Title :
Accelerated testing of an encapsulant for PV modules
Author_Institution :
Evergreen Solar Inc., Marlboro, MA, USA
Abstract :
Evergreen Solar has developed a new encapsulant material for use in PV modules. In this paper we report on: the long term UV stability of this material in comparison with fast cured EVA; the effects of humidity-freeze cycling of both materials; and the bond strength of this new encapsulant to glass. The results indicate that Evergreen´s new encapsulant can be expected to have a much longer service life than that of EVA.
Keywords :
encapsulation; freezing; humidity; life testing; solar cell arrays; Evergreen Solar; PV modules; accelerated testing; bond strength; encapsulant; fast cured EVA; humidity-freeze cycling; long term UV stability; Glass; Hafnium; Humidity; Life estimation; Mirrors; Oxidation; Polymers; Stability; Testing; Thermal degradation;
Conference_Titel :
Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2002. Conference Record of the Twenty-Ninth IEEE
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7471-1
DOI :
10.1109/PVSC.2002.1190912
