Buckling Effect on the Performance of Solar Cells under Different Loading Conditions

Abstract

<p>Renewable solar energy has been increasingly used due to its efficiency and cleanliness. Currently, mounting systems are needed to install solar cells on the surface of supporting structures, such as building roofs. Attaching solar cells directly to the supporting structures can eliminate the mounting systems and reduce the cost. Once the mounting system is eliminated, solar cells become an integral part of the supporting structures and they are subjected to the same strains as those of the supporting structures, Therefore, it is necessary to study the performance of solar cells under different strain states. The main objectives of this study are to investigate the possibility of attaching the amorphous silicon solar cell directly to the supporting systems, and to study the buckling effect on the amorphous silicon solar cell and their relative efficiency. (Chen et al. 2018) attached solar cells to fabricated FRP materials to study the effect of strain on the performance of solar cells under both compression and tension tests. They found that the performance of solar cells in both cases has a little degradation. The factor behind this degradation, whether it is caused by the failure of the specimen or from buckling, needs to be investigated. To this end, the solar cells were attached to different supporting systems (rigid and flexible) to determine the dominant factor affecting the degradation. Since the amorphous silicon solar cells are attached to supporting systems, which are subjected to different loads, such as compression, tension, and flexural loads based on their functions, it is also necessary to investigate the solar cell under different loading conditions. Therefore, different loads scenarios in addition to different supporting systems are considered in this study.</p>