction band edge for ever. They relax back to the valence band and "fill" the holes. This is
called recombination. However, this process takes a long time (up to milliseconds), which is long enough so many excited
electrons reach the metal contact and deliver power to the circuit.
UNIT III WS Part 2
Photovoltaic materials and PV cell

1
The p–n Junction
As long as a solar cell is exposed to photons with energies above the bandgap energy, hole–electron
pairs will be created.

The electrons can fall back and recombine with holes there by free charge carriers can disappear.

In PV cells an electric field is created by formation of p-n junction (depletion layer).Electrons are pulled in
one direction and holes in the other direction due to this internal field.

On one side the pure semiconductor is doped by small amounts of trivalent impurity and on the other side
it is doped by pentavalent impurity.

Mostly the pentavalent impurity is Phosphorus and one phosphorus atom in 1000 silicon atoms is the
doping concentration. On the other side of the semiconductor, silicon is doped with a trivalent element
such as boron. Again the concentration of dopants is very small, something on the order of 1 boron atom
per 10 million silicon atoms.

These dopant atoms fall into place in the crystal, forming covalent bonds with the adjacent silicon atoms.

2
n -type

3
p-type

4
Formation of p-n junction

5
Explanation..
Now, suppose we put an n-type material next to a p-type material forming a
junction between them. In the n-type material, mobile electrons drift by diffusion
across the junction.
In the p-type material, mobile holes drift by diffusion across the junction in the
opposite direction. As depicted in Figure, when an electron crosses the junction it
fills a hole, leaving an immobile, positive charge behind in the n-region, while it
creates an immobile, negative charge in the p-region.
These immobile charged atoms in the p and n regions create an electric field that
works against the continued movement of electrons and holes across the junction.
As the diffusion process continues, the electric field countering that movement
increases until eventually (actually, almost instantaneously) all further movement
of charged carriers across the junction stops
6
Depletion region

The region filled with immobile charges is the depletion layer. The width of which
is around 1 micrometer. The voltage across it 1 Volt.

The direction of the field is the direction in which the field pushes a positive
charge.

7
The p–n Junction Diode and its characteristics
The pn junction described above is itself a pn junction diode.

If we were to apply a voltage Vd across the diode terminals with p side positive,
forward current would flow easily through the diode from the p-side to the n-side;
but if we try to send current in the reverse direction (by applying a reverse
direction voltage, only a very small (≈10−12 A/cm2) reverse saturation current I0 will
flow.

8
9
This reverse saturation current is the result of thermally generated carriers with
the holes being swept into the p-side and the electrons into the n-side.

In the forward direction, the voltage drop across the diode is only a few tenths of
a volt.The voltage - current characteristics of the pn diode is described by

Shockley Diode Equation:

where Id is the diode current in the direction of the arrow (A), Vd is the voltage across
the diode terminals from the p-side to the n-side (V), I0 is the reverse saturation current
(A), q is the electron charge (1.602 × 10−19C), k is Boltzmann’s constant (1.381 × 10−23
J/K), and T is the junction temperature (K).
10
Substituting the values of constant we get

11
12
It is seen from the above example that the voltage across the diode does not
change much when current flow through it increases by 10 folds.

In most of the electronic circuit analysis voltage across a silicon diode is taken as
0.6 to 0.7 volts. This is in line with the above calculations.

13
In some circumstances diode ideality factor is considered.

14
 A GENERIC PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL
Let us consider what happens in the vicinity of a p–n junction when it is exposed
to sunlight.

As photons are absorbed, hole-electron pairs may be formed.

If these mobile charge carriers reach the vicinity of the junction, the electric field in
the depletion region will push the holes into the p-side and push the electrons into
the n-side, as shown in Figure. (in next slide)

The p-side accumulates holes and the n-side accumulates electrons, which
creates a voltage that can be used to deliver current to a load.

15
16
If electrical contacts are attached to the top and bottom of the cell, electrons will flow out of the n-
side into the connecting wire, through the load and back to the p-side as shown in Figure.

17
Since wire cannot conduct holes, it is only the electrons that actually move around
the circuit.

When they reach the p-side, they recombine with holes completing the circuit.

By convention, positive current flows in the direction opposite to electron flow, so

the current arrow in the figure shows current going from the p-side to the load and
back into the n-side.

