Wireless System for In Situ Monitoring of Moisture Ingress in PV Modules

Recently, a new in situ measurement technique has been developed using miniature digital relative humidity (RI!) sensors. The measurement technique proved to be a valuable tool not only for in situ monitoring of water concentration in the photovoltaic (PV) modules exposed to accelerated test conditi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2019-09, Vol.9 (5), p.1316-1323
Main Authors: Slapsak, Jan, Mitterhofer, Stefan, Topic, Marko, Jankovec, Marko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accelerated tests
Data acquisition
Diffusion coefficient
Encapsulation
environmental effect
Ethylene vinyl acetates
Foils
High temperature
Humidity
In situ measurement
Measurement techniques
Modules
Moisture
Monitoring
Photovoltaic cells
PV materials
PV module
Radio frequency identification
Radiofrequency identification
Relative humidity
reliability
Sensors
Solar cells
Strips
Test chambers
Wireless communication
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Summary:Recently, a new in situ measurement technique has been developed using miniature digital relative humidity (RI!) sensors. The measurement technique proved to be a valuable tool not only for in situ monitoring of water concentration in the photovoltaic (PV) modules exposed to accelerated test conditions in climatic chambers but also for long-term outdoor monitoring under field conditions. In this paper, we present a completely new in situ setup, which is based on a wireless radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. In our design, up to seven digital humidity sensors can be soldered on a 130 μm thick polyimide foil that also integrates RFID antenna and all required readout electronics. Their ultra-small size and wireless design allows placing them anywhere in the PV module either in front or at the back side of the solar cells. All measurement data can be read by a dedicated RFID reader which also provides the power needed during the measurement and communication cycle. The systems were applied in mini-modules with one full-size crystalline silicon solar cell and exposed to the elevated temperature and humidity conditions (40 °C / 85 %RI! and 50 °C / 70 %RI!). The acquired moisture ingress data agree well with the two-dimensional simulations using the realistic dimensions and diffusion coefficient of ethylene-vinyl acetate.
ISSN:2156-3381
2156-3403
DOI:10.1109/JPHOTOV.2019.2918044