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Description
The primary goal of this thesis work is to determine the activation energy for encapsulant browning reaction of photovoltaic (PV) modules using outdoor field degradation data and indoor accelerated degradation data. For the outdoor field data, six PV modules fielded in Arizona (hot climate) over 21 years and four PV

The primary goal of this thesis work is to determine the activation energy for encapsulant browning reaction of photovoltaic (PV) modules using outdoor field degradation data and indoor accelerated degradation data. For the outdoor field data, six PV modules fielded in Arizona (hot climate) over 21 years and four PV modules fielded in New York (cold climate) over 18 years have been analyzed. All the ten modules were manufactured by the same manufacturer with glass/EVA/cell/EVA/back sheet construction. The activation energy for the encapsulant browning is calculated using the degradation rates of short-circuit current (Isc, the response parameter), weather data (temperature, humidity, and UV, the stress parameters) and different empirical rate models such as Arrhenius, Peck, Klinger and modified Peck models. For the indoor accelerated data, three sets of mini-modules with the same construction/manufacturer as that of the outdoor fielded modules were subjected indoor accelerated weathering stress and the test data were analyzed. The indoor accelerated test was carried out in a weathering chamber at the chamber temperature of 20°C, chamber relative humidity of 65%, and irradiance of 1 W/m2 at 340nm using a xenon arc lamp. Typically, to obtain activation energy, the test samples are stressed at two (or more) temperatures in two (or more) chambers. However, in this work, it has been attempted to do the acceleration testing of eight mini-modules at multiple temperatures using a single chamber. Multiple temperatures in a single chamber were obtained using thermal insulators on the back of the mini-modules. Depending on the thickness of the thermal insulators with constant solar gain from the xenon lamp, different temperatures on the test samples were achieved using a single weathering chamber. The Isc loss and temperature of the mini-modules were continuously monitored using a data logger. Also, the mini-modules were taken out every two weeks and various characterization tests such as IV, QE, UV fluorescence and reflectance were carried out. Activation energy from the indoor accelerated tests was calculated using the short circuit current degradation rate and operating temperatures of the mini-modules. The activation energy for the encapsulant browning obtained from the outdoor field data and the indoor accelerated data are compared and analyzed in this work.
ContributorsVeerendra Kumar, Deepak Jain (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Committee member) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Rogers, Bradley (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
Sb-based type-II superlattices (T2SLs) are potential alternative to HgCdTe for infrared detection due to their low manufacturing cost, good uniformity, high structural stability, and suppressed Auger recombination. The emerging InAs/InAsSb T2SLs have minority carrier lifetimes 1-2 orders of magnitude longer than those of the well-studied InAs/InGaSb T2SLs, and therefore have

Sb-based type-II superlattices (T2SLs) are potential alternative to HgCdTe for infrared detection due to their low manufacturing cost, good uniformity, high structural stability, and suppressed Auger recombination. The emerging InAs/InAsSb T2SLs have minority carrier lifetimes 1-2 orders of magnitude longer than those of the well-studied InAs/InGaSb T2SLs, and therefore have the potential to achieve photodetectors with higher performance. This work develops a novel method to measure the minority carrier lifetimes in infrared materials, and reports a comprehensive characterization of minority carrier lifetime and transport in InAs/InAsSb T2SLs at temperatures below 77 K.

A real-time baseline correction (RBC) method for minority carrier lifetime measurement is developed by upgrading a conventional boxcar-based time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) experimental system that suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio due to strong low frequency noise. The key is to modify the impulse response of the conventional TRPL system, and therefore the system becomes less sensitive to the dominant noise. Using this RBC method, the signal-to-noise ratio is improved by 2 orders of magnitude.

A record long minority carrier lifetime of 12.8 μs is observed in a high-quality mid-wavelength infrared InAs/InAsSb T2SLs at 15 K. It is further discovered that this long lifetime is partially due to strong carrier localization, which is revealed by temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) and TRPL measurements for InAs/InAsSb T2SLs with different period thicknesses. Moreover, the PL and TRPL results suggest that the atomic layer thickness variation is the main origin of carrier localization, which is further confirmed by a calculation using transfer matrix method.