18
Simple Equivalent circuit of a Photovoltaic cell
A simple equivalent circuit of a photovoltaic cell is an ideal current source in
parallel with an actual pn diode. The magnitude of the current is proportional to the
solar flux falling on it.

19
SC Current and OC voltage
There are two conditions of particular interest for the actual PV and for its
equivalent circuit. They are:
(1) the current that flows when the terminals are shorted together (the short-circuit
current, ISC)
(2) the voltage across the terminals when the leads are left open (the open-circuit
voltage, VOC).
When the leads of the equivalent circuit for the PV cell are shorted together, no
current flows in the (real) diode since Vd = 0, so all of the current from the ideal
source flows through the shorted leads. Since that short-circuit current must equal
ISC, the magnitude of the ideal current source itself must be equal to ISC. Now we
can write a voltage and current equation for the equivalent circuit of the PV cell
shown in Figure (in next slide).
20
Isc, Voc

21
Current Equation of PV cell
From the equivalent circuit of the PV cell we can write

Using the Shockley Current equation

It is interesting to note that the second term in the above equation is just the diode
current equation with a negative sign. That means that a plot of this equation is
just SC current added to the diode curve turned upside-down

22
Voltage equation of a PV cell

In the above equation, I = 0 when the leads of the PV cellar open.

Then Solving the above equation for V gives Voc

23
Dark and illuminated I-V characteristics of PV cell.

PV cell acts as a diode when in dark. PV cell when illuminated acts as a current
source
24
It is a Sink It is like a generator which can source current.
25
26
 Accurate model of PV cell
The simple model of PV cell does not include some of the parameters of the PV
cell which it would show in practice.

Also in real conditions, if PV cells are joined in series and one of them is shaded,

Current flows through them even if the the shaded cell does not produce any light
generated current but allow the current to flow through it.

This fact can not be represented by using simple model of the PV cell given
above. There is no path for the current flow in simple model when one cell is
shaded.

27
28
Addition of parallel resistance
A leakage resistance RP is added in parallel with the simple model of the PV cell.

This signifies some of the light generated current is circulated with in the body of the PV cell
and not available at the terminal as load current. Also it provides a path for the current from
other cells when in series and shaded. The load current equation is modified as

29
Effect of Parallel leakage resistance

30
A series resistance Rs to account for contact resistance between the cell and its leads and
the resistance of the semiconductor material is included in the PV cell model.

Figure: PV cell model with series resistance

The Voltage and current equations with the addition of series resistance is given by

31
Effect of series resitance

32
Single diode Equivalent circuit of a PV cell
Including both series and parallel resistances, Equivalent circuit of a PV cell is
shown.

33
Equations of Voltage and Current

The above equation is a complex equation for which there is no explicit solution
for either voltage V or current I . A spreadsheet solution, however, is fairly
straightforward and has the extra advantage of enabling a graph of I versus V to
be obtained easily. The approach is based on incrementing values of diode
voltage, Vd , in the spreadsheet. For each value of Vd , corresponding values of
current I and voltage V can easily be found.
34
Rp value
At any given voltage, the parallel leakage resistance causes load current for the
ideal model to be decreased by V /Rp.
For this decrease to be less than 1% that is (1/100)X Isc = ISC/100
RP should be greater than about

For a large cell, ISC might be around 7 A and VOC might be about 0.6 V, (silicon)

Parallel resistance Rp, should be greater than about 9 ohm .

35
 Rs value

The voltage at any given current is shifted to the left by △V = IRS

For a cell to have less than 1% losses due to the series resistance, RS will need to
be less than about

which, for a large cell with ISC = 7 A and VOC = 0.6 V, would be less than 0.0009
ohm.
36
At 25◦C,

It combines the effect of both series resistance and parallel resistance.

Therefore both voltage and current decreases compared to ideal diode model.

37
38
 FROM CELLS TO MODULES TO ARRAY
Since an individual cell produces only about 0.5 V, it is a rare application for which just a
single cell is of any use.

Instead, the basic building block for PV applications is a module consisting of a number of
pre-wired cells in series, all encased in tough, weather-resistant packages.

36 cells in series produces 12 to 18 Volts and they are often known as “ 12 V modules”.

72 cells in series produces 36 volts and are large modules. Some 72 cells modules can be
used with all cells in series or parallel combination of two sets of 36 cells in series.

