The output energies of multicrystalline and amorphous silicon/microcrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules were estimated using the performance contour map as a function of module temperature and solar spectral irradiance distribution taking into consideration time-related degradation. Generally, the performance of outdoor PV modules degrades yearly. When degradation is not considered, the error of the estimated output energy tends to increase yearly. To estimate the precise output energy, the degradation rates of the performance of the PV modules was considered. The yearly degradation rates were estimated using the measurement data from the years 2005–2009 by linear approximation, and the performance contour map in 2010 was estimated. The estimated contour maps were similar to the actual ones, and the errors between the estimated and actual maps were decreased. The error between the estimated and actual energies was within 2.5% in the PV modules. The results indicated that the method of using the contour map taking into account the yearly degradation is useful for estimating the output energy of the PV modules after outdoor exposure.
A Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector with an effective area of 300 mm×300 mm has been constructed using a novel self-stretching technique, which allows a highly flexible and efficient GEM detector assembly free of glue or spacers. This makes the re-opening and repair of the GEM detectors possible and significantly reduces the scrap rate in the mass production of large-area GEM detectors. With the technique, the assembly time can be limited to a few hours, a factor of ten improvement compared to that using gluing techniques. The details of design and assembly procedure of the 300 mm×300 mm GEM detector are described in this paper. This detector was tested with 8 keV X-rays for the effective gain, energy resolution and performance uniformity. The results show that the typical energy resolution is 20% at an effective gain of about 10 4 , with fairly good uniformity.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.