• KIEAE Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.69-73
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• 2011

In general, there are two types of PVT module depending on the existence of the glass in front of PV module: glazed and unglazed. On the other hand, the water-type PVT modules can be classified into two types, according to absorber type: the sheet-and-tube absorber PVT module and the fully wetted absorber PVT module. The aim of this study is to analyze the electrical and thermal performance of a water-type PVT module with fully wetted absorber. For this study, a prototype of unglazed PVT module with fully wetted absorber was designed and built, and both the thermal and electrical performances of the prototype module were measured in outdoor conditions. A conventional mono-crystalline Si PV module was tested alongside the PVT module for their electrical performance comparison. The results showed that the thermal efficiency of the PVT module was average 51% and its electrical efficiency was average 14.3% in mean fluid temperature $10-40^{\circ}C$, whereas the electrical efficiency of the conventional PV module was average 12.6%. It is found that the electrical efficiency of the PVT module was improved by approximately 14% compared to that of the PV module. The temperature of PVT module becomes lower due to the cooling effect by the fluid of the absorber. The results proved that the electrical efficiency was higher when the mean fluid temperature was lower.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.280-283
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• 2007

The first grid-connected, building-integrated transparent amorphous silicon photovoltaic installation has been operated since October 2004 in Yongin, Korea. The 2.2kWp transparent PV system was applied to the facade of entrance hall in newly constructed KOLON E&C R&D building. The PV module is a nominal 0.98m ${\times}$ 0.95m, 10% transparent, laminated, amorphous(a-Si) thin-film device rated at 44 Wp per module. To demonstrate the architectural features of thin film PV technologies for daylighting application, transparent PV modules are attached to the building envelope with the form of single glazed window and special point glazing(SPG) frames. Besides power generation, the 10% transmittance of a-Si PV module provides very smooth natural daylight to the entrance hall without any special shading devices for whole year. The installation is fully instrumented and is continuously monitored in order to allow the performance assessment of amorphous silicon PV operating at the prevailing conditions. This paper presents measured power performance data from the first 12 months of operation. For the first year, annual average system specific yield was just 486.4kWh/kWp/year which is almost half of typical amorphous silicon PV output under the best angle and orientation. It should be caused by building orientation and self-shading of adjacent mass. Besides annual power output, various statistical analysis was performed to identify the characteristics of transparent thin film PV system.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.107-110
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• 2022

Lightweight and flexible photovoltaic (PV) modules are attractive for building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications because of their easy construction and applicability. In this study, we fabricated lightweight and flexible c-Si PV modules using ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) front cover and shingled design string cells. The ETFE front cover instead of glass made the PV modules lighter in weight, and the shingled design string cells increased the flexibility. Finally, we fabricated a PV module with a conversion power of 240.08 W at an area of 1.25 m² and weighed only 2 kg/m². Moreover, to check the PV module's flexibility, we conducted a bending test. The difference of conversion power between the modules before and after bending shown was only 1.7 W, which showed a power reduction rate of about 0.7%.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.193-198
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• 2009

Recently, characteristic research by the changes in the spectrum, one of the factors that influence analysis of maximum output power of PV module, has been studied. In this paper, a one-day intensity of solar irradiation, change of spectrums with time and electrical output for spectrums are analyzed. As a result, blue-rich wavelength compared with red-rich wavelength has large variation of solar irradiance with time, so we recognized that change of solar irradiance is dominated by variation of blue~rich wavelength. Also in same intensity of solar irradiance, electrical output in blue-rich wavelength was 3-8 % higher than one in red-rich wavelength.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.49-52
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• 2009

Practical building integrated photovoltaic system built by Kolon E&C has been monitored and evaluated with respect to power generation, which was installed in Deokpyeong Eco Service Area in Deokpyeong, Gyeonggi, Korea. The amorphous silicon transparent PV module in this BIPV system has 44Wp in power output per unit module and 10% of transmittance with the unit dimension with $980mm{\times}950mm$. The BIPV system was applied as the skylight in the main entrance of the building. This study provided the database for the practical application of the transparent thin-film PV module for BIPV system through 11 month monitoring as well as various statistical analyses such as monthly power output and insolation. Average monthly power output of the system was 52.9kWh/kWp/month which is a 60% of power output of the previously reported data obtained under $30^{\circ}$of an inclined PV module facing south(azimuth=0). This lower power output can be explained by the installation condition of the building facing east, west and south, which was resulted from the influence of azimuth.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.1-10
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• 2019

