Photovoltaic Modules Comprising III-V Cells Encapsulated in Composite Material

The use of high-efficiency solar cells and lightweight protective encapsulant offers PV modules with high specific power and high-power density values, allowing a sustainable integration of the PV energy in urban and vehicle related applications, in which the available surface and module weight is limited and the energy requirement high. With this aim, modules comprising III-V cells and an innovative fiber reinforced composite encapsulant were studied. The composite consisted of glass fiber reinforcement and epoxy resin matrix, and lab modules were manufactured through resin infusion process. A cell-to-module loss of 6.5% was observed for the composite with standard epoxy matrix, and 5.4% for the one with recyclable epoxy. Regarding the aging performance, the modules encapsulated within the standard composite showed a 3.4% power loss after 1000 hours damp-heat test, and a decrease of 1.6%at the end of the thermal cycling. Concerning the modules containing the recyclable epoxy, a significant degradation was observed after 500 hours damp-heat exposure, being discarded for further study. The work concluded that the lightweight composite encapsulation of III-V cells can be an option to obtain PV modules with high specific power and high-power density, while retaining a suitable PV performance stability.