TRANSLATION OF DEVICE PERFORMANCE-MEASUREMENTS TO REFERENCE CONDITIONS

Translation of photovoltaic performance measurements is required when a measurement is made under conditions which are different from those specified in standard measurement procedures. These specifications can be categorized into three areas: the device temperature at the time of measurement; the total incident irradiance level; and the spectral distribution of the incident irradiance. If these three conditions are identical to those specified in the standard measurement procedures, then no translation is required. However, because in practice the standard measurement conditions can be difficult (and expensive) to achieve, one or more of these three conditions will generally be different and translation is then necessary. In general, the method used for translation is to know how a device responds to different conditions, measure the difference at the time the performance is determined, and correct the performance measurement to the standard conditions.