Thermal Modelling of Photovoltaic Modules in Operation and Production

The temperature of solar cells in photovoltaic modules has a major influence on module power. The module setup, the material structure and the material properties of the module as well as the ambient conditions influence this temperature. These parameters also influence the thermal behavior of the module during the lamination process resulting in a temperature profile through the modules layers. We present a 1-dimensional dynamic model to calculate both the temperature of a solar module in operation as well as during lamination. We analyze the effect of module design (glass-backsheet, glass-glass, full and half cells) as well as bifaciality on the cell temperature during operation. We simulate the lamination process and find the model to be in good agreement with validation measurements. We find significant temperature differences between different module layers.