eprintid: 2004
rev_number: 6
eprint_status: archive
userid: 56
dir: disk0/00/00/20/04
datestamp: 2013-12-02 13:20:31
lastmod: 2014-10-09 09:20:24
status_changed: 2013-12-02 13:20:31
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Paggi, Marco
creators_name: Kajari-Schröder, Sarah
creators_name: Eitner, Ulrich
creators_id: marco.paggi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
title: Thermomechanical deformations in photovoltaic laminates
ispublished: pub
subjects: TJ
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: none
keywords: photovoltaic laminate; multilayered system; thermo-elastic deformations; analytical model; digital image correlation
abstract: Recent experimental results based on the digital image correlation technique (U. Eitner, M. Köntges, R. Brendel, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, 2010, 94, 1346–1351) show that the gap between solar cells embedded into a standard photovoltaic laminate varies with temperature. The variation of this gap is an important quantity to assess the integrity of the electric connection between solar cells when exposed to service conditions. In this paper, the thermo-elastic deformations in photovoltaic laminates are analytically investigated by developing different approximate models based on the multilayered beam theory. It is found that the temperature-dependent thermo-elastic properties of the encapsulating polymer layer are responsible for the deviation from linearity experimentally observed in the diagram relating the gap variation to the temperature. The contribution of the different material constituents to the homogenized elastic modulus and thermal expansion coefficient of the composite system is also properly quantified through the definition of weight factors of practical engineering use. 
date: 2011
date_type: published
publication: Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design
volume: 46
number: 8
publisher: Sage
pagerange: 772-782
id_number: doi:10.1177/0309324711421722
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0309-3247
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0309324711421722
citation:   Paggi, Marco and Kajari-Schröder, Sarah and Eitner, Ulrich  Thermomechanical deformations in photovoltaic laminates.  Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, 46 (8).  pp. 772-782.  ISSN 0309-3247      (2011)