Recently, the installation capacity of PV (photovoltaic) systems has been increasing not only field installation but also floating PV, farm land, BIPV/BAPV. For this reason, the new design and materials of PV module are needed. In particular, in order to apply a PV system to a building, lightweight of the PV module is essential. PV modules made of generally used texturing glass are excellent in output and reliability, but there is a limit to the weight that can be reduced. For the lightweight of the PV module, it necessary to use a film instead of a glass. However, the application of film rather than a glass may cause various problems such as decrease in photocurrent by decrease in transmittance and a increase of CTM (cell to module) loss, a degradation of the reliability, and so on. In this paper, PV modules using Ultra barrier film, which is recently a lot of interest as a substitute for a glass, its characteristic analysis and reliability test were conducted. The transmittance and UV characteristics of each material were verified, and the output of the fabricated 1 cell PV module was measured. In addition, 24 cell PV modules were fabricated at the lab-scale and its reliability tests were conducted. As a result of the experiment, the reliability characteristics of the ultra barrier film PV module were excellent, and it was confirmed that it could be used as the front material of the PV module instead of glass

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.51-58
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• 2012

This study aims to analyze characteristics of Cell surface temperature and generated power performance for improving PV(Photovoltaic) system condition according to the cell opening ratio of transparent crystal PV system at Spandrel of curtain-wall. For this purpose, alternatives were classified for eight different cases that opening ratio of transparent crystal PV system varied from 0% to 70%, which was used by simulation tool, EnergyPlus. As results, it turned out that increasing opening ratio of transparent crystal PV system led higher PV surface temperature, back-sheet type was thus the most advantageous for decreasing surface temperature, annual generating efficiency, and annual accumulated generating power. Consequently, blocking off air space from outside insolation can advantageously keep to be better condition for generated power performance.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.13-22
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• 2020

As the supply of photovoltaic (PV) increases worldwide, the cumulative installations in 2018 were 7.9 and 560 GW in Korea and the world, respectively. Typically, when the ground on commercial PV modules is installed, the area is limited; hence, new designs of PV modules are required to install additional PVs. Among the new design of PV modules, lightweight PV modules can be utilized in PV systems, such as buildings, farmlands, and floating PV. Concerning the investigation of lightweight PV modules, several studies on materials for replacing low-iron tempered glass, which comprises approximately 65% of the PV module weight, have been conducted. However, materials that are used as substitutes for glass should possess similar lightweight properties and reliability as glass. In this study, experimental tests were performed to evaluate the applicability of ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film with excellent resistance to water and aging as a front material of PV modules. The transmittance and ultraviolet properties of the ETFE film were determined and compared with those of glass. A 1-cell module and laboratory-scale 24-cell module were manufactured using the ETFE film and glass, and the electrical output was measured and analyzed. Furthermore, damp heat and thermal cycle tests were conducted to evaluate the reliability of the ETFE film module. Based on the experimental results, the electrical output and reliability of the ETFE film module were similar to those of the glass module, and the ETFE film could be used as the front material of PV modules.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.528-533
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• 2018

In recent years, solar cells based on crystalline silicon(c-Si) have accounted for much of the photovoltaic industry. The recent studies have focused on fabricating c-Si solar modules with low cost and improved efficiency. Among many suggested methods, a photovoltaic module with a shingled structure that is connected to a small cut cell in series is a recent strong candidate for low-cost, high efficiency energy harvesting systems. The shingled structure increases the efficiency compared to the module with 6 inch full cells by minimizing optical and electrical losses. In this study, we propoese a new Conductive Paste (CP) to interconnect cells in a shingled module and compare it with the Electrical Conductive Adhesives (ECA) in the conventional module. Since the CP consists of a compound of tin and bismuth, the module is more economical than the module with ECA, which contains silver. Moreover, the melting point of CP is below $150^{\circ}C$, so the cells can be integrated with decreased thermal-mechanical stress. The output of the shingled PV module connected by CP is the same as that of the module with ECA. In addition, electroluminescence (EL) analysis indicates that the introduction of CP does not provoke additional cracks. Furthermore, the CP soldering connects cells without increasing ohmic losses. Thus, this study confirms that interconnection with CP can integrate cells with reduced cost in shingled c-Si PV modules.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.111-120
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• 2019

The output power of a crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) module is not directly the sum of the powers of its unit cells. There are several losses and gain mechanisms that reduce the total output power when solar cells are encapsulated into solar modules. Theses factors are getting high attention as the high cell efficiency achievement become more complex and expensive. More research works are involved to minimize the "cell-to-module" (CTM) loss. Our paper is aimed to focus on electrical losses due to interconnection and mismatch loss at PV modules. Research study shows that among all reasons of PV module failure 40.7% fails at interconnection. The mismatch loss in modern PV modules is very low (nearly 0.1%) but still lacks in the approach that determines all the contributing factors in mismatch loss. This review paper is related to study of interconnection loss technologies and key factors contributing to mismatch loss during module fabrication. Also, the improved interconnection technologies, understanding the approaches to mitigate the mismatch loss factors are precisely described here. This research study will give the approach of mitigating the loss and enable improvement in reliability of PV modules.