Analysis of the thermal heating of poly-si and a-si photovoltaic cell by means of fem

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to propose the tridimensional model of a photovoltaic cell implemented in Comsol Multiphysics environment, a finite element method (FEM) based software. The analysis of the thermal behaviour of the implemented model has been conducted to simulate the behaviour of the device under operating conditions. The model has been implemented according to the geometrical and physical features of commercial photovoltaic cells. Two technologies have been considered: poly and amorphous silicon based cells. The implemented model has also been validated from an electrical point of view. Simulation results confirm the goodness of the proposed model for the thermal behaviour of PV cells.