Measurements Photovoltaic Terrestrial
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NASA NASA I LM X-71802 C.]. TERRESTRIAL PHOTOVOLTAIC MEASUREMENTS D W LOAN copy: RETL AFWL TECHNICAL jW w = KIRTLAND AFB, I W 2 Workshop Proceedings March 19-21, 1975 Cleveland, Ohio Organized by Lewis Research Center 2 i - /7 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMI ON Sponsored bt ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AIV TECH LIBRARY KAFB, NM 11111 III Il IllI 1111111111111 Hfl 0152333 4. -. FOREWORD A Terrestrial Photovoltaic Measurements Workshop under the joint sponsorship of ERDA and NASA was held at the NASA Lewis Research Center in March 1975. Nearly 100 people attended from all segments of the solar cell commu2ity. The workshop was divided into three separate sessions: (1) Solar Intensity and Spectrum Conditions for Terrestrial Photovoltaics (2) Terrestrial Sunlight Simulation (3) Methodology for Measurements and Calibration of Solar Cells A broad spectrum of short papers was presented; then the attendees ad- dressed key questions in the workshop sessions. The separate sessions were held concurrently. An interim draft of procedures for testing solar cells for terrestrial applications that resulted from the workshop sessions is available from the NASA Lewis Research Center. A final version of the test procedures manual is planned for the summer of 1976. This conference was under the cochairmenship of Leonard M. Magid (Division of Solar Energy, ERDA) and Henry W. Brandhorst (Head, Photo- voltaic Section, NASA Lewis Research Center). Technically edited by Larry N. Scudder Thomas M. Kiucher NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio iii-' Page intentionally left blank Page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Page FOREWORD . INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Daniel T. Bernatowicz ................................ix PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP Henry W. Brandhorst, Jr............................... SOLAR RADIATION MEASUREMENTS AT NOAA Michael R. Riches ................................. 1 SOLAR RADIATION AT NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND John R. Hickey ...................................... 4 MEASUREMENT OF INSOLATION AT DSET GeneZerlaut .................................... 10 MEASUREMENT OF THE SOLAR CONSTANT BY PACRAD ON CONVAIR 990 FLIGHTS IN 1968 James M. Kendall, Sr............................... 12 SPECTRAL MEASUREMENTS OF SOLAR INTENSITY AND SPECTRUM CONDITIONS AT HIGH ALTITUDES (5200 TO 14000 FT) AND ARID (COLORADO) CONDITIONS Rolland L. Huistrom ................................ 17 SPECTRAL DISTRIBUTION OF SUNLIGHT UNDER VARIOUS AIR MASS CONDITIONS Alfred Seck .................................... 25 ESTIMATION OF DIRECT NORMAL RADIATION Eldon C. Boes ...................................38 SOLAR CELL PERFORMANCE IN TERRESTRIAL SUNLIGHT J. A. Castle .....................................44 VARIATION OF SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY WITH AIR MASS HenryW. Brandhorst, Jr.............................51 MICROCLIMATOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON TWO SOLAR MODULES Douglas M. Warschauer ..............................58 V Page MODERN RADIOMETRY FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SOLAR CONVERSION Jon Geist ......................................67 SOLAR SIMULATOR SPECTRAL AND IRRADIANCE DEGRADATION A. R. Lunde .....................................74 PROPOSED STANDARD FOR AM1 SUNLIGHT Henry Hadley, Jr..................................80 DETERMINATION OF DIFFUSE RADIATION CHARACTERISTICS FOR APPLICATION IN SOLAR ENERGY HARVESTING B. H. Armstrong, J. V. Dave, and P. Halpern ..................86 LOW COST, LARGE AREA SOLAR SIMULATION VincentDeLeo ...................................94 LOW COST, AM2 SIMULATOR HenryCurtis ....................................98 AN ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF CELL CHARACTERISTICS ON THE SPECTRAL SENSITWITY OF Cu 2S-CdS SOLAR CELLS Allen Rothwarf ...................................106 SPECTRAL EFFECTS IN CdS/Cu2S SOLAR CELLS H. Hadley,. Jr...................................113 PREDICTION OF TERRESTRIAL SOLAR CELL SHORT-CIRCUIT CURRENTS BY SPECTRAL ANALYSIS Henry W. Brandhorst, Jr.............................120 TERRESTRIAL SOLAR CELL MEASUREMENTS EngeneL . Ralph ..................................129 SOLAR CELL MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES USED AT NASA LEWIS RESEARCH CENTER Russell E. Hart ..................................134 A STANDARD FOR SOLAR CELL TESTING AND REPORTING John D. Meakin ...................................140 RESULTS OF SESSION I WORKING GROUP - SOLAR INTENSITY AND SPECTRUM CONDITIONS FOR TERRESTRIAL PHOTOVOLTAICS John R. Hickey ..................................146 RESULTS OF SESSION II WORKING GROUP - TERRESTRIAL SUNLIGHT SIMULATION Henry Curtis ......................................150 vi Page RESULTS OF SESSION Ill WORKING GROUP - METHODOLOGY FOR MEASUREMENT AND CALIBRATION OF SOLAR CELLS EugeneL. Ralph ....................................151 UNIFIED RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE WORKSHOP Henry Brandhorst .................................. 