Influence of nonuniformity of irradiance within a cell on the accurate I–V curve measurement under 1 sun illumination

Nonuniformity of the irradiance of solar simulators is one of the major sources of uncertainty in the performance measurement of PV modules. We have investigated a method for precisely and readily adjusting the nonuniformity of the irradiance of light incident on each cell in a module by partially shading the cell with translucent or opaque materials. Experimental results suggest that the effective uniformity of the irradiance within a module can be adjusted by partially shading the light, without practically affecting the I-V curves and the performance parameters such as the P_max, FF and V_oc.