Non-traditional light sources for solar cell and module testing

Solar cell and module performance testing is a critical component of high volume manufacturing. Indoor testing of solar cells and modules has historically utilized filtered xenon arc lamps as a sunlight simulator. There are a number of problems with are lamps in this environment including high cost, extensive maintenance, area limitations and electrical noise. In this work the use of low-cost, reliable, quartz-tungsten-halide (QTH) lamps as an alternative light source is analyzed. This analysis is focused on evaluating spectral mismatch errors due to testing solar cells with varying spectral response. When combined with outdoor calibration standards, QTH lamps are found to introduce acceptable levels of error (<2%) for testing both single crystal and polycrystalline solar cells and modules.