EL testing
EL testing is performed once before lamination so that the defect solar cells can be replaced and then again after (careful) lamination. Credit: Sinovoltaics

After a cell is cracked, the effect on the solar panel’s power output becomes worse and worse over the years.

Temperature changes associated with day and night cause thermal expansions and contractions that help pull apart the materials around the crack.

The video is made by running current backwards through the solar panel, so that the solar cells light up, like an LED.

The color of light that the solar cells emit is infrared (invisible to the eye), so the video is made using a special camera.

Guest Contributor
We publish stories from blogs or websites with expert opinion or breaking news stories via our Partnership Network or as Contributed Articles. We do our very best to properly reference these stories—so if you notice or think your material has been used inappropriately, please contact us immediately either for proper referencing or to advice on the situation.

    Keeping up with this week’s solar stories—Canadian Edition (April 07th, 2017)

    Previous article

    Next Generation Perovskite Solar Cells with New World-Record Performance

    Next article

    You may also like

    2 Comments

    1. I am a bit confused by this report. How does this relate to the flex test that PV modules undergo when they are tested to IEC standard 61215?

      1. @Gordon Howell: That’s a very interesting question for NREL. A quick search indicates that the latest information on module testing by NREL is dated 2013. Since this is new information, my guess is that an updated document might be released soon … hopefully.

    Comments are closed.

    More in Perspective