Evaluation of Dynamic Mechanical Loading as an Accelerated Test Method for Ribbon Fatigue

• Published in: 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)
• Main Authors: Bosco, N., Silverman, T. J., Wohlgemuth, J., Kurtz, S., Inoue, M., Sakurai, K., Shinoda, T., Zenkoh, H., Hirota, K., Miyashita, M., Tadanori, T., Suzuki, S.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; DML
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1215009; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1215009; https://doi.org/10.1109/PVSC.2013.6745128

Dynamic Mechanical Loading (DML) of photovoltaic modules is explored as a route to quickly fatigue copper interconnect ribbons. Results indicate that most of the interconnect ribbons may be strained through module mechanical loading to a level that will result in failure in a few hundred to thousands of cycles. Considering the speed at which DML may be applied, this translates into a few hours o testing. To evaluate the equivalence of DML to thermal cycling, parallel tests were conducted with thermal cycling. Preliminary analysis suggests that one +/-1 kPa DML cycle is roughly equivalent to one standard accelerated thermal cycle and approximately 175 of these cycles are equivalent to a 25-year exposure in Golden Colorado for the mechanism of module ribbon fatigue.