H Korth’s scientific contributions

The Damp Heat (DH) test is an established qualification test in the PV industry. This paper presents extended DH test results of competitor modules that in part do not pass the IEC DH 1000hr test. Furthermore a large number of test samples with defined components were tested in DH. The results are analyzed and the most dominant factors for DH power degradation are extracted. Besides module components and solar cell properties that were tested in DH also the influence of the interconnection method with varied flux on the DH stability were investigated in a HAST chamber (highly accelerated test procedure). The alternative method called HAST is more closely investigated since Damp Heat is a time consuming test. The degradation for both methods is compared and it is shown that the failure mechanism is similar in both cases. The prediction of the DH-susceptibility of solar cells in the fast HAST test is the objective.