Project description
A python based electrical model simulation of a PV solar module at cell level and with the possibility to handle multijunction configurations.
TaMoS and Its Simulation Capabilities
As part of my PhD journey, we developed our own tool to help researchers and manufacturers explore new designs and improvements: the Tandem Module Simulator, or TaMoS for short. This user-friendly software allows the user to simulate how faulty solar panels behave by mapping how electrical currents flow and how voltage is distributed across the panel. It features an easy-to-use interface that doesn't require any coding experience, making it simple for users to run personalized simulations.
With TaMoS, the user can choose how deep their analysis goes. They may want to focus on simple current and voltage patterns (IV analysis), or they can opt for a detailed examination of both the electrical and thermal behavior of a solar panel. The complexity of the simulations is also adjustable, allowing the user to balance between quick, straightforward results or more advanced, two-dimensional analyses that account for thermal and electrical interactions.
TaMoS is specifically designed with stacked solar modules in mind. It can simulate various tandem solar cell setups, including current-matched and voltage-matched configurations for two-terminal tandems, as well as simulations for four-terminal solutions. One of its standout features is the ability to simulate voltage-matched two-terminal setups.
How TaMoS' Finite Difference Model (FDM) Works
To simulate how solar cells behave when things go wrong, TaMoS builds a 3D electrical circuit and solves it using SPICE (a well-known tool for circuit simulations). One of the best things about TaMoS' Finite Difference Model (FDM) is that it only takes a single measurement of the module's current and voltage to get started. With just one more measurement, you can separately calculate the resistances inside the cells and those connecting the cells. If you also know the resistance across the contacts, you can run detailed 2D simulations. These simulations can be customized to cover specific areas of the module, such as casting a shadow over a section with adjustable opacity.
The input for each simulation is tailored based on the resolution and the areas you've defined, all while adjusting for the behavior of the network of connected components.
At its core, the electrical model for a perovskite solar module is structured as a 2D-1D-2D system. This setup takes into account the limited ability of the perovskite material to conduct electricity horizontally. The contact layers are modeled as 2D networks of resistances to reflect the actual resistance of the module. A simple one- or two-diode circuit connects the layers vertically to complete the model.
This layered structure is key to understanding how the module behaves under different conditions and helps identify performance issues or improvements with more precision.