To study the impact of the carrier localization on the device performance of InAs/InAsSb photodetectors, minority hole diffusion lengths are determined by the simulation of external quantum efficiency (EQE). A comparative study shows that carrier localization has negligible effect on the minority hole diffusion length in InAs/InAsSb T2SLs, and the long minority carrier lifetimes enhanced by carrier localization is not beneficial for photodetector operation.
ContributorsLin, Zhiyuan (Author) / Zhang, Yong-Hang (Thesis advisor) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Johnson, Shane (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
As the photovoltaic (PV) power plants age in the field, the PV modules degrade and generate visible and invisible defects. A defect and statistical degradation rate analysis of photovoltaic (PV) power plants is presented in two-part thesis. The first part of the thesis deals with the defect analysis and the

As the photovoltaic (PV) power plants age in the field, the PV modules degrade and generate visible and invisible defects. A defect and statistical degradation rate analysis of photovoltaic (PV) power plants is presented in two-part thesis. The first part of the thesis deals with the defect analysis and the second part of the thesis deals with the statistical degradation rate analysis. In the first part, a detailed analysis on the performance or financial risk related to each defect found in multiple PV power plants across various climatic regions of the USA is presented by assigning a risk priority number (RPN). The RPN for all the defects in each PV plant is determined based on two databases: degradation rate database; defect rate database. In this analysis it is determined that the RPN for each plant is dictated by the technology type (crystalline silicon or thin-film), climate and age. The PV modules aging between 3 and 19 years in four different climates of hot-dry, hot-humid, cold-dry and temperate are investigated in this study.

In the second part, a statistical degradation analysis is performed to determine if the degradation rates are linear or not in the power plants exposed in a hot-dry climate for the crystalline silicon technologies. This linearity degradation analysis is performed using the data obtained through two methods: current-voltage method; metered kWh method. For the current-voltage method, the annual power degradation data of hundreds of individual modules in six crystalline silicon power plants of different ages is used. For the metered kWh method, a residual plot analysis using Winters’ statistical method is performed for two crystalline silicon plants of different ages. The metered kWh data typically consists of the signal and noise components. Smoothers remove the noise component from the data by taking the average of the current and the previous observations. Once this is done, a residual plot analysis of the error component is performed to determine the noise was successfully separated from the data by proving the noise is random.
ContributorsSundarajan, Prasanna (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Bradley (Committee member) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
The deposition of airborne dust, especially in desert conditions, is very problematic as it leads to significant loss of power of photovoltaic (PV) modules on a daily basis during the dry period. As such, PV testing laboratories around the world have been trying to set up soil deposition stations to

The deposition of airborne dust, especially in desert conditions, is very problematic as it leads to significant loss of power of photovoltaic (PV) modules on a daily basis during the dry period. As such, PV testing laboratories around the world have been trying to set up soil deposition stations to artificially deposit soil layers and to simulate outdoor soiling conditions in an accelerated manner. This thesis is a part of a twin thesis. The first thesis, authored by Shanmukha Mantha, is associated with the designing of an artificial soiling station. The second thesis (this thesis), authored by Darshan Choudhary, is associated with the characterization of the deposited soil layers. The soil layers deposited on glass coupons and one-cell laminates are characterized and presented in this thesis. This thesis focuses on the characterizations of the soil layers obtained in several soiling cycles using various techniques including current-voltage (I-V), quantum efficiency (QE), compositional analysis and optical profilometry. The I-V characterization was carried out to determine the impact of soil layer on current and other performance parameters of PV devices. The QE characterization was carried out to determine the impact of wavelength dependent influence of soil type and thickness on the QE curves. The soil type was determined using the compositional analysis. The compositional data of the soil is critical to determine the adhesion properties of the soil layers on the surface of PV modules. The optical profilometry was obtained to determine the particle size and distribution. The soil layers deposited using two different deposition techniques were characterized. The two deposition techniques are designated as “dew” technique and “humidity” technique. For the same deposition time, the humidity method was determined to deposit the soil layer at lower rates as compared to the dew method. Two types of deposited soil layers were characterized. The first type layer was deposited using a reference soil called Arizona (AZ) dust. The second type layer was deposited using the soil which was collected from the surface of the modules installed outdoor in Arizona. The density of the layers deposited using the surface collected soil was determined to be lower than AZ dust based layers for the same number of deposition cycles.
ContributorsChoudhary, Darshan (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Bradley Barney (Committee member) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
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Description
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been identified as a potential ingredient for grain boundary passivation of multicrystalline silicon. Sulfur is already established as a good surface passivation material for crystalline silicon (c-Si). Sulfur can be used both from solution and hydrogen sulfide gas. For multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells, increasing efficiency

