Typical defects of PV-cells

Abstract

The paper introduces the issue of the typical defects in PhotoVoltaic (PV) cells and focuses the attention on two specific defects: linear edge shunt and hole. These defects are modeled by means of Finite Element Method (FEM) and implemented in Comsol Multiphysics environment in order to analyze the temperature distribution in the whole defected PV-cell. Usually the defects reveal themselves as hot spots and can be pointed out by means of thermo-graphy. Simulation results are compared with the thermo-grams of real cases and the accuracy of the models is confirmed.