The effect of different module configurations on the radiation tolerance multijunction solar cells

Author

Gee, James M. ; Curtis, Henry B.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Lab., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

1988

fDate

1988

Firstpage

996

Abstract

The effects of different module configurations on the performances of multijunctioning (MJ) solar cells in a radiation environment were investigated. Module configuration refers to the electrical circuit in which the subcells of the multijunction cell are wired. Experimental data for AlGaAs, GaAs, InGaAs, and silicon single-junction concentrator cells subjected to 1 MeV electron irradiation were used to calculate the expected performance of AlGaAs/InGaAs, AlGaAs/silicon, GaAs/InGaAs, and GaAs/silicon MJ concentrator cells. These calculations include independent, series, and voltage-matched configurations. The module configuration is found to have a significant impact on the radiation tolerance characteristics of MJ cells.

Keywords

radiation effects; solar cells; AlGaAs solar cells; GaAs solar cells; InGaAs solar cells; Si solar cells; independent configurations; module configurations; multijunction solar cells; radiation tolerance characteristics; series configurations; voltage-matched configurations; Circuits; Degradation; Electrons; Gallium arsenide; Indium gallium arsenide; Photonic band gap; Photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic systems; Silicon; Virtual manufacturing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1988., Conference Record of the Twentieth IEEE

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1988.105854

Filename

105854