Eva Discoloration Solar Panels

Solar eva had one job but failed miserably.

Eva discoloration solar panels.

Bad effects of eva browning. Degradation and discoloration mechanisms and formulation modifications for improved photostability f. There are plenty of studies online that have fully confirmed that the acetic acid formation is the specific root cause for the discoloration of the eva encapsulate. The eva is used to bond the silicon solar cells to the front glass and backing sheet and to protect the photovoltaic materials from the environment and mechanical damage.

Eva is the abbreviation for ethylene vinyl acetate. Discoloration itself may not be directly related to power performance of pv modules. We ll get to that part. A new non destructive technique has been proposed by researchers who say identifying early stage discoloration in eva encapsulants can help detect degradation in solar panels before power output is affected.

However discolored eva encapsulant is reported to cause a loss of light transmission to the solar cells leading to loss in power production by up to 0 5 a year by average 28 or up to 1 a year in subtropical climates 160 and this loss can be as high as. Pern center for performance engineering and reliability national renewable energy laboratory nrel 1617 cole blvd golden colorado 80401 usa. Very much what appears to be a visual failure discolouration or browning occurs when there is a yellow or brown discolouration of the ethyl vinyl acetate eva a result of two main causes. Let s try to make it as simple as possible.

Browning in pv modules can induce a power loss by up to 0 5 year. What are ethylene vinyl acetate eva films. To investigate the eva encapsulant photobleaching and discoloration solar cell laminates having different eva films uv transparent t uv cut c and combination of the two tc were tested. In the solar industry the most common encapsulation is with cross linkable ethylene vinyl acetate eva.

Ethylene vinyl acetate eva encapsulants for photovoltaic modules. Discoloration is rarely observed in the eva between neighboring solar cells. The iit bombay group used an ultraviolet accelerated aging test during 34 days on three encapsulant samples. Solar panel discolouration is an uncontrolled chemical reaction amongst materials.

Essentially an acetic acid formation is the problem but not too blame. The thermal ageing of an ethylene vinyl acetate eva polymer used as an adhesive and encapsulant in a photovoltaic module has been investigated. Eva films are a key material used for traditional solar panel lamination.