Spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil as a heat transfer material for concentrator solar cells

Abstract

The accelerated life test was carried out to investigate the change of spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil and the effects on the electrical performance of silicon solar cell. The di-methyl silicon oil samples before and after accelerated life test were analyzed by FT-IR, GC-MS and LC-MS. The ring compounds and linear compounds with larger molecular weight were detected. The spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil decreased because the chromophore and auxochrome of the products made a sunlight receive decrease on the surface of the solar cell, and resulted in the reduction of cell performance. According to the decrease of spectral transmittance of di-methyl silicon oil, two recovery methods were proposed. The results showed that extraction was superior to vacuum distillation in recovering the aged di-methyl silicon oil.

Keywords

concentrator photovoltaic / di-methyl silicon oil / accelerated life test / recovery method

References

[1] Kerschaver E V, Beaucarne G. Back-contact solar cells: A review [J]. Progress in Photovoltaic: Research and Applications, 2006, 14(2): 107-123.

[2] Shaltout M A M, El-Nicklawy M, Hassan A F, et al. The temperature dependence of the spectral and efficiency behavior of Si solar cell under low concentrators solar cell [J]. Renewable Energy, 2000, 12(20): 445-448.

[3] Shu B, Shen H, Liang B. Optimization for the structure and performance of the concentrator receiver [J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica, 2010, 31(14): 451-453.

[4] Royne A, Dey C J, Mills D R. Cooling of photovoltaic cells under concentrated illumination: A critical review [J]. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2005, 86(7): 451-483.

[5] Jian Z. Performance Study of Linear Liquid-Immersed Solar Receiver in Medium CPV Systems [D], 2012, Tianjin: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University.

[6] Liu L, Zhu L, Wang Y, et al. Heat dissipation performance of silicon solar cells by direct dielectric liquid immersion under intensified illuminations[J]. Solar Energy, 2011, 11(21): 922-930.

[7] Maiti S, Vyas K, Ghosh P K. Performance of a silicon photovoltaic module under enhanced illumination and selective filtration of incoming radiation with simultaneous cooling [J]. Solar Energy, 2010, 12(84): 1439-1444.

[8] Ugumori T, Ikeya M. Efficiency increase of solar cells operated in dielectric liquid [J]. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 1981, 20(19): 77-80.

[9] Wang Y, Fang Z, Zhu L, et al. The performance of silicon solar cells operated in liquids [J]. Applied Energy, 2009, 16(20): 1037-1042.

[10] Zhu L, Wang Y, Fang Z, et al. An effective heat dissipation method for densely packed solar cells under high concentrations [J]. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2010, 12(94): 133-140.

[11] Han X, Wang Y, Zhu L, et al. Mechanism study of the electrical performance change of silicon concentrator solar cells immersed in de-ionized water [J]. Energy Conversion and Management, 2012, 12(11): 97-105.

[12] Han X, Wang Y, Zhu L, et al. Electrical and thermal performance of silicon concentrator solar cells immersed in dielectric liquids [J]. Applied Energy, 2011, 8(11): 4481-4489.

[13] Han X, Wang Y, Zhu L. Reliability assessment of silicone coated silicon concentrator solar cells by accelerated aging tests for immersing in de-ionized water [J]. Solar Energy, 2011, 11(10): 2781-2788.

[14] Victoria M, Askins S, Domínguez C, et al. Durability of dielectric fluids for concentrating photovoltaic systems [J]. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2013, 11(3): 31-36.

[15] Zhu L, Wang Y, Zhang Y, et al. Study on the weatherresistance of dimethy-polysiloxane used in liquidimmersing CPV receivers [J]. Acta Energiae Solaris Sinica, 2010, 31(2): 191-196.

[16] Shin-Etsu Silicone Company. Silicone Fluid KF-96 Performance Test Results [EB/OL]. http://www.silicone.jp/, 2008-02.

[17] Rodriguez D M, Horley P P, Gonzalez-Hernandez J, et al. Photovoltaic solar cells performance at elevated temperature [J]. Solar Energy, 2005, 78(2): 243-250.

[18] Looser R, Vivar M, Everett V. Spectral characterization and long-term performance analysis of various commercial heat transfer fluids(HTF)as direct-absorption filters for CPV-T beam-splitting applications [J]. Applied Energy, 2014, 113(5): 31-36.

[19] International Electro technical Commission. IEC-62108 International standard concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules and assemblies-Design qualification and type approval [S]. 2007, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

[20] American Society for Testing and Materials International. ASTM G173 standard tables for reference solar spectral irradiances vol. AM1. 5D [S]. US-ASTM, USA, 2003.

[21] Han X, Wang Y, Zhu L. Spectral transmittance analysis of immersion liquid for cooling concentrating photovoltaic system [J]. Journal of Tianjin University, 2012, 45(4): 123-127.

[22] Green M A. Advanced Solar Energy Conversion [M], 2009, Berlin: Springer.

[23] Sun J, Israeli T, Reddy T A, et al. Modeling and experimental evaluation of passive heat sinks for miniature high-flux photovoltaic concentrators [J]. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 2005, 127(1): 138-145.

[24] Han X. Performance Study of Silicon CPV Solar Cells with Liquid Immersion Cooling in Linear CPV System [D], 2012, Tianjin: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University.

[25] Wang Y, Zhu L, Wu H. Concentrator Photovoltaics [M], 2012, Tianjin: Tianjin University Press.

[26] Zelding M, Quian B R, Choi S J. Mechanism of thermal de-polymerization of trimethylsiloxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane [J]. Journal of Polymer Science Part-A, 1983, 21(19): 1361-1369.

[27] Jones R G, Ando W, Chojnowski Julian. Silicon-Containing Polymers [M], 2010, Berlin: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

[28] Huang W. Silicon Oil and Their Secondary Processing Products [M], 2004, Beijing: Chemical Industry Press.