Corrections to ''Thermal Impact of Rear Insulation, Light Trapping, and Parasitic Absorption in Solar Modules'' [Jul 22 1043-1050]

• Published in: IEEE journal of photovoltaics 2023-05, Vol.13 (3), p.484-485
• Main Authors: Irvin, Nicholas P., Escobar, D. Martinez, Wheeler, Aaron, King, Richard R., Honsberg, Christiana B., Kurtz, Sarah R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorptance; Absorption; Absorptivity; Building integrated photovoltaics; Energy gap; Gaas; Gallium arsenide; Irradiance; Light trapping; module temperature; Modules; Operating temperature; Optimization; Reflectance; Reflection; Silicon; Sub-bandgap reflection; Trapping
• ISSN: 2156-3381; 2156-3403
• DOI: 10.1109/JPHOTOV.2023.3241796

In the above paper, there were errors in digitizing the spectral irradiance and extinction coefficient arrays. With the spectral irradiance fixed to the tabulated AM1.5G standard, the full-spectrum absorptance of GaAs changes by 2%. This change is on the order of the uncertainty of reflectance measurements. Furthermore, this change can be balanced by a proportional increase in the convection coefficient, leading to no visible changes to most figures. However, in the last two figures, there were changes on the order of 1%-3% for reflectance and 1 °C for modeled temperatures. This error is commensurate with the sample-to-sample variability in the extinction coefficients. Finally, the original abstract should be updated to "In Si modules, light trapping more than doubles the parasitic absorption of encapsulation layers, limiting the maximum sub-bandgap reflection to 66%. Higher values require thorough optimization of front, bulk, and rear layers, but could lower operating temperatures by up to 11 °C for insulated Si modules." In the uncorrected abstract, the maximum sub-bandgap reflection was stated to be 63%, and the potential change in temperatures was stated to be 12 °C.