Simulating the Heating Cycle of a Thin Film Photovoltaic Cell During Rapid Thermal Processing

Abstract

In this paper a detailed description of a modeling method for the heating cycle of a thin film Photovoltaic (PV) cell during Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) is presented. The paper explores the challenges of numerically simulating the heating of the PV during RTP and proposes a comprehensive solution for solving these problems. In the proposed method, the thermal model is based on the Component Interaction Network (CIN) approach, while radiation is calculated by a zonal method based on the flux planes approximation and the Thin Layer Approximation (TLA) adapted for semitransparent sheets with small thickness. Various simulations using the model are performed and compared with experimental results. The comparisons demonstrate the efficiency of the modeling approach developed for PV cells in RTP chambers.