Electrical Performance Study of a Large Area Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cell Using a Current Shunt and a Micropotentiometer

Hala Mohamed Abdel Mageed, Ahmed Faheem Zobaa, Ahmed Ghitas, Mohamed Helmy Abdel Raouf, Mohamed Sabry, Abla Hosni Abd El-Rahman, Mohamed Mamdouh Abdel Aziz

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DOI: 10.4236/eng.2010.24036                

Abstract

In this paper, a new technique using a Current Shunt and a Micropotentiometer has been used to study the electrical performance of a large area multicrystalline silicon solar cell at outdoor conditions. The electrical performance is mainly described by measuring both cell short circuit current and open circuit voltage. The measurements of this cell by using multimeters suffer from some problems because the cell has high current intensity with low output voltage. So, the solar cell short circuit current values are obtained by measuring the voltage developed across a known resistance Current Shunt. Samples of the obtained current values are accurately calibrated by using a Micropotentiometer (μpot) thermal element (TE) to validate this new measuring technique. Moreover, the solar cell open circuit voltage has been measured. Besides, the cell output power has been calculated and can be correlated with the measured incident radiation.

Keywords

Large Area Multicrystalline Silicon Solar Cell; Current Measurements; Calibration; Current Shunt; Micropotentiometer; Short Circuit Current; Open Circuit Voltage

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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