What is shunt resistance in a solar cell?

Low shunt resistance causes power losses in solar cells by providing an alternate current path for the light-generated current. Such a diversion reduces the amount of current flowing through the solar cell junction and reduces the voltage from the solar cell.

What causes shunt resistance in solar cells?

Shunt resistance is due to non-idealities, mainly impurities near the p-n junction, which cause partial shorting of the junction. That is, if an impurity can join the front and back sides of the solar cell then it is responsible for shunt resistance.

How do you calculate shunt resistance of a solar cell?

Popular Answers (1)

1. For series resistance, select a points just above the knee point on two of the I(V) curves at different irradiance levels. Let the two points be (V1, I1) and (V2, I2).
2. For shunt resistance, simply estimate the slope of any I(V) curve at the short circuit point (V = 0). This slope is equal to -1/Rsh.

What are series and shunt resistance?

Series and shunt resistances are parasitic elements to represent losses in the device (solar cell). Both series and shunt losses degrades the fill factor and efficiency of a solar cell.

Why do we use shunt resistance?

A shunt resistor is used to measure electric current, alternating or direct. This is done by measuring the voltage drop across the resistor.

What causes shunt resistance?

The shunt resistance theoretically is very high and is due to the reverse saturation current of the active junction. In real solar cells there is some partial shorts of the junctions due to the formation of pinholes and metal filling of these pinholes reaching to the junction.

Is shunt high resistance?

Shunt Resistor for Current Measuring Another term that is sometimes used for this type of resistor is ammeter shunt. Usually this is a high precision manganin resistor with a low resistance value. In this way, large currents can still be measured. By correctly scaling the ammeter, the actual amperage can be measured.

Why shunt resistance is used in ammeter?

An ammeter shunt creates a very low-resistance connection between two points in an electric circuit. Usually this shunt creates a voltage drop which allows an ammeter to be used to measure the amperage of a circuit.

What is the main function of shunt resistance in ammeter?

Shunt Resistors (Divider) To expand the measurement range of an ammeter a resistor is placed in parallel that shunts the current flow and the total current flowing to the circuit is measured.

What are two uses of shunt?

A resistor having a very low value of resistance connected in parallel with other resistor is caused shunt. Two uses of shunt:i The range of ammeter reading can be extended by connecting a shunt resistance to it. ii The shunt is used in the galvanometer for measuring the large current.

How do you increase shunt resistance?

Increasing the shunt resistance by reducing the leakage current at the surface of the solar cell due to direct contacting the heavily doped emitter and the p-type back surface field region.

Why shunt is always connected in parallel?

A shunt resistance is connected in parallel to the galvanometer so as to keep the resistance low. Such low resistance galvanometer is used in series with the circuit to measure the strength of current through the circuit.

What is the shunt resistance of a solar cell?

The solar cell is effectively a diode with a reverse-bias current source provided by light-generated electrons and holes. The shunt resistance (R sh) in the equivalent circuit represents parasitic electron-hole recombination. A high shunt resistance (low recombination rate) and low series resistance (R s) are needed for high solar cell efficiency.

What is the effect of both series and shunt resistances?

In the presence of both series and shunt resistances, the IV curve of the solar cell is given by; and the circuit diagram of the solar cell is given as; Parasitic series and shunt resistances in a solar cell circuit.

What are the specs for an off grid shunt?

This is an off-grid system and here are the specs: -6 Kyocera KD185GX-LPU wired in series/parallell (3 strings of 2 panels). -Outback FM-80 charge controller. -448 A/h Concorde Sun Xtender AGM 12 volt battery bank.

What can be used instead of a shunt?

The other alternative to a shunt would be a non-contact device such as a Hall Effect transducer which calculates the current from the magnetic field. Although such devices will handle DC with good precision, there is a problem with zero drift and position sensitivity which makes them unsuitable for this sort of monitoring.