Series combination of several modules is called a string. Series parallel combination of

several modules is called an array of PV modules.

Number of modules are connected in series to increase the voltage rating. Number of strings
are connected in parallel to increase the current rating.
39
I-V curves of PV cells in series

40
I-V curves of modules in series

41
I-V curves of Parallel connected PV arrays

42
Power of PV module

43
I-V and P-V curves

44
Description

Figure shows a generic I –V curve for a PV module, identifying several key

parameters including the open-circuit voltage VOC and the short-circuit current
ISC. Also shown is the product of voltage and current, that is, power delivered by
the module. At the two ends of the I –V curve, the output power is zero since
either current or voltage is zero at those points. The maximum power point (MPP)
is that spot near the knee of the I –V curve at which the product of current and
voltage reaches its maximum. The voltage and current at the MPP are sometimes
designated as Vm and Im for the general case and designated VR and IR (for
rated voltage and rated current) under the special circumstances that correspond
to idealized test conditions.

45
46
Description

Another way to visualize the location of the maximum power point is by imagining
trying to find the biggest possible rectangle that will fit beneath the I –V curve. As
shown in Figure, the sides of the rectangle correspond to current and voltage, so
its area is power. Another quantity that is often used to characterize module
performance is the fill factor (FF). The fill factor is the ratio of the power at the
maximum power point to the product of VOC and ISC, so FF can be visualized as
the ratio of two rectangular areas, as is suggested in

47
 Fill factor

Fill factors around 70–75% for crystalline silicon solar modules are typical, while
for multijunction amorphous-Si modules, it is closer to 50–60%

48
Since PV I –V curves shift all around as the amount of insolation changes and as the temperature of
the cells varies, standard test conditions (STC) have been established to enable fair comparisons of
one module to another.

Those test conditions include a solar irradiance of 1 kW/m2 (1 sun) with spectral distribution shown
in Figure, corresponding to an air mass ratio of 1.5 (AM 1.5). The standard cell temperature for
testing purposes is 25◦ C (it is important to note that 25◦ is cell temperature, not ambient
temperature). Manufacturers always provide performance data under these operating conditions.The
key parameter for a module is its rated power; to help us remember that it is dc power measured
under standard test conditions, it has been identified. Later we’ll learn how to adjust rated power to
account for temperature effects as well as see how to adjust it to give us an estimate of the actual ac
power that the module and inverter combination will deliver

49
IMPACTS OF TEMPERATURE AND INSOLATION ON I–V CURVES

50
Effect of Insolation

Notice as insolation drops, short-circuit current drops in direct proportion. Cutting insolation in half,
for example, drops ISC by half.

Decreasing insolation also reduces open circuit voltage V OC, but it does so following a logarithmic
relationship that results in relatively modest changes in V OC

Effect of Temperature

Cells vary in temperature not only because ambient temperatures change, but also because
insolation on the cells changes. Since only a small fraction of the insolation hitting a
module is converted to electricity and carried away, most of that incident energy is
absorbed and converted to heat. So Module temperature increases.

As cell temperature increases, the open-circuit voltage decreases substantially while the short-
circuit current increases only slightly

51
Photovoltaics, perhaps surprisingly, therefore perform better on cold, clear days than
hot ones.
For crystalline silicon cells, VOC drops by about 0.37% for each degree Celsius
increase in temperature and ISC increases by approximately 0.05%. The net result
when cells heat up is the MPP slides slightly upward and toward the left with a
decrease in maximum power available of about 0.5%/◦ C.
To help system designers account for changes in cell performance with temperature,
manufacturers often provide an indicator called the NOCT, which stands for nominal
operating cell temperature. The NOCT is cell temperature in a module when ambient is
20◦ C, solar irradiation is 0.8 kW/m2, and wind speed is 1 m/s. To account for other
ambient conditions, the following expression may be used

52
53
54
55
56
57
SHADING IMPACTS ON I –V CURVES
The impact of shading on PV cells is to reduce the output by more than 50%.
Even if one cell is shaded in a string of cells, output reduces by half. External
diodes are used to compensate for the shading effect.

