A Finite-Element Approach to Analyze the Thermal Effect of Defects on Silicon-Based PV Cells

Abstract

The paper introduces the issue of the typical defects in photovoltaic (PV) cells and focuses the attention on three specific defects: linear edge shunt, hole, and conductive intrusion. These defects are modeled by means of finite-element method and implemented in Comsol Multiphysics environment to analyze the temperature distribution in the whole defected PV cell. All the three typologies of silicon-based PV cells are considered: monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous. Numerical issues (simulation times, degrees of freedom, mesh elements, and grid dependence analysis) are reported.