Title :
Reliability of PV modules and balance-of-system components
Author :
Dhere, Neelkanth G.
Author_Institution :
Florida Solar Energy Center, Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
Abstract :
Over the years the reliability and durability of c-Si and thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules and balance-of-system (BOS) components have improved consistently. This paper reviews performance of PV modules and BOS components and discusses the role of encapsulants, adhesional strength, impurities, metallization, solder bond integrity and breakage, corrosion, backing layers, junction boxes and high-voltage bias testing in relation to their effect on module and inverter reliability. It is suggested that the concepts of physics of reliability of electronic packages will be useful to understand, address and resolve new problems in PV module and inverter reliability.
Keywords :
invertors; reliability; silicon; solar cells; thin films; PV modules; adhesional strength; backing layers; balance-of-system components; breakage; corrosion; electronic packages; encapsulants; high-voltage bias testing; impurities; inverter reliability; junction boxes; metallization; solder bond integrity; thin-film photovoltaic; Bonding; Corrosion; Impurities; Inverters; Metallization; Photovoltaic systems; Physics; Solar power generation; Testing; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2005. Conference Record of the Thirty-first IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-8707-4
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2005.1488445
