PV Reliability Development Lessons From JPL's Flat Plate Solar Array Project

Key reliability and engineering lessons that were learned from the 20-year history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Flat-Plate Solar Array Project and thin-film module reliability research activities are presented and analyzed. Particular emphasis is placed on lessons applicable to evolving n...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2014-01, Vol.4 (1), p.291-298
Main Author: Ross, Ronald G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Arrays
Degradation
Humidity
JPL Flat Plate Solar Array (FSA) project
lessons learned
photovoltaic
reliability
Reliability engineering
Temperature measurement
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Key reliability and engineering lessons that were learned from the 20-year history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Flat-Plate Solar Array Project and thin-film module reliability research activities are presented and analyzed. Particular emphasis is placed on lessons applicable to evolving new module technologies and the organizations involved with these technologies. The user-specific demand for reliability is a strong function of the application, its location, and its expected duration. Lessons relative to effective means of specifying reliability are described, and commonly used test requirements are assessed from the standpoint of which are the most troublesome to pass, and which correlate best with field experience. Module design lessons are also summarized, including the significance of the most frequently encountered failure mechanisms and the role of encapsulant and cell reliability in determining module reliability. Lessons pertaining to research, design, and test approaches include the historical role and usefulness of qualification tests and field tests.
ISSN:2156-3381
2156-3403
DOI:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2013.2281102