One method for determining the shunt resistance of the pv cell is from the slope of the reverse biased i v curve as shown in figure 5.
Testing solar panels v vs i curve reverse bias.
A solar cell or panel is connected to an smu as shown in figure 6.
Testing the 12 volt solar panel.
There is bigger current in case of forward bias than in.
A linear sweep of the output voltage with a duration of 20 ms was applied in both the forward direction from short to open circuit and the reverse direction.
Referring to figure 1 the span of the i v curve ranges from the short circuit current isc at zero volts to zero current at the open circuit voltage voc.
A larger fill factor is desirable and corresponds to an i v curve that is more square like.
A four wire connection is made to eliminate the effects of the lead resistance.
Simply touch the solar panel leads with the multi meter probes matching their corresponding polarity red to red black to black.
Short circuit current isc flows with zero external resistance v 0 and is the maximum current delivered by the solar cell at any illumination level.
Similarly the open circuit voltage voc is the potential that develops across the terminals of the solar cell when the external load resistance is very large figure 3.
As most solar panels are 12 volts the solar panel test methods are basically the same.
Efficiency η efficiency is the ratio of the electrical power output p out compared to the solar power input p in into the pv cell.
A four wire connection is made to eliminate the effects of the lead resistance.
Open circuit voltage can vary depending on your solar panel but the readings we are usually looking for are in the range of 15 to 23v.
Figure 1 shows a typical i v curve the power voltage or p v curve that is computed from it and key points on these curves.
Typical fill factors range from 0 5 to 0 82.
A solar cell or panel is connected to an smu as shown in figure 6.
Fill factor is also often represented as a percentage.
The topmost figure shows uncorrected i v curves corresponding to a high efficiency solar cell with an open circuit voltage of 720 mv.
One method for determining the shunt resistance of the pv cell is from the slope of the reverse biased i v curve as shown in figure 5.
Some exceptions may apply based on panel type.
At the knee of a normal i v curve is the maximum power.