In-Depth Analysis of Heat Generation in Silicon Solar Cells

The knowledge of the temperature of solar cells and its dependence on its parameters such as wafer thickness and resistivity, optical treatment, etc., give a new opportunity to enhance the efficiency of the energy conversion in operating conditions. A 1-D numerical model is presented to simulate heat transfer and electrical characteristics of p-n silicon solar cells. This model encompasses every heat mechanisms occurring in a solar cell. Three of them are prevailing: thermalization, recombination of carriers, and Joule effect. The total amount of generated heat depends on the applied bias on the solar cell. It prevents the application of the principle of superposition when thermal issues are considered. The sensitivity of the solar cell to the variation of solar spectral distribution is studied in order to highlight the difference between a standard analysis and the one from this multiphysics model.