Comparative study of the effects of simulation models on the electronic and electrical parameters of a silicon pv cell

Abstract

  For silicon solar cells simulation studies, one dimensional (1D), two dimensional 2D) and t   hree dimensional (3D) models are used. Depending of model proposed and assumptions done for the study, the electronic and electrical parameters and then the performance of the solar cell can be influenced. This situation raises the problem of the relevance of the choice of the study model and the quality of the resulting results. This work, propose comparative study of the electronic and electric parameters of 1D model, 3D analytical model and 3D empirical model. In this study, continuity equations of excess minority electrons are solved for 1D and 3D models and analytical expressions of electronic parameters (density of electrons δ, intrinsic junction recombination velocity Sf0 and recombination velocity at back surface Sb) and electric parameters (Jsc, Voc, η) are derived. The influence of the model chosen on the electric and electronic parameters of the PV cell have been presented. It appears in this study that the choice of the simulation model has a large influence on the electronic and electrical parameters the PV cell. The one-dimensional formulation (1D) overestimates the solar cell efficiency comparatively to the three-dimensional (3D) formulations. The study put in evidence also that for the same grain size, the solar cell efficiency resulting of 3D classical formulation is overestimates than one resulting of 3D empirical formulation.