Small Photovoltaic Module with Rectangular Cells for Reducing Output Degradation Caused by Spot Dirt

This paper reports the output degradation reduction when spot dirt adheres to a small photovoltaic module with rectangular cells. A small photovoltaic module of 13 W was applied to various electric systems. The module consisted of single crystal silicon photovoltaic cells. The effect of the output degradation was studied by changing the aspect ratio of the photovoltaic cell. It was also studied the effect by changing the photovoltaic cell connection applied to the module. Changing the aspect ratio of the photovoltaic cell used for the photovoltaic module results in suppression of the output degradation by 80% or less with 3% of spot dirt on the module area

I Introduction

Photovoltaic (PV) power supplies that are not evenly distributed by region are used as electric power sources for stand-alone systems [1]. The load on a stand-alone system consists of a small-scale radio base station, a telemeter, and lighting. Now, in the stand-alone PV system, installation with a small photovoltaic module simple substance is increasing by power-saving of electric devices.