Design and Characterization of a 5 kw Xe-Lamp Solar Simulator

The design and characterisation of a 5kW Xenon lamp solar simulator is presented. This was accomplished through considering the design features of an ellipsoidal reflector, Xe lamp characteristics and casing, and power supply; assembly of an ellipsoidal, Xe-lamp simulator; design and building of an automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator; establishing the 3 scenarios that must be met to conform to a AAA class simulator; characterization of the simulator in terms of temporal stability, irradiance uniformity and spectral match; and application of the simulator and comparing it with STC rated values. The considerations for the type of material used for housing the components of the solar simulator were made. A 5kW DC power supply and igniter for the Xe-lamp was carefully selected since they provide necessary power for running the simulator. The simulator has the ability to be used in either horizontal or vertical position by adjusting the reflector. An automated control system capable of remotely controlling the operating mode of the simulator was built for this study, this system enables the simulator to be operated in either auto or manual modes. It also incorporates an irradiance, temperature, current and voltage feedback. The characterisation of the solar simulator was over a 2.1 m X 1.6 m test plane. The area under which the characterisation was carried out within the test plane is 110 cm x 129.5 cm. At the end of the steady state large area solar simulator characterisation, a class A spectral match, class A spatial uniformity, and a class B temporal instability was obtaine

Reliability Study of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells by means of Solar Simulator and White LED

In this work we take into account a LED-based light source as an alternative to AM1.5 solar simulator to perform the reliability study on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). We performed accelerated optical stress by means of high power white LED and during stress we performed DC and EIS measurements with both white LED and AM1.5 solar simulator in order to find, if any, differences in kinetics degradation. During stress we also performed characterization measurements using monochromatic LED sources in order to undestand if it adds more information about the DSCs degradation mechanism. We found that DC parameters feature different degradation rates depending on characterization source and differences also appear on degradation kinetics shape. The DSC characterization performed with monochromatic light sources show strong differences in degradation rate and in degradation kinetics shape as well depending on wavelength sources

Reliability study of dye-sensitized solar cells by means of solar simulator and white LED

In this work, we take into account a LED-based light source as an alternative to AM 1.5 solar simulator to perform the reliability study on dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). We performed accelerated optical stress by means of high power white LED and during stress we performed DC and EIS measurements with both white LED and AM1.5 solar simulator in order to find, if any, differences in kinetics degradation. During stress we also performed characterization measurements using monochromatic LED sources in order to understand if it adds more information about the DSCs degradation mechanism. We found that DC parameters feature different degradation rates depending on characterization source and differences also appear on degradation kinetics shape. The DSC characterization performed with monochromatic light sources show strong differences in degradation rate and in degradation kinetics shape as well depending on wavelength sources. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Sviluppo di un sistema di inseguimento del punto di massima potenza per lo studio e la caratterizzazione di celle fotovoltaiche organiche

Caratterizzazione ed analisi di diversi tipi di celle fotovoltaiche basate su perovskite, con diversi tipi di incapsulamentoope