Quantum dot solar cells are currently the subject of research in the fields of renewable energy, photovoltaics and optoelectronics, due to their advantages which enables them to overcome the limitations of traditional solar cells. The inability of ordinary solar cells to generate charge carriers, which is prevents them from contributing to generate the current in solar cells. This work focuses on modeling and simulating of Quantum Dot Solar Cells based on InAs/GaAs as well as regular type of GaAs p-i-n solar cells and to study the effect of increasing quantum dots layers at the performance of the solar cell. The low energy of the fell photons considers as one of the most difficult problems that must deal with. According to simulation data, the power conversion efficiency increases from (12.515% to 30.94%), current density rises from 16.4047 mA/cm2 for standard solar cell to 39.4775 mA/cm2) using quantum dot techniques (20-layers) compared to traditional type of GaAs solar cell. Additionally, low energy photons’ absorption range edge expanded from (400 to 900 nm) for quantum technique. The results have been modeled and simulated using (SILVACO Software), which proved the power conversion efficiency of InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells is significantly higher than traditional (p-i-n) type about (247%).
Although solar cell parameters are generally measured at 20-30 C°, flat plate modules normally operate at 40-50 C° under terrestrial conditions and even higher temperatures are used for some concentrator cell applications. Therefore it is interesting to calculate the dependence of cell parameters on temperature. In this paper a simple formulation has been derived for obtaining the temperature dependence of open circuit voltage Voc, short circuit current density Jsc, fill factor FF, and conversation efficiency η, for c-Si and a-Si solar cells.
This paper presents a design of a low cost, low loss 31-level multilevel inverter (MLI) topology with a reduce the number of switches and power electronic devices. The increase in the levels of MLI leads to limiting the THD to the desired value. The 31-level output voltage is created using four PV sources with a specific ratio. The SPWM is used to control the gating signals for the switches of MLI. The PV system is integrated into the MLI using a boost converter to maximize the power capacity of the solar cells and the Incremental Conductance (IC) algorithm is employed for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of the PV system. Simulation results of 31-level MLI indicate the THD of voltage and current waveforms are 3.73% within an acceptable range of IEEE standards.