This article presents a modelling study of external magnetic field effect on a bifacial silicon solar cell's electric power and conversion efficiency. After the resolution of the magnetotransport equation and continuity equation of excess minority carriers, we calculate the photocurrent density and the photovoltage and then we deduce the solar cell's electric power before discussing the influence of the magnetic field on those electrical parameters. Using the electric power curves versus junction dynamic velocity we determine the maximum electric power, the operating point of the solar cell, and the conversion efficiency according to magnetic field intensity. The numerical data show that the solar cell's maximum electric power and conversion efficiency decrease with magnetic field intensity.

The aim of this work is to present a theoretical study of external magnetic field effect on a bifacial silicon solar cell's electrical parameters (peak power, fill factor and load resistance) using the J-V and P-V characteristics. After the resolution of the magneto transport equation and continuity equation of excess minority carriers in the base of the bifacial silicon solar cell under multispectral illumination, the photo-current density and the photovoltage are determined and the J-V and P-V curves are plotted. Using simultaneously the J-V and P-V curves, we determine, according to magnetic field intensity, the peak photocurrent density, the peak photovoltage, the peak electric power, the fill factor and the load resistance at the peak power point. The numerical data show that the solar cell's peak power decreases with magnetic field intensity while the fill factor and the load resistance increase.

It is well known that temperature acts negatively on practically all the parameters of photovoltaic solar cells. Also, the solar cells which are subjected to particularly very high temperatures are the light concentration solar cells and are used in light concentration photovoltaic systems (CPV). In fact, the significant heating of these solar cells is due to the concentration of the solar flux which arrives on them. Light concentration solar cells appear as solar cells under strong influences of heating and temperature. It is therefore necessary to take into account temperature effect on light concentration solar cells performances in order to obtain realistic results. This one-dimensional study of a crystalline silicon solar cell under light concentration takes into account electrons concentration gradient electric field in the determination of the continuity equation of minority carriers in the base. To determine excess minority carrier's density, the effects of temperature on the diffusion and mobility of electrons and holes, on the intrinsic concentration of electrons, on carrier's generation rate as well as on width of band gap have also been taken into account. The results show that an increase of temperature improves diffusion parameters and leads to an increase of the short-circuit photocurrent density. However, an increase of temperature leads to a significant decrease in open-circuit photovoltage, maximum electric power and conversion efficiency. The results also show that the operating point and the maximum power point (MPP) moves to the open circuit when the cell temperature increases.

Aside from the terrestrial magnetic field that is generated from the earth core, power transmission, and distribution lines, transformers and other equipment do produce a certain amount of magnetic field that could interfere with the performance of photovoltaic modules. This study conducted an experiment and investigated the performance of a silicon photovoltaic module subjected to a magnetic field. The current-voltage and power-voltage characteristics were plotted in the same axis system and allowed us to find, as a function of the magnetic field, the electrical parameters of the photovoltaic module such as maximum electric power, fill factor, conversion efficiency, and charge resistance at the maximum power point. These electrical parameters were then used to calculate the series and shunt resistances of the equivalent circuit of the photovoltaic module. The results have shown that the efficiency of a solar module is affected by the presence of magnetic fields. However, the magnitude of ambient magnetic field generated by power transmissions lines and other equipment is extremely low (in the order of 10−2 mT or less) as compared to the values of the magnetic field used in this study. That made it difficult to conclude as to the impact of such field on solar photovoltaic installations.

The aim of this work is to investigate, with a three-dimensional steady-state approach, the effect of the incidence angle of a magnetic field on the performance of a polycrystalline silicon solar cell under multispectral illumination. The magneto-transport and continuity equations of excess minority carriers are solved to find the expression of the density of excess minority carriers and the related electrical parameters, such as the photocurrent density, the photovoltage and the electric power, of a grain of the polycrystalline silicon solar cell. The influence of the incidence angle of the magnetic field on the diffusion coefficient, the short-circuit photocurrent density, the open-circuit photovoltage and the electric power-photovoltage is studied. Then, the curves of the electric power-photovoltage is used to find the maximum electric power allowing to calculate, according to the incidence angle of the magnetic field, the fill factor and the conversion efficiency. The study has shown that the increase of the incidence angle of the magnetic field from 0 rad to π/2 rad, can reduce the degradation of the performance of solar cells.

The solar cell is assumed to be under light concentration (C=50 Suns) which leads us to take into consideration the electric field induced by electrons concentration gradient. We also take into consideration temperature influence on electron and hole diffusion parameters, on carrier generation rate, on carrier intrinsic concentration and on silicon energy gap. It emerges from results analysis that increase in temperature leads to decrease of open-circuit voltage and the photovoltaic parameters at the maximum power point (MPP) such as electric power, photo-voltage and photocurrent with however a slight increase of short-circuit photocurrent density. It also appears that temperature has a double effect on electrical parameters. The temperature dynamic effect which is characterized by parameters variations linked to operating point displacement caused by temperature variations. And the temperature proper effect which is characterized by parameters variation with temperature at a given operating point. Thus, the combination of these two effects represents temperature effective effect.

A three-dimensional approach to the effect of magnetic field incidence angle on electrical power and conversion efficiency is performed on a front-illuminated polycrystalline silicon bifacial solar cell. A solution of the continuity equation allowed us to present the equations of photocurrent density, photovoltage and electric power. The influence of the angle of incidence of the magnetic field on the photocurrent density, the photovoltage and the electric power has been studied. The curves of electrical power versus dynamic junction velocity were used to extract the values of maximum electrical power and dynamic junction velocity and to calculate those of conversion efficiency. From this study, it is found that the conversion efficiency values increase with the angle of incidence of the magnetic field.

Performances of a solar cell are significantly influenced by the heating of the base. Two phenomena contribute to the heating of the base of a PV cell: the heat due to the transfer by conduction of the solar energy radiation received by the surface of the PV cell and the heat generated inside the solar cell by various phenomena related to the movement of photogenerated electrons and holes. Thus, even if the increase of the quantity of carriers leads to improve the PV cell electrical parameters, this phenomenon also leads to the increase of some internal phenomena like thermalization, carriers braking and the carriers collisions which are sources of heating of the base of the solar cell Indeed, electrical parameters (photocurrent, photovoltage, electric power) are physical quantities related to the movement of charge carriers and also to the illumination mode, this means that changing of electrical parameters during the operation of the PV cell leads to a variation of the temperature inside the base of the PV cell. This work presents the effects of the increase of some electrical parameters (photocurrent, photovoltage, electric power) on the behaviour of the temperature of the base of a silicon PV cell under intense light illumination.