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been identified as a potential ingredient for grain boundary passivation of multicrystalline silicon. Sulfur is already established as a good surface passivation material for crystalline silicon (c-Si). Sulfur can be used both from solution and hydrogen sulfide gas. For multicrystalline silicon (mc-Si) solar cells, increasing efficiency is a major challenge because passivation of mc-Si wafers is more difficult due to its randomly orientated crystal grains and the principal source of recombination is contributed by the defects in the bulk of the wafer and surface.

In this work, a new technique for grain boundary passivation for multicrystalline silicon using hydrogen sulfide has been developed which is accompanied by a compatible Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) surface passivation. Minority carrier lifetime measurement of the passivated samples has been performed and the analysis shows that success has been achieved in terms of passivation and compared to already existing hydrogen passivation, hydrogen sulfide passivation is actually better. Also the surface passivation by Al2O3 helps to increase the lifetime even more after post-annealing and this helps to attain stability for the bulk passivated samples. Minority carrier lifetime is directly related to the internal quantum efficiency of solar cells. Incorporation of this technique in making mc-Si solar cells is supposed to result in higher efficiency cells. Additional research is required in this field for the use of this technique in commercial solar cells.
ContributorsSaha, Arunodoy, Ph.D (Author) / Tao, Meng (Thesis advisor) / Vasileska, Dragica (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Within the last decade there has been remarkable interest in single-cell metabolic analysis as a key technology for understanding cellular heterogeneity, disease initiation, progression, and drug resistance. Technologies have been developed for oxygen consumption rate (OCR) measurements using various configurations of microfluidic devices. The technical challenges of current approaches include:

Within the last decade there has been remarkable interest in single-cell metabolic analysis as a key technology for understanding cellular heterogeneity, disease initiation, progression, and drug resistance. Technologies have been developed for oxygen consumption rate (OCR) measurements using various configurations of microfluidic devices. The technical challenges of current approaches include: (1) deposition of multiple sensors for multi-parameter metabolic measurements, e.g. oxygen, pH, etc.; (2) tedious and labor-intensive microwell array fabrication processes; (3) low yield of hermetic sealing between two rigid fused silica parts, even with a compliance layer of PDMS or Parylene-C. In this thesis, several improved microfabrication technologies are developed and demonstrated for analyzing multiple metabolic parameters from single cells, including (1) a modified "lid-on-top" configuration with a multiple sensor trapping (MST) lid which spatially confines multiple sensors to micro-pockets enclosed by lips for hermetic sealing of wells; (2) a multiple step photo-polymerization method for patterning three optical sensors (oxygen, pH and reference) on fused silica and on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) surface; (3) a photo-polymerization method for patterning tri-color (oxygen, pH and reference) optical sensors on both fused silica and on the PET surface; (4) improved KMPR/SU-8 microfabrication protocols for fabricating microwell arrays that can withstand cell culture conditions. Implementation of these improved microfabrication methods should address the aforementioned challenges and provide a high throughput and multi-parameter single cell metabolic analysis platform.
ContributorsSong, Ganquan (Author) / Meldrum, Deirdre R (Thesis advisor) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Wang, Hong (Committee member) / Tian, Yanqing (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Encapsulant is a key packaging component of photovoltaic (PV) modules, which protects the solar cell from physical, environmental and electrical damages. Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) is one of the major encapsulant materials used in the PV industry. This work focuses on indoor accelerated ultraviolet (UV) stress testing and characterization to investigate

