Presented at the Ist International Symposium on Innovative Approaches in Scientific Studies (ISAS 2018), Kemer-Antalya, Turkey, Apr 11, 2018

SETSCI Conference Proceedings, 2018, 2, Page (s): 28-29

Published Date: 23 June 2018    | 1547     14

When the traditional fuel reserves are limited and the environmental factors of these fuels are taken into consideration, the importance of renewable energy sources is increasing day by day. Especially, obtaining electricity from solar energy has become popular both in our country and in the world. Detection of defects of cells in photovoltaic systems is very important to ensure continuity and efficiency in energy production. The losses in the solar power plants established with photovoltaic panels depend on many variable parameters, from environmental conditions to construction, used panel and workmanship. One of the most important losses in solar power plants is energy losses due to cell disorders. Therefore, many different sectors, from the panel manufacturer to the output of the production plant, are affected by this problem. Photovoltaic cells are subjected to various tests at the last stage of the production line of solar panels to detect panels with cell disorders. Some of these tests are flash (I-V Curve Test-IEC 60891) and electroluminescence (IEC 61215- IEC 61646) tests. In the flash test, the electrical values are measured by applying a flash structure to the surfaces of the photovoltaic cells. This test may also be referred to as a high sensitivity test. In the electroluminescence test, a kind of x-ray of the inner cells of the panel is drawn so that faults, cracks and damage are detected which can not be detected by looking at the normal eye of the whole panel structure. The electroluminescence test can also be called invisible error detection. 

In this study, these two tests were performed under the standard test conditions (E (radiation) = 1000W / m², AM (air mass) = 1.5T (module temperature) = 25 ° C). Panel tests were carried out at Ödül Solar Energy Company in Kayseri region. Figure 1 shows a flash test result of a randomly selected 320 watt polycrystalline panel. Here the output power is measured as 325.7296 watts. In addition, current, voltage and power values of the panel are measured and all this information is labeled and pasted to the back of the panel. It turns out that solar panels produce more power than tag information. In the electroluminescence test of the polycrystalline panel, the whole panel is inserted into an imaging device and a x-ray is taken (Fig. 2) and the obtained images are transferred to the screen. Images transferred to the screen are carefully inspected by the specialist operator and directed to the relevant part of the production band if any cracks or damage are found. Thus, the panels have been subjected to quality tests without being installed in the solar power plant system. Obtained test data were observed to be in accordance with the literature values. While the importance of solar power plants for our country is increasing day by day, the quality and efficient operation of panels used in these power plants is becoming very important. In this scope, it is necessary to support companies that produce solar panels because of being both domestic and national and to replicate solar power plants.  
 

Keywords - Solar Panel, I-V Test, Electroluminescence, Cell Disorders

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