LONG TERM PERFORMANCE OF PV MODULES: SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF INNOVATIVE NON-DESTRUCTIVE CHARACTERIZATION METHODS

摘要

Innovative and highly sensitive analytical tools for the non-destructive detection and visualization ofdefects, delamination and material incompatibilities within the multi-material laminate of a PV-module are presented.The presence and position of physical imperfections such as delamination, voids or impurities within a module weredetermined with Pulse Thermography (PT) and Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM). With SAM it is also possibleto identify cracks within a wafer very accurately, as could be demonstrated in a comparative measurement withElectroluminescence (EL) experiments. For the non-destructive identification of chemical changes in the individuallayers of a PV-module - caused by degradation, decomposition or impurities - confocal Raman microscopy hasproven to be a very powerful tool.