154 APPENDIX - SUPPLEMENTAL PAPERS SPECTRAL DISTRIBUTION OF DIRECT AND DIFFUSE SOLAR ENERGY RECEIVED AT SEA LEVEL OF A MODEL ATMOSPHERE J. V. Dave, P. Halpern, and N. Braslau .................... 159 STATIONARY SILICON SOLAR CELL CONVERTER CALCULATIONS WernerLuft ....................................168 ATTENDEES ...................................... 175 vu Page intentionally left blank Page intentionally left blank INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Daniel T. Bernatowicz NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio 44135 I want to welcome you to what we believe is a very important meeting. I am very pleased by your response to this meeting called on such short no- tice, especially because it indicates you share our feelings as to its impor- tance. In this meeting we must all agree on how we should make our effi- ciency measurements, then we can compare and discuss our results knowing what each others measurements represent. We had a number of inquiries over the past months from investigators who have just entered the field, asking the best way to make efficiency measurements. I think the longer you are in the field the more you recognize the critical need for a standard way. It's an important problem. How easy a problem it will be to settle in 3 days really depends on us. It's not so much a technical issue, it's more a "people" problem, one of reaching a concensus. From my past experience with the solar cell community and the fact that so many representatives are here, I'm really confident we will cooperate and that at the end of the 3 days we will be very close to having agreed on the exact way we want to measure efficiency in the first few years. ix Page intentionally left blank Page intentionally left blank PURPOSE OF THE WORKSHOP HenryW. Brandhorst, Jr. NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, Ohio 44135 Absolute measurement of solar cell performance is a difficult task. Furthermore, obtaining agreement between laboratories is even more diffi- cult, but essential. It is imperative that these problems be solved for the terrestrial photovoltaic program. In the space program these problems were solved by finding ways of calibrating solar cells in the space environment, devising artificial light sources that duplicated the spectrum outer space sun- light reasonably well, and finding testing techniques that combined standard cells with artificial light sources to predict the performance of other solar cells in space. We are now confronted by exactly the same problem for ter- restrial measurements. Everyone wants to know how good their cell is, how the best available cell will perform. To solve these basic measurement problems is why we've come together. Several areas must be considered. First, the intensity and appropriate spectral distribution of terrestrial sun- light must be agreed upon so we can choose the intensity of a terrestrial sun- light simulator. Most importantly we must agree on a single spectrum for the light source that might be used. We recognize that it's an impossible chore to set a single spectrum that covers all the possible ranges of terres- trail sunlight, but it must be done so all measurements can be made on a common basis. Next, we must agree on a standard testing procedure for performing these solar cell measurements in natural, as well as artificial, sunlight. Included in this procedure are problems of developing a standard cell, choosing the best artificial light source and its intensity, determining the procedures to be used to set intensity of that light source so that a true, accurate reading of short-circuit current is obtained. We must also solve the basic problems of electrical hookups and what area should be used to determine device efficiency. Finally, how do we use pyranometers or pyr- heliometers and what role do they play in our measurements? Thus, we must come up with a complete package, an interim method for terrestrial solar cell measurements. It must be an interim method because we can't xi begin to answer all the questions in this 3-day workshop. I hope we can reach a concensus, that each working group will come together and answer the questions presented them, and that we, as a total workshop, can agree on an interim method for measuring terrestrial photovoltaic cells. We will also identify many areas of research or many questions that need to be answered in the year before the next workshop. These are an equally important prod- uct of our workshop. Thus, our purpose is clear. We must first agree on an interim method, and, secondly, we must identify those areas in need of further work. xii SOLAR RADIATION MEASUREMENTS AT NOAA Michael R. Riches NOAA/National Weather Service Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through its compo- nent National Weather Service