Encapsulant is a key packaging component of photovoltaic (PV) modules, which protects the solar cell from physical, environmental and electrical damages. Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) is one of the major encapsulant materials used in the PV industry. This work focuses on indoor accelerated ultraviolet (UV) stress testing and characterization to investigate the EVA discoloration and delamination in PV modules by using various non-destructive characterization techniques, including current-voltage (IV) measurements, UV fluorescence (UVf) and colorimetry measurements. Mini-modules with glass/EVA/cell/EVA/backsheet construction were fabricated in the laboratory with two types of EVA, UV-cut EVA (UVC) and UV-pass EVA (UVP).

The accelerated UV testing was performed in a UV chamber equipped with UV lights at an ambient temperature of 50°C, little or no humidity and total UV dosage of 400 kWh/m2. The mini-modules were maintained at three different temperatures through UV light heating by placing different thickness of thermal insulation sheets over the backsheet. Also, prior to thermal insulation sheet placement, the backsheet and laminate edges were fully covered with aluminum tape to prevent oxygen diffusion into the module and hence the photobleaching reaction.

The characterization results showed that mini-modules with UV-cut EVA suffered from discoloration while the modules with UV-pass EVA suffered from delamination. UVf imaging technique has the capability to identify the discoloration region in the UVC modules in the very early stage when the discoloration is not visible to the naked eyes, whereas Isc measurement is unable to measure the performance loss until the color becomes visibly darker. YI also provides the direct evidence of yellowing in the encapsulant. As expected, the extent of degradation due to discoloration increases with the increase in module temperature. The Isc loss is dictated by both the regions – discolored area at the center and non-discolored area at the cell edges, whereas the YI is only determined at the discolored region due to low probe area. This led to the limited correlation between Isc and YI in UVC modules.

In case of UVP modules, UV radiation has caused an adverse impact on the interfacial adhesion between the EVA and solar cell, which was detected from UVf images and severe Isc loss. No change in YI confirms that the reason for Isc loss is not due to yellowing but the delamination.

Further, the activation energy of encapsulant discoloration was estimated by using Arrhenius model on two types of data, %Isc drop and ΔYI. The Ea determined from the change in YI data for the EVA encapsulant discoloration reaction without the influence of oxygen and humidity is 0.61 eV. Based on the activation energy determined in this work and hourly weather data of any site, the degradation rate for the encaspulant browning mode can be estimated.
ContributorsDolia, Kshitiz (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Green, Matthew (Thesis advisor) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment has grown at unprecedented rates since the early 2000s. As the global PV market increases, so will the volume of decommissioned PV panels. Growing PV panel waste presents a new environmental challenge, but also unprecedented opportunities to create value and pursue new economic avenues. Currently, in

Solar photovoltaic (PV) deployment has grown at unprecedented rates since the early 2000s. As the global PV market increases, so will the volume of decommissioned PV panels. Growing PV panel waste presents a new environmental challenge, but also unprecedented opportunities to create value and pursue new economic avenues. Currently, in the United States, there are no regulations for governing the recycling of solar panels and the recycling process varies by the manufacturer. To bring in PV specific recycling regulations, whether the PV panels are toxic to the landfills, is to be determined. Per existing EPA regulations, PV panels are categorized as general waste and are subjected to a toxicity characterization leaching procedure (TCLP) to determine if it contains any toxic metals that can possibly leach into the landfill. In this thesis, a standardized procedure is developed for extracting samples from an end of life PV module. A literature review of the existing regulations in Europe and other countries is done. The sample extraction procedure is tested on a crystalline Si module to validate the method. The extracted samples are sent to an independent TCLP testing lab and the results are obtained. Image processing technique developed at ASU PRL is used to detect the particle size in a broken module and the size of samples sent is confirmed to follow the regulation.
ContributorsKrishnamurthy, Raghav (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Kuitche, Joseph (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Total dose sensing systems (or radiation detection systems) have many applications,

ranging from survey monitors used to supervise the generated radioactive waste at

nuclear power plants to personal dosimeters which measure the radiation dose

accumulated in individuals. This dissertation work will present two different types of

novel devices developed at Arizona State University for

Total dose sensing systems (or radiation detection systems) have many applications,

ranging from survey monitors used to supervise the generated radioactive waste at

nuclear power plants to personal dosimeters which measure the radiation dose

accumulated in individuals. This dissertation work will present two different types of

novel devices developed at Arizona State University for total dose sensing applications.

