• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.69-74
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• 2013

Silicon (Si) wafer was grown by using direct growth from Si melt and contaminations of wafer during the process were investigated. In our process, BN was coated inside of all graphite parts including crucible in system to prevent carbon contamination. In addition, coated BN layer enhance the wettability, which ensures the favorable shape of grown wafer by proper flow of Si melt in casting mold. As a result, polycrystalline silicon wafer with dimension of $156{\times}156$ mm and thickness of $300{\pm}20$ um was successively obtained. There were, however, severe contaminations such as BN and SiC on surface of the as-grown wafer. While BN powders were easily removed by brushing surface, SiC could not be eliminated. As a result of BN analysis, C source for SiC was from binder contained in BN slurry. Therefore, to eliminate those C sources, additional flushing process was carried out before Si was melted. By adding 3-times flushing processes, SiC was not detected on the surface of as-grown Si wafer. Polycrystalline Si wafer directly grown from Si melt in this study can be applied for the cost-effective Si solar cells.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.57.2-57.2
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) have recently been developed as a cost-effective photovoltaic system due to their low-cost materials and facile processing. The production of DSSC involves chemical and thermal processes but no vacuum is involved. Therefore, DSSC can be fabricated without using expensive equipment. The use of dyes and nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ is one of the most promising approaches to realize both high performance and low cost. The efficiency of the DSSC changes consequently in the particle size, morphology, crystallization and surface state of the $TiO_2$. Nanocrystalline $TiO_2$ materials have been widely used as a photo catalyst and an electron collector in DSSC. Front electrode in DSSC are required to have an extremely high porosity and surface area such that the dyes can be sufficiently adsorbed and be electronically interconnected, resulting in the efficient generation of photocurrent within cells. In this study, DSSC were fabricated by an screen printing for the $TiO_2$ thin film. $TiO_2$ nanoparticles characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and scanning auger microscopy (SAM) and zeta potential and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).In addition, DSSC module was modeled and simulated using the SILVACO TCAD software program. Improve the efficiency of DSSC, the effect of $TiO_2$ thin film thickness and $TiO_2$ nanoparticle size was investigated by SILVACO TCAD software program.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.23-34
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• 2020

Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system consists of high-quality complex optical elements, mechanical devices, and electronics components and can have the advantages of high integration and high-efficiency energy sources. III-V compound semiconductor cells have proven performance based on high reliability in the aerospace field, but have characteristics that require absolute support of the balance of systems (BOS) such as solar position trackers, receivers with heat sinks, and housing instruments. To determine the optimum parameters of secondary optical elements (SOEs) design for CPV systems, we designed three types of CPV modules, classified as non-SOEs type, reflective mirror type, and CPC lens type. We measured the I-V and P-V characteristics of the prototype CPV modules with the angle of inclination varying from 0° to 12° and with a 500-magnification Fresnel lens. The experimental results assumed misalignment of the solar position tracker or module design of pinpoint accuracy. As a result, at the 0° tilt angle, the CPC lens produced lower power due to the quartz transmittance ratio compared to that by other SOEs. However, for tilt angles greater than 3°, the CPC lens type module achieved high efficiency and stability. This study is expected to help design high-performance CPV systems.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.35-45
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• 2020

Photovoltaic (PV) power system prices have been steadily dropping in recent years due to their mass production and advances in relevant technology. Crystalline silicon (c-Si wafers) account for the largest share of the price of solar cells; reducing the thickness of these wafers is an essential part of increasing the price competitiveness of PV power systems. However, reducing the thickness of c-Si wafers is challenging; typically, phenomena such as bowing and cracking are encountered. While several approaches to address the bowing phenomenon of the c-Si solar cells exist, the only method to study the crack phenomenon (related to the strength of the c-Si solar cells) is the bending test method. Moreover, studies on determining the strength properties of the solar cells have focused largely on c-Si wafers, while those on the strength properties of front and rear-side electrodes and SiNx, the other components of c-Si solar cells, are scarce. In this study, we analyzed the strength characteristics of each layer of c-Si solar cells. The strength characteristics of the sawing mark direction produced during the production of c-Si wafers were also tested. Experiments were conducted using a 4bending tester for a specially manufactured c-Si solar cell. The results indicate that the back side electrode is the main component that experienced bowing, while the front electrode was the primary component regulating the strength of the c-Si solar cell.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.76-82
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• 2020

