Abstract :
Direct de-ionized (DI) water immersion cooling has been verified to be an effective method for managing the operating temperature of
silicon solar cells under concentration. However, the stable electrical performance was difficult to be achieved. The following investigation
on mechanism indicated that galvanic corrosion occurred on cells. In this study, silicone coating was proposed to apply for the silicon
concentrator (CPV) solar cells to eliminate or minimize the degradation when operated in DI water for a long time. The reliability of
the selected silicone coatings and the silicone coated silicon CPV cells was assessed through designed accelerated aging tests, which
include damp heat test, thermal cycling test and DI water immersion test. The selected silicone coatings exhibited excellent optical transparency.
The tests results showed that no issues related with the selected silicone coatings’ reliability were observed. Some variations in
the electrical performance of the silicone coated cells were detected, but the results gave confidence of the reliable performance of coated
cells since they represented less than the total degradation allowed for the module under these tests. The simulation results indicated that
temperature of the coated cell in DI water can be still maintained lower than that of conventionally encapsulated cell.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
