Analytical Study of the Electrical Output Characteristics of c-Si Solar Cells by Cut and Shading Phenomena

Abstract

Cut solar cells have received considerable attention recently as they can reduce electrical output degradation when the c-Si solar cells (crystalline-silicon solar cells) are shaded. Cut c-Si solar cells have a lower short-circuit current than normal solar cells and the decrease in short-circuit currents is similar to the shading effect of c-Si solar cells. However, the results of this study’s experiment show that the shadow effect of a c-Si solar cell reduces the V o c (open circuit voltage) in the c-Si solar cell but the V o c does not change when the c-Si solar cell is cut because the amount of incident light does not change. In this paper, the limitations of the electrical power analysis of the cut solar cells were identified when only photo current was considered and the analysis of the electric output of the cut c-Si solar cells was interpreted with a method different from that used in previous analyses. Electrical output was measured when the shaded and cut rates of c-Si solar cells were increased from 0% to 25, 50 and 75%, and a new theoretical model was compared with the experimental results using MATLAB.

Keywords

• cut c-Si solar cell
• shading effect
• electrical output
• mathematical model