Physics of Shading
A shadow is formed or a part of the PV module is not receiving the same amount
of light then the PV module is said to be shaded.
In order to understand the effects of shading on a PV module, let us consider a
module having n cells in series. Let the top n th cell be shaded and the remaining
(n-1) cells are receiving full sunlight.
The top cell is represented by its equivalent circuit, where as the remaining cells
are shown as a module.
58
59
As shown in figure (a) when all cells are in sun the module voltage is V and the
module current is I. Here V = Vn-1 + V top cell

As shown in figure (b) when the top cell is shaded it does not produce any light
generated current and does not add to the module voltage. But the current from
the remaining (n-1) cells pass through this shaded diode to the load,

As the current passes through the shaded diode, it causes a drop in voltage due
to the resistances Rp and Rs through which it is passing. The output voltage is
reduced when one of the cell is shaded. Volt drop across Rp makes the diode
reverse biased. Therefore current output of the module remains same.

60
Let Vsh be the module voltage when one cell is shaded. I is the module current as
before.

(note IR product is a drop in voltage in the direction of current: sign convention of KVL)

If V is the voltage due to n cells in series then voltage of (n-1) cells in series is

Combining the above two equations

61
The drop in voltage caused by the shaded cell is given by

As Rp is much greater than Rs

62
Effect of shading one cell in an n-cell module. At any given current, module voltage drops from V to V −ΔV

63
64
65
66
 Bypass Diodes for Shade Mitigation
We have seen drastic shift in I-V curves when a single cell is shaded,

In a group of series connected cells in PV module, if one cell is shaded the power
dissipated in that cell causes localised heating and hot spot which will ultimately
damage the plastic laminates and the module.

We know from the preceding discussion that a shaded cell drops a large voltage
whereas when in sun its drop is around 0.5 V.

67
68
Bypass diode
A bypass diode may be connected across a cell to compensate for the volt drop problem of a shaded cell.

69
Description of working of bypass diode

The bypass diode remains reverse biased when the PV cell is in full sun and
develops a voltage of around 0.5 V. Bypass diode conducts; provides the path for
the current to flow when PV cell is shaded. This makes the drop across the PV cell
around 0.5 to 0.6 V.

It is impractical to provide bypass diodes for each cell. Therefore manufacturer’s

will provide bypass diode for a module or group of cells in a module.

Bypass diodes play an important role when several modules are connected in
series to form a string. The shading can drastically bring down the string current
and power delivered. The benefit already demonstrated for a bypass diode on a
single cell also applies to a diode applied across a complete module.

70
71
To see how bypass diodes wired in parallel with modules can help mitigate
shading problems, consider Figure, which shows I –V curves for a string of five
modules (the same modules that were used to derive Fig. 8.39). The graph shows
the modules in full sun as well as the I –V curve that results when one module has
two cells completely shaded. Imagine the PVs delivering charging current at about
65 V to a 60-V battery bank. As can be seen, in full sun about 3.3 A are delivered
to the batteries. However, when just two cells in one module are shaded, the
current drops by one-third to about 2.2 A. With a bypass diode across the shaded
module, however, the I –V curve is improved considerably as shown in the figure.

72
Example module

A PV module is made up of 36 identical cells, all wired in series. With 1-sun

insolation (1 kW/m2), each cell has short-circuit current ISC = 3.4 A and at 25◦ C its
reverse saturation current is I0 = 6 × 10−10 A. Parallel resistance RP = 6.6 ohm and
series resistance RS = 0.005 ohm. Voltage of each cell is 0.50 V

Five modules are connected to make a string

73
Bypass diode working in strings/arrays
Consider a string of 5 PV modules. They are operating in full sun, develop a
voltage of 65 Volt and provide a current of 3.3 A.

If one of the cells is shaded, it behaves as resistance of Rp ohm and drops the
voltage as other modules try push the current. The shaded module drops the
voltage; other modules tries to increase the voltage to compensate, the overall
effect is that the string current drops.

With bypass diodes, the current takes path through it around the shaded module.
The string current restores back to almost the same level without shading.

74
75
Blocking diodes

76
Working of blocking diodes

When strings of modules are wired in parallel, a similar problem may arise when
one of the strings is not performing well. Instead of supplying current to the array,
a malfunctioning or shaded string can withdraw current from the rest of the array.
By placing blocking diodes (also called isolation diodes) at the top of each string
as shown in Figure, the reverse current drawn by a shaded string can be
prevented

77
Symbol of PV module is like a Envelope

78