• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2022

Bifacial photovoltaic (PV) technology has received considerable attention in recent years due to the potential to achieve a higher annual energy yield compared to its monofacial PV systems. In this study, we fabricated the bifacial c-Si PV module with a shingled design using the conventional patterned bifacial solar cells. The shingled design PV module has recently attracted attention as a high-power module. Compared to the conventional module, it can have a much more active area due to the busbar-free structure. We employed the transparent backsheet for a light reception at the rear side of the PV module. Finally, we achieved a conversion power of 453.9 W for a 1300 mm × 2000 mm area. Moreover, we perform reliability tests to verify the durability of our Shingled Design Bifacial c-Si Photovoltaic module.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.84-97
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and potential applications of utilizing bifacial photovoltaic (PV) panels from an architectural perspective. It also aimed to establish a foundational dataset for installation and operational guidelines for bifacial PV panels through a comparative analysis of energy production performance with single PV panels. The research encompassed several key steps, including a comprehensive literature review, calculation of solar surface radiation values, development of datasets for bifacial and single PV energy production, and a performance comparison between both approaches. The results of the study show that bifacial PV panels exhibit optimized energy production capabilities within the range of 40 to 80 degrees, contingent upon the specific installation location. Consequently, it is recommended that the installation of bifacial PV panels in Korea should primarily focus on southwest-to-west orientation. Furthermore, it was concluded that bifacial PV panels could contribute an equivalent or even superior level of energy production compared to single PV panels, even if their performance exhibited a marginally lower efficiency of 2% to 5% with an 18% power generation efficiency.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.62-67
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• 2018

Multi-wire busbar-type bifacial n-type Si solar cells have been used for the fabrication of monofacial and bifacial photovoltaic (PV) module, where bifacial module was equipped with transparent backsheet while monofacial module was prepared using white backsheet. The comparison of six-day accumulated power production obtained from outdoor test under gray cement ground conditions using 60cell monofacial and bifacial PV modules suggested the bifacial gain of over 20% could be achieved. Furthermore, the outdoor evaluation tests of bifacial modules with different ground conditions such as cement (reference), green paint, white paint and green artificial grass, were performed. It turned out white paint showed the best albedo and thus the highest power production, while green paint and artificial grass showed less power generation than cement ground.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.121-125
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• 2015

BIPV system is one of the best ways to harness PV module. The BIPV system not only produces electricity, but also acts as a building envelope. Thus, it has the strong point of increasing the economical efficiency by applying the PV modules to the buildings. Bifacial solar cells can convert solar energy to electrical energy from both sides of the module. In addition, it is designed as 3 busbar layout which is the same with ordinary mono-facial soalr cells. Therefore, many of the module manufacturers can easily produce the bifacial solar cells without changing their manufacturing equipment. Moreover, bifacial BIPV system has much potential in building application by utilizing glass to glass structure. However, the performance of bifacial solar cells depends on a variety of factors, ranging from the back surface to surrounding conditions. Therefore, in order to apply bifacial solar cells to buildings, an analysis of bifacial PV module performance should be carried out that includes a consideration of various design elements, and reflects a wide range of installation conditions. As a result it found that the white insulation reflector type can improve the performance of the bifacial BIPV system by 16%, compared to the black insulation reflector type. The performance of the bifacial BIPV was also shown to be influenced by inclination angle, due to changes in both the amount of radiation captured on the front face and the radiation transmitted to the rear face through the transparent space. In this study is limited design condition and installation condition. Accordingly follow-up researches in this part need to be conducted.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2017

We have examined the issues on the measurement of bifacial photovoltaic(PV) devices that should be considered in order to ensure a measurement accuracy beyond a certain level and the comparability between the bifacial PV devices. Based on the results of various experiments and previous studies, solutions for these measurement issues are suggested. The most significant technical issues in the performance measurement of the bifacial PV devices are 1) elimination of the effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface and 2) the measurement of the expected power generation gain in outdoor operation. The effect due to the light reflection on the sample holder surface can be eliminated by using an anti-reflective sample holder. In case of a reflective sample holder, if the bifacial device have a linear characteristic with respect to the irradiance of incident light, it has been confirmed (through some previous studies and additional experiment) that exact measurement results can be obtained by the correction of the measurement data. In addition, it was also confirmed that the expected power generation gain in the outdoor operation can be obtained by three different methods along with the basic concepts of the bifaciality coefficient, the albedo, and the effective front irradiance.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.31-41
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• 2016

n-type PERT (passivated emitter, rear totally diffused) bifacial solar cells with boron and phosphorus diffusion as p+ emitter and n+ BSF (back surface field) have attracted significant research interest recently. In this work, the influences of wafer thickness, bulk lifetime, emitter, BSF on the photovoltaic characteristics of solar cells are discussed. The performance of the solar cell is determined by using one-dimensional solar cell simulation software PC1D. The simulation results show that the key role of the BSF is to decrease the surface doping concentration reducing the recombination and thus, increasing the cell efficiency. A lightly phosphorus doped BSF (LD BSF) was experimentally optimized to get low surface dopant concentration for n type bifacial solar cells. Pre-oxidation combined with a multi-plateau drive-in, using limited source diffusion was carried out before pre-deposition. It could reduce the surface dopant concentration with minimal impact on the sheet resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.182-187
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• 2018

In this study, 20.8% of a p-type Si bifacial solar cell was used to develop a photovoltaic (PV) module to obtain the maximum power under a limited installation area. The transparent back sheet material was replaced during fabrication with a white one, which is opaque in commercial products. This is very beneficial for the generation of more electricity, owing to the additional power generation via absorption of light from the rear side. A new model is suggested herein to predict the power of the bifacial PV module by considering the backside reflections from the roof and/or environment. This model considers not only the frontside reflection, but also the nonuniformity of the backside light sources. Theoretical predictions were compared to experimental data to prove the validity of this model, the error range for which ranged from 0.32% to 8.49%. Especially, under $700W/m^2$, the error rate was as low as 2.25%. This work could provide theoretical and experimental bases for application to a distributed and microgrid network.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2018

In this study, the outdoor evaluation test was performed to characterize the highly-reflective artificial grass to be used for bifacial photovoltaic (PV) power generation system. The 60-cell n-type Si monofacial and bifacial PV modules were employed, where two types of bifacial modules were equipped with split-type and box-type junction boxes, respectively. The results showed that the split-type junction box improved the rear-side power production and thus energy yield of bifacial module compared to the box-type junction box causing the shadow effect. Highly-reflective artificial grass achieved relatively high albedo of 0.18, and excellent bifacial gain of 33%, compared to conventional artificial grass with an albedo of 0.14-0.15, and bifacial gain of 29-30%.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.57-66
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• 2015

BIPV system not only produces electricity at building, but also acts as a material for building envelope. Thus, it can increase the economical efficiency of PV system by saving the cost for building materials. Bifacial solar cell can convert solar energy to electrical energy from both sides of the cell. In addition, it is designed as 3 busbar layout which is the same with ordinary mono-facial solar cells. Therefore, many of the module manufacturers can easily use the bifacial solar cells without changing their manufacturing equipments. Moreover, bifacial PV system has much potential in building application by utilizing glass-to-glass structure of PV module. However, the electrical generation of the bifacial PV module depends on the characteristics of the building surface which faces the module, as well as outdoor environment. Therefore, in order to apply the bifacial PV module to building envelope as BIPV system, its power generation characteristics are carefully evaluated. For this purpose this study focused on the electrical performance of the bifacial BIPV system through the comparative outdoor experiments. As a result, the power generation performance of the bifacial BIPV system was improved by up to 21% compared to that of the monofacial BIPV system. Therefore, it is claimed that the bifacial BIPV system can replace the conventional BIPV system to improve the PV power generation in buildings.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.111-122
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• 2021

Silicon heterojunction technology (HJT) solar cells have received considerable attention due to advantages that include high efficiency over 26%, good performance in the real world environment, and easy application to bifacial power generation using symmetric device structure. Furthermore, ultra-highly efficient perovskite/c-Si tandem devices using the HJT bottom cells have been reported. In this paper, we discuss the unique feature of the HJT solar cells, the fabrication processes and the current status of technology development. We also investigate practical challenges and key technologies of the HJT solar cell manufacturers for reducing fabrication cost and increasing productivity.