The first detector technology is a mechanically flexible metal-chalcogenide glass (ChG)

based system which is fabricated on low cost substrates and are intended as disposable

total dose sensors. Compared to existing commercial technologies, these thin film

radiation sensors are simpler in form and function, and cheaper to produce and operate.

The sensors measure dose through resistance change and are suitable for applications

such as reactor dosimetry, radiation chemistry, and clinical dosimetry. They are ideal for

wearable devices due to the lightweight construction, inherent robustness to resist

breaking when mechanically stressed, and ability to attach to non-flat objects. Moreover,

their performance can be easily controlled by tuning design variables and changing

incorporated materials. The second detector technology is a wireless dosimeter intended

for remote total dose sensing. They are based on a capacitively loaded folded patch

antenna resonating in the range of 3 GHz to 8 GHz for which the load capacitance varies

as a function of total dose. The dosimeter does not need power to operate thus enabling

its use and implementation in the field without requiring a battery for its read-out. As a

result, the dosimeter is suitable for applications such as unattended detection systems

destined for covert monitoring of merchandise crossing borders, where nuclear material

tracking is a concern. The sensitive element can be any device exhibiting a known

variation of capacitance with total ionizing dose. The sensitivity of the dosimeter is

related to the capacitance variation of the radiation sensitive device as well as the high

frequency system used for reading. Both technologies come with the advantage that they

are easy to manufacture with reasonably low cost and sensing can be readily read-out.
ContributorsMahmud, Adnan, Ph.D (Author) / Barnaby, Hugh J. (Thesis advisor) / Kozicki, Michael N (Committee member) / Gonzalez-Velo, Yago (Committee member) / Goryll, Michael (Committee member) / Alford, Terry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules decrease as the operating temperatures increase. In hot climatic conditions, the operating temperature can reach as high as 85°C for the rooftop modules. Considering a typical power drop of 0.5%/°C for crystalline silicon modules, a performance decrease of approximately 30% could be expected during peak

Performance of photovoltaic (PV) modules decrease as the operating temperatures increase. In hot climatic conditions, the operating temperature can reach as high as 85°C for the rooftop modules. Considering a typical power drop of 0.5%/°C for crystalline silicon modules, a performance decrease of approximately 30% could be expected during peak summer seasons due to the difference between module rated temperature of 25°C and operating temperature of 85°C. Therefore, it is critical to accurately predict the temperature of the modules so the performance can be accurately predicted. The module operating temperature is based not only on the ambient and irradiance conditions but is also based on the thermal properties of module packaging materials. One of the key packaging materials that would influence the module operating temperature is the substrate, polymer backsheet or glass. In this study, the thermal influence of three different polymer backsheet substrates and one glass substrate has been investigated through five tasks:

1. Determination and modeling of substrate or module temperature of coupons using four different substrates (three backsheet materials and one glass material).

2. Determination and modeling of cell temperature of coupons using four different substrates (three backsheet materials and one glass material)

3. Determination of temperature difference between cell and individual substrates for coupons of all four substrates

4. Determination of NOCT (nominal operating cell temperature) of coupons using all four substrate materials

5. Comparison of operating temperature difference between backsheet substrate coupons.

All these five tasks have been executed using the specially constructed one-cell coupons with identical cells but with four different substrates. For redundancy, two coupons per substrate were constructed and investigated. This study has attempted to model the effect of thermal conductivity of backsheet material on the cell and backsheet temperatures.
ContributorsNatarajan Rammohan, Balamurali (Author) / Tamizhmani, Govindasamy (Thesis advisor) / Srinivasan, Devarajan (Committee member) / Kuitche, Joseph (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017