Soiling on the surface of a PV module reduces the amount of light reaching the solar cells, decreasing power performance. The performance of the PV module is generally restored after contaminants on the module surface are washed away by rain, but it accumulates at the bottom of the module owing to the thickness of the module frame, causing an output mismatch on the PV module. Since PV modules are usually installed horizontally or vertically outdoors, soiling can occur at the bottom of the PV module, depending on the installation direction due to external environmental factors. This paper is analyzed the output characteristics of a PV module considering its installation direction and the soiling area. The soiling was simulated to use transparent films with 5% transmittance, and the transmission film was attached to the bottom part of the PV module horizontally and vertically. When the soiling area was 33% of the string at the bottom of the PV module, the power output decreased similarly regardless of installation direction. However, when the soiling area was 66% of the string at the bottom of the PV module, it was confirmed that the output performance decreased sharply when installed vertically rather than horizontally.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.218-225
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• 2023

An agrivoltaic system (AVS) is a combined system that generates power through photovoltaic panels (PVPs) installed above a field where a crop is cultivated. Although soil moisture is an important limiting factor for open-field crop production, particularly during spring season in Korea, it is not well considered in the utilization of AVS. Indeed, the application of water-energy-food nexus on the AVS should be necessary. In this study, the changes of soil moisture and temperature under the AVS was investigated in fallow paddy field during spring season. The AVS that has partial shading condition by PV panels was decreased soil temperature and increased soil moisture compared to open-field. Furthermore, the maximum of the change in soil moisture to the change in soil temperature had a negative correlation both on open-field and AVS under wet condition. It represents that the micro-climate under the AVS is in energy-limited condition. The open-field of relatively high soil temperature was in water-limited condition. The different behavior of soil moisture on the AVS should be considered for the sustainable agricultural system as related to water-energy-food nexus.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.8
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• pp.2968-2974
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• 2010

Nowadays, the PV systems have been focused on the grid connection between the power source and the grid. The PV inverter can be considered as the core of the whole system because of an important role in the grid-interfacing operation. An important issue in the inverter control is the load current regulation. In the literature, Proportional Integral (PI) controller, which is normally used in the current-controlled Voltage Source Inverter (VSI), cannot be a satisfactory controller for an AC system because of the steady-sate error and the poor disturbance rejection, especially in high-frequency range. Compared with conventional PI controller, Proportional Resonant (PR) controller can introduce an infinite gain at the fundamental frequency of the AC source; hence it can achieve the zero steady-state error without requiring the complex transformation and the de-coupling technique. Theoretical analyses of both PI and PR controller are presented and verified by simulation and experiment. Both controller are implemented in a 32-bit fixed-point TMS320F2812 DSP processor and evaluated on a 3kW experimental prototype PV Power Conditioning System (PCS). Simulation and experimental results are shown to verify the controller performances.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.15-18
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• 2000

Transparent conducting tin (IV) oxide thin films have been studied and developed for the electrode materials of solar cell substrate. Fabrication of tin oxide thin films by sol-gel method is process development of lower cost photovoltaic solar cell system. The research is focused on the establishment of process conditions and development of precursor. The precursor solution was made of tin isopropoxide dissolved in isopropyl alcohol. The hydrolysis rate was controlled by addition of triethanolamine. Dip and spin coating technique were applied to coat tin oxide on borosilicate glass. The resistivity of the thin film was lower than 0.01-cm and the transmittance is higher than $90\%$ in a visible range.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2012

Transparent dye-sensitized solar cells have been widely investigated for the application to building integrated photovoltaic system. Thin film Si-based solar cells are emerging as a substitute for the dye-sensitized solar cells because their merits of well-established manufacturing processes. Since the selective transmitting layer transmits visible light and reflects infrared light, the solar cell efficiency increases with the introduction of the selective transmitting layer. In this work, AlTiO thin films were grown as the selective transmitting layer by cost-effective sputter deposition and their transmittances were improved by controlling deposition parameters.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.619-625
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• 2021

Cu₂ZnSn(S,Se)₄ (CZTSSe) based thin-film solar cells have attracted growing attention because of their earth-abundant and non-toxic elements. However, because of their large open-circuit voltage (V_oc)-deficit, CZTSSe solar cells exhibit poor device performance compared to well-established Cu(In,Ga)(S,Se)₂ (CIGS) and CdTe based solar cells. One of the main causes of this large V_oc-deficit is poor absorber properties for example, high band tailing properties, defects, secondary phases, carrier recombination, etc. In particular, the fabrication of absorbers using physical methods results in poor surface morphology, such as pin-holes and voids. To overcome this problem and form large and homogeneous CZTSSe grains, CZTSSe based absorber layers are prepared by a sputtering technique with different RTA conditions. The temperature is varied from 510 ℃ to 540 ℃ during the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Further, CZTSSe thin films are examined with X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, IPCE, Energy dispersive spectroscopy and Scanning electron microscopy techniques. The present work shows that Cu-based secondary phase formation can be suppressed in the CZTSSe absorber layer at an optimum RTA condition.