An analysis of spaceflight performance of several types of silicon solar cells on the LIPS III satellite

Author

Warfield, D. ; Silver, J.

Author_Institution

Solarex Aerosp. Div., Rockville, MD, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

21-25 May 1990

Firstpage

1164

Lastpage

1166

Abstract

Results from the exposure of several types of Solarex silicon solar cells to a space environment for approximately three years on the LIPS III satellite are presented. Experiments include standard thickness (10 mm) cells with and without back surface fields and ultrathin (2 mm) cells with and without back surface reflectors. A comparison between a widely used coverslide adhesive, DC 93-500, and a potential alternative, CV-2500, is also presented. The major findings from the data presented are that the 2 mm cells show the smallest relative power degradation and that the 10 mm back surface field cells show the greatest absolute power output for the environment encountered. The encapsulant exhibits a degradation comparable to DC 93-500

Keywords

aerospace testing; elemental semiconductors; semiconductor device testing; silicon; solar cells; space vehicle power plants; 10 mm; 2 mm; 3 yrs; CV-2500; DC 93-500; Si solar cells; Solarex; back surface fields; back surface reflectors; coverslide adhesive; encapsulant; power degradation; power output; satellite; semiconductor device testing; space power; spaceflight performance; Aluminum; Degradation; Lips; Performance analysis; Photovoltaic cells; Satellites; Silicon; Silver; Space vehicles; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1990., Conference Record of the Twenty First IEEE

Conference_Location

Kissimmee, FL

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1990.